'Constant anxiety and nightmares have left me exhausted. Please help!'

Hi Haya,

I experience anxiety on a regular basis, but something that has recently kept me worried is the strange nightmares I get, almost every day.

I'm neither a caffeine addict nor do I eat a lot of junk food and I always try to sleep on time. But this issue of getting nightmares has been so difficult to deal with. I often wake up in the middle of the night whenever I go through that experience. It leaves me anxious, panicky and low on energy throughout the day, disrupting my sleep schedule.

Is there a reason why this could be happening so often? I'm completely clueless about how to deal with this. Please help!

— Perpetually anxious

Dear perpetually anxious reader,

It sounds like these frequent nightmares are really taking a toll on your well-being, and I can understand why you would feel anxious and drained because of them. While nightmares can sometimes be random, experiencing them almost daily suggests there might be an underlying cause that needs your attention.

From a psychological perspective, nightmares are often linked to unresolved stress, anxiety, or even subconscious emotions we haven’t fully processed. Since you have been experiencing anxiety regularly, it sounds like your nightmares are a by-product of your anxiety, where your mind may be using dreams as a way to work through distressing thoughts, suppressing old experiences or fears that feel overwhelming during the day.

Anxiety is a fear-based response signalling us towards something that needs our attention. In your case, it would be helpful for you to get curious about what your anxiety is trying to tell you. Instead of trying to resolve it from a surface level, look inwards. There is a connection between your anxiety and nightmares.

Each time you get anxious, work on reflecting on your triggers. What triggers your anxiety? What environments are you in? Which people are you around? Do you notice any patterns? Are there certain thoughts, situations, or times of the day when your anxiety is worse? Are there certain worries that you are dealing with? Which areas of your life If any are overwhelming you? Which areas of your life do you feel a lack of alignment in? Are there any past traumas or unresolved emotions you haven’t dealt with?

All of these can contribute towards your anxiety and manifesting in your dreams.

Working on your internal world will aid you in developing self-awareness, and helping you understand what is really going on within.

Moreover, along with the lifestyle changes you’ve already made, I’d recommend incorporating some form of movement and balanced nutrition to help stabilise your mood. It would also be beneficial to focus on regulating your nervous system through deep breathing and meditation.

And remember, you don’t have to navigate this alone. Working with a trained therapist can give you deeper insight into your inner world and support you in building the coping skills you need to manage your anxiety and nightmares.

Wishing you healing and recovery!

Haya

Haya Malik is a psychotherapist, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, corporate well-being strategist and trainer with expertise in creating organisational cultures focused on well-being and raising awareness around mental health.

Send her your questions to [email protected]

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