zocd

Date posted: 50w

OCD & Sleep

Does anyone have any experience with OCD about sleep? Specifically, obsessing about sleep which then makes you not sleep? I'm stuck in a cycle of worry about not being able to fall back to sleep before my alarm goes off when I wake up in the middle of the night, and all that worry leads me to not get myself back to sleep in time. A self-fulfilling prophecy that's really affecting my functioning. Not being able to sleep is all I can think about, even during the day, which is only making things worse. What helped you overcome this issue? Any advice would be much appreciated 🙏🏻

lostmycds

Date posted: 50w

It sounds frustrating to have anxiety ocd causing you not to sleep properly, ive experienced the exact same thing before. Something that may help is practicing mindfulness. An example that helps me understand it more is imagine you're listening to your favorite song. Being mindful would mean really listening to the music, noticing all the different instruments, the lyrics, and how the song makes you feel. You’re fully focused on the experience, not thinking about what happened earlier in the day or what you need to do later. And the next night you go to sleep, try to start having at least an hour nightly routine before bed without talking to anyone, TRUST. ME. Like, do whatever else you want watch some youtube, netflix, eat, skincare, plan your outfit for the next day to ease anxiety, (that actually helps a LOT.) I hope this helps! <3

zocd

Date posted: 50w

Yes to the mindfulness for sure, I have a daily meditation practice and regular yoga practice as well but of course have trouble being mindful in this particular category 🙃 I've been working on a jigsaw puzzle before bed to wind down!

Iloverowdy12

Date posted: 50w

Yesss I went through this when my ocd was bad I would think about it all day if I was gonna sleep that night

Iloverowdy12

Date posted: 50w

@Iloverowdy12 I would say just try to have the mindset of if I sleep I sleep if I don’t I don’t don’t give it too much power over you

zocd

Date posted: 50w

@Iloverowdy12 I've been working on that mindset, I'm trying not to care about whether I sleep or not but not there yet lol

zocd

Date posted: 50w

I appreciate everyone's responses ❤️

Nica

Date posted: 50w

Yes, and then I also was on a terrible sleeping schedule which did not help. When are you going to bed and getting up in the morning? Are you on a routine? Are you exercising? Do you go out of the house daily?

zocd

Date posted: 50w

Same bedtime and wake up time, and yes I'm exercising and getting out and doing all the sleep hygiene things. I've tried different meds and even saw a sleep specialist. It comes down to my thoughts- I'm not sure how to get myself to fall back to sleep once I wake up and start panicking (I've tried deep breathing and meditation and counting backwards by 7s, etc).

Nica

Date posted: 50w

@Christine Z Then you need to accept the fact it’s not medical and you cannot give into your OCD. If your OCD wakes you up before your alarm, then oh well. Get up and start the day. Your body will be tired if you go about your daily routine, and then your mind eventually catches up. But not if you continually focus on sleeping—that has the opposite effect and will just keep you up.

zocd

Date posted: 50w

@Nica I can't start my routine at that hour unfortunately, but yes acceptance 100%, just having trouble getting there

Nica

Date posted: 50w

@Christine Z I didn’t give a specific time to wake up and go to bed, but it needs to be at or around the same time.

zocd

Date posted: 50w

@Nica Oh I meant I can't start my routine at the hour that I wake up (between midnight and 2am), my bedtime and wake time are consistent

Anonymous

Date posted: 13w

Any updates on how are you now? Currently going through this

Anonymous

Date posted: 23w

Sleep and OCD?

Does anyone else's OCD get worse when you haven't slept well? I haven't been sleeping well since this weekend and my OCD and anxiety is just making me feel super down. Does anyone else have this problem?

dollar

Date posted: 16w

I can't control the intrusive thoughts that come to me every time I go to sleep

English is my second language,so please bear with me if there are any shortcomings. My OCD is manifested in the need to go to the bathroom before going to bed every time, but after each urination, I worry that I will have to go to the bathroom again because I feel that I seem haven't finished. This will affect my sleep by repeatedly entering and exiting the bathroom. It takes me more than half an hour to go to the bathroom before going to bed every time, and I have to fight with myself to tell myself that I have finished and don't have any more urine, so I can sleep peacefully. However, it takes countless times to comfort myself.I tried to quickly finish urinating and then immediately step out of the bathroom, but every time I had the thought of "I still feel like I have a little more urine, should I squat again?" I felt like I was nailed to the toilet and couldn't get out. (Our toilets here are squat toilets), which greatly shortened my daily sleep time. Moreover, after using the toilet, I would continue to use my phone to relieve anxiety and develop a habit of staying up late, which undoubtedly exacerbated my symptoms.It's like a process of constantly pursuing certainty, making sure that I have completely emptied my bladder, but this pursuit is morbid, and I can't accept its uncertainty.I don't know what to do. Do you have any solutions?

baukje

Date posted: 12w

Erp for insomnia ?

I have, alongside my other OCD themes, an intense fear of insomnia. Although this has been improving somewhat — partly thanks to medication and The sleep school on YouTube — I still find myself ruminating about it throughout the day when I have something important the next day, I get stuck in the fear that everything will be ruined — for both myself and others — because my mind is so preoccupied with sleep. + a fear of depression coming back. It honestly feels like a form of sleep OCD. I'm not sure if that’s an official thing, but that’s how it feels to me. A form of erp is the idea of befriending wakefulness. That works great tbh. Things like sleep hygiene, meditation, etc. — tend to backfire because my OCD latches onto them and becomes too obsessive about “doing them right.” I’m genuinely wondering whether ERP — for example in the form of a worst-case-scenario audio loop (imaginal exposure) — could be helpful in this case. I’m hesitant to start unless I know it can actually help. Is there anyone who has experience with this or thoughts about it? I’m not looking for reassurance or tips to fall asleep — only for ideas on how ERP might be applied in this situation.

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