Anxiety and sleeping problem - URGENT

Hey Luiz A,

36 days is damn impressive. I really don't know what to tell you about how you're feeling. I'm sorry. What I can say is that you're so close to 50% through. Remember how hard it has been to get almost 50% through and imagine now, if you stop, that once you get back to this point again, you would have succeeded in 90days without PMO.

Refocus yourself. Hopefully someone can help you out a little more with the sleep.

I would recommend reading 'Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction'. So really good stuff in it that will help you relax and get some more perspective on things, which can be a challenge when you're feeling so weak.

Good luck.

 

Yes, anxiousness can keep the mind awake and prevent sleeping! I'm no doctor, but have experienced the same things. Not being able to fall asleep until I fall into PMO is a big issue. Finding remedies for anxiety and sleeplessness, if routine, is crucial for addressing a root issue that leads to PMO. Be encouraged that you have the awareness of underlying factors! All encouragement to you!

 

I've noticed when I view P my brain is all fired up and I stay awake thinking about it. After I noticed that it was an added bonus to continue nofap. If that doesn't work for you I would recommend getting a book, a big one thats bounded with paper. No point in lying awake trying to fall asleep might as well get something productive done and staying with a device that allows you to relapse is dangerous.

 

I'm going to just put down this giant wall of text that talks about how you can help get sleep. Hope this helps you out with trying to get to sleep, worth a shot.

Dim the lights well before bedtime. Harvard’s Charles Czeisler has found that exposure to bright
light before bedtime suppresses the melatonin response, and may impair your ability to get to sleep.

Warm feet in a cold room is ideal. The ideal ambient temperature for sleep promotion is a little colder than you might think–between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. People who sleep well exhibit a drop in core temperature and an increase in dilation in the extremities, so troubled sleepers can try a hot water bottle at the feet, while sleeping in a room that’s kept in the low 60s, to reset the “internal thermostat” and help the body fall asleep.

Watch your fat intake. A recent study in Sleep Med showed that of 15 nutrients tracked, fat intake had the highest correlation to poor sleep. The study showed that the more fat a woman ate, the more trouble she had sleeping.

Get out of bed if you can’t sleep. It may sound counter-intuitive, but sleep experts like John Winkleman have found that tossing and turning in bed will make you associate your insomnia-related frustrations with the bed. Winkleman has been quoted as saying, “The bed is for two things,” he said, “if you’re lucky.”

Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. In this interview with Cornell sleep expert James Maas, he highlights a study comparing people with different sleep patterns. He notes that if you compare 2 groups that get the same amount of sleep, with one group going to bed at vastly different times each night (say, 11 PM one night and 3 AM the next) and the second group going to sleep at the same time each night, the second group will be “significantly more alert.”

You booze, you lose. Alcohol is a depressant, but also activates the sympathetic nervous system in a way that can disrupt sleep. Although wine contains melatonin, it also has the stimulant amino acid tyrosine in it, and can inhibit REM sleep.

Don’t be too quick to take sleep drugs–especially if you’re older. A meta-review of 24 studies found that while sleep drugs may help, the effect is small and there are risks involved, particularly for people over 60, who may experience cognitive decline or increased likelihood of falling related to the drugs.

 

My suggestion is to start a workout routine. It helps with both the anxiety and sleep. The issue, I think, is all the excess energy. I went through the same thing, but working out helped a ton.

 

Nothing wrong, in my view, with sleep meds, whether natural/herbal (melatonin) or medical. That has helped me a lot of times. A lot of relapse, in my experience, occurs at night. The mind just isn't firing on all pistons and bizarre ideas appear to be inevitable ones. I made a list of 100 things I could do instead of PMO when I can't get to sleep at night. That could be watching a favorite movie, listening to music, going for a drive, even silly things like shooting a cap gun or blowing bubbles. Anything but PMO. A temptation is time-sensitive. One addiction specialist said temptations are not known to last for more than 3-4 hours. It won't last forever. I can outwit it by simply outwaiting it.