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?
Hi there! I am a licensed therapist at NOCD. I'm sorry to hear that you have not been sleeping well and it is making you feel super down. Yes, sleep deprivation can and will exacerbate OCD symptoms, depression, anxiety, and other life functions. It is important to create a consistent sleep, food intake, and daily schedule. I commend you for your insight and awareness, which a a great step in addressing how you are feeling. Are there other things you are noticing with your OCD and anxiety that might be impacted?
Because OCD can be triggered by stress, and lack of sleep can cause stress, that can absolutely happen. I know it happens to me when my sleep isn't on point.
It makes a lot of sense that your OCD and anxiety feel worse when you haven’t been sleeping well. Sleep plays a big role in emotional regulation, and when we’re exhausted, intrusive thoughts can feel even more overwhelming. You’re definitely not alone in this—many people with OCD notice an increase in symptoms when they’re sleep-deprived. While we can’t always control our sleep perfectly, focusing on good sleep habits—like keeping a consistent bedtime, reducing screen time before bed, and practicing relaxation techniques—might help. At the same time, it’s important to continue responding to your OCD thoughts in a way that aligns with your ERP work. Even if your anxiety feels heightened, remember that you can still choose how to respond to it.
Oh 100% yes. I have learned I need a good 8 to 9 hours of sleep per night to stay sane, or my mental health really starts to suffer and my OCD symptoms get worse!
Last night I was staying at my boyfriend’s house and couldn’t sleep. I felt like i desperately needed to go back to my parents and clean and organize my room. This has happened a few times before when I was staying at his place. Since then he’s been very upset with me. Does anyone else’s partner do this? Any advice? It’s been hard. He’s made me feel so shameful for having OCD. As if it’s not tough enough /:
It started when I became an adult, and started receiving my mental health diagnosis. I hyper fixated on each and every action I did and how it could be related to my diagnosis’s. It then lead to fixation to my physical health — making appointments and seeing every specialist I can to rule out every possibility. I currently have been suffering with obstructive sleep. I woke up the past few days with severe pain from the lack of sleep whilst believing I was oversleeping. Luckily my fit watch tracks my sleep cycle and it turns out I am not receiving any sleep. I had an extreme panic attack — bursting into tears on the phone with my mom wondering what this case might be. She told me it could be sleep apnea and that a simple sleep study could figure this out. However, knowing my family history I made appointments to every specialist I can to make sure it is nothing serious. The unknown of health can be scary to me. Watching my mother suffer with her physical health chronically since I was a child lead me to be very conscious and aware of how my body is functioning. This morning was one of the worst moments of physical pain. I should just take one step at a time with the sleep doctor instead of taking measures to see every specialist that could pertain with this issue. However, that is very hard to me. I don’t want to ever wake up in the pain I was this morning. Does anyone else suffer with health-related OCD? And if so, how do you find a sense of ease during moments like I expressed?
Does anyone Else’s ocd flare up bad when in stressful life situations? I was doing amazing and now that I’m having some drama with my life it seems to have come back with a vengeance. Anyone else?
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