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I'm not a veteran (though I went through 1.5 year of mandatory service back in my country) but I constantly have nightmares for as long as I could remember. The

I'm not a veteran (though I went through 1.5 year of mandatory service back in my country) but I constantly have nightmares for as long as I could remember. There are nights where I don't want to go to sleep because the night before I had a particularly disturbing nightmare. Remarkably scary dreams. I'm healthy, exercise nearly ever day. I avoid eating several hours before bedtime. I was diagnosed with GAD (general anxiety disorder) but I don't take any meds. I'm slowly coming to the realization that my baseline anxiety level is way higher than of the average person. For no apparent reason. It's frustrating but I'm trying my best to figure out a long term solution. edit: grammar

more_corn 4y ago
You sound like the perfect candidate for nightware. You should check it out and report back. I’d like to believe the marketing, but it sounds too good to be true.
machiaweliczny 4y ago
For my anxiety/depression SSRIs helped. I am much better without any side effects.
ddorian43 4y ago
Read "The body keeps the score" book.
dimator 4y ago
I have many friends that use marijuana in the evening, which helps them relax and sleep. Edibles are very effective these days.
- jakear 4y ago
  As relevant here, it blocks REM sleep and thus dreams. This can have downsides.
  - yamazakiwi 4y ago
    That is only in high THC strains. Many people use cannabinoids before bed as a supplement to encourage REM sleep.
  - eurasiantiger 4y ago
    It can also have significant upsides.
- gedy 4y ago
  Pot triggers panic attacks in some people though.
  - freedomben 4y ago
    Particularly if you take too high a dose. If it happens, I recommend reducing the intake.
    - squeaky-clean 4y ago
      It happens to me with only the tiniest little green speck in a bowl. Regardless of strain. Sometimes it's because someone took to much, but some people really do just get panic attacks from it. I used to be a daily smoker, then something in my body just flipped. I have a couple friends where the same thing happened in their early 30s. I've gotten bad anxiety from smoking too much in the past, but these are different. Full blown panic attacks with heart-attack-like symptoms and crushing fear. (My cardiologist checked me out, it really is just panic attacks). It did used to be great at preventing nightmares for me (and it was fun). Sure, sleep quality was worse than ideal but I almost never had an ideal night of sleep. But now I've tried too many times to find "the secret" to stop me from having panic attacks, nothing works and it's just made me become anxious at the sight/smell of weed.
      - BaronVonSteuben 4y ago
        Interesting, thanks for sharing. If you haven't tried it, Alprazolam (Xanax) has been a miracle for panic attacks, although these days it's pretty difficult to get from doctors. Modern American society seems to have decided that any medication that can possibly be abused is evil and must not be used even if somebody could really benefit from it. If you get some though, do NOT take it all the time and build a physical dependence. Withdrawing from Benzos is worse than opioids. If you only take it occasionally though you won't have any issues.
  - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
    I quit marijuana, but I did use it daily for years. An under appreciated aspect of pot and anxiety is the strain consumed. Broadly speaking pot is put in to two categories: indica and sativa. More indica leaning strains will produce more of a body depressing feeling of relaxation and tiredness. Sativas are more associated with alertness, and as I used pot while doing other things I only consumed pure sativas. However some strains of pure sativa are particularly prone to increasing anxiety. When I encountered those strains I had to stop consuming them and look for something else. Dosage is also very important. I consumed only roughly a pea-sized amount of ground flour in a sitting. High doses of sativa are much more likely to highten anxiety. I think it’s common for people to take a big rip of pot and suffer negative side effects. Very small doses are under appreciated I believe. That said I quit marijuana early this year. I think overall my anxiety has decreased. I believe I may have been masking emotional problems, and quitting marijuana made it easier for me to process them. However if someone is having nightmares, they may consider smoking indica before bed. It may always depend on the strain, but I believe indica is unlikely to trigger panic attacks.
schoen 4y ago
There are lots of therapies available for anxiety disorders -- medication, CBT, talk therapy, biofeedback. Some of the psychedelic therapies that are getting official trials now also show promise for anxiety. I hope you'll find something that works well for you!
- n0tth3dro1ds 4y ago
  - skyyler 4y ago
    CBT is backed by clinical evidence. What makes you think it's pseudo-scientific?
    - n0tth3dro1ds 4y ago
      Clinical means nothing. I can open a chiropractic clinic and create “clinical” evidence all day long. It’s still pseudo-science if the results aren’t replicable. Studies surrounding CBT (and the field of psychology as a whole) are not replicable. They are, almost always, based on converting qualitative metrics (how you feel) and filtering them through a designed survey in order to convert these qualitative, subjective abstractions into something that resembles something quantitative and scientific. The result is a field has with a ~40% replicability rate in it’s most “prestigious” journals. So, yes, the “professionals” have PhDs and use the doctor salutation. They’re not scientists. They’re just pretending. Want to know what you almost never see in the studies investigating the effectiveness of these “therapies”? Life outcome investigations. “Do patients doing CBT actually recover from their depression, as measured by educational attainment/employment/regaining employment?” Good luck finding a study indicating that any significant subset of “depressed” people got over their issues as a result of the CBT itself with a HARD LIFE OUTCOME as the point of investigation. It’s all subjective feelings filtered through qualitative 1 thru 10 surveys. Patients never improve. They stay on the $200/session revenue stream forever and get a lifetime prescription to go with it, often for a nebulous “condition” that is basically synonymous with descriptions of the normal human condition. “I feel anxious” gets you a script. Outside of panic attacks, it’s a normal feeling. “I have trouble focusing” gets you an amphetamine script. It’s a normal feeling. “I lack motivation and purpose” gets you an SSRI, with nary a blood test or a scan of the brain. Again, a perfectly normal part of being a human. Psychotropic intervention in this field is barbaric and pseudoscientific. If there is any justice in this world, it will be held in the same esteem as lobotomy in the future.
anonymouswacker 4y ago
Have you tried seeing a psychoanalyst, or otherwise delving into the meaning of dreams/nightmares? "What you resist persists."
lisper 4y ago
You are not alone. My earliest memories (like from age 3-4) are of very specific nightmares, and they have continued to dog me my entire life. (Also in 1991 I surprised a burglar in my home who took a pot-shot at me with a .38 on his way out the window, and that didn't help.) FWIW: 1. I think it's genetic. Anxiety seems to run in my family. We are descended from Holocaust survivors. I think it is plausible that that one event produced strong evolutionary selection pressure in favor of paranoia and anxiety. 2. It gets better as you get older (at least it has for me). 3. Anxiety is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you're afraid of being anxious, that makes you more anxious. Meditation helps. Quiet and/or white noise too. Good luck.
- shagie 4y ago
  > 1. I think it's genetic. Anxiety seems to run in my family. We are descended from Holocaust survivors. I think it is plausible that that one event produced strong evolutionary selection pressure in favor of paranoia and anxiety. It's... interesting genetics. https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2011/sep/09/pregnant-911-survivors-transmitted-trauma https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2011/sep... > How might the traumatic experiences of a pregnant woman be transmitted to her unborn children? Research published over the past 10 years or so suggests that this probably occurs by epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene activity that are not due to changes in DNA sequence. Epigenetics reveals how genes interact with environmental factors, and has been implicated in many normal and abnormal brain functions. > A key study in this emerging field, published in 2004, showed that the quality of a rat mother's care significantly affects how its offspring behave in adulthood. Michael Meaney of McGill University and his colleagues found that rat pups that had been repeatedly groomed and licked by their mothers during the first week of life were subsequently better at coping with stressful and fearful situations than pups who received little or no contact. > They further showed that these effects are mediated by epigenetic mechanisms that alter expression of the glucocorticoid receptor, which plays a key role in the body's response to stress. Analysis of the pups' brains at one week old revealed differences in DNA methylation, a process by which DNA is chemically modified. Methylation involves the addition of small molecules called methyl groups, consisting of one carbon and three hydrogen atoms, to specific sites in the DNA sequence encoding a gene. --- Grandmaternal stress during pregnancy and DNA methylation of the third generation: an epigenome-wide association study - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5611722/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5611722/ > Stress during pregnancy may impact subsequent generations, which is demonstrated by an increased susceptibility to childhood and adulthood health problems in the children and grandchildren. Although the importance of the prenatal environment is well reported with regards to future physical and emotional outcomes, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that mediate the long-term consequences of early stress across generations. Recent studies have identified DNA methylation as a possible mediator of the impact of prenatal stress in the offspring. Whether psychosocial stress during pregnancy also affects DNA methylation of the grandchildren is still not known. In the present study we examined the multigenerational hypothesis, that is, grandmaternal exposure to psychosocial stress during pregnancy affecting DNA methylation of the grandchildren. We determined the genome-wide DNA methylation profile in 121 children (65 females and 56 males) and tested for associations with exposure to grandmaternal interpersonal violence during pregnancy. We observed methylation variations of five CpG sites significantly (FDR<0.05) associated with the grandmother’s report of exposure to violence while pregnant with the mothers of the children. The results revealed differential methylation of genes previously shown to be involved in circulatory system processes (FDR<0.05). This study provides support for DNA methylation as a biological mechanism involved in the transmission of stress across generations and motivates further investigations to examine prenatal-dependent DNA methylation as a potential biomarker for health problems. --- Intergenerational effects of maternal post-traumatic stress disorder on offspring epigenetic patterns and cortisol levels - https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/epi-2021-0015 https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/epi-2021-0015 > Aim: To investigate the association between maternal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during pregnancy and offspring DNA methylation and cortisol levels. Materials & methods: Blood genome-wide DNA methylation and cortisol was measured in the youngest child of 117 women who experienced sexual violence/torture during the Kosovo war. Results: Seventy-two percent of women had PTSD symptoms during pregnancy. Their children had higher cortisol levels and differential methylation at candidate genes (NR3C1, HTR3A and BNDF). No methylation differences reached epigenome-wide corrected significance levels. Conclusion: Identifying the biological processes whereby the negative effects of trauma are passed across generations and defining groups at high risk is a key step to breaking the intergenerational transmission of the effects of mental disorders --- And specifically about Holocaust survivors - Study finds epigenetic changes in children of Holocaust survivors https://www.research.va.gov/currents/1016-3.cfm https://www.research.va.gov/currents/1016-3.cfm > The researchers focused on FKBP5, a stress gene linked to PTSD, depression, and mood and anxiety disorders. The results suggest that Holocaust exposure had an effect on FKBP5 methylation—a mechanism that controls the gene's expression—that was observed in parents exposed to the horrors of the concentration camps, as well as their offspring, many of whom showed signs of depression and anxiety. > ... > She says the researchers pursued this study because offspring of Holocaust survivors "said to us in clinic, 'we are casualties of the Holocaust and need treatment.'" Her team tested blood samples of 32 Holocaust survivors and 22 of their adult children for methylation of intron 7, an area in the FKBP5 gene. For a control group, they analyzed Jewish parents who lived outside of Europe during World War II—most were U.S.- or Canadian-born—and their offspring. > Interestingly, Holocaust survivors and their children showed epigenetic changes at the same site of FKBP5 intron 7 but in the opposite direction. Survivors had a 10 percent higher methylation than the control parents, while the Holocaust children had a 7.7 percent lower methylation than the control children.
givemeethekeys 4y ago
I suffered for a couple of decades: anxiety, random panic. I was able to address them by following the following: 1. Have things to look forward to. 2. Pay attention to nutrition, health, rest, breathing, exercise. 3. Meditate. Socialize. 4. Occasionally when anxiety grows, breathe, visualize yourself performing a repetitive yet fun activity (like swimming laps, chopping vegetables.. whatever takes focus). Your heart rate will drop and things will calm down. Sometimes when your heart is racing, it's possible you just have pent up energy and you need to crank out some pushups and squats at 3am. Such is life.
- sossles 4y ago
  4. is underrated and mysterious. I've dealt with periods of anxiety by playing an online competitive card game, something that "should" be stressful, but having played it hundreds of times before, the steady stream of familiar choices that ultimately don't matter, is soothing.
- girthbrooks 4y ago
  When I'm spun up I try to avoid additional physical exercise as I don't want to have a stroke or a heart attack or something. I'm physically fit and my resting heart rate is in the 48-51bpm region day to day. Am I completely overthinking this?
  - jwagenet 4y ago
    I’m not familiar with the medical evidence, but… why would exercise instigate a cardiac event when anxious? Perhaps if having a panic attack it would be unwise, but I feel like exercise can serve as a distraction or outlet to anxiety and be beneficial on the whole.
  - anon400232 4y ago
    Please explain what you mean by spun up. If we are talking about emotional stress coupled with a slight increase in heart rate, I would not be concerned about doing exercise. Quite the opposite -- I think a quick jog around the block can do wonders. The key is to be able to do the exercise without bringing additional stress.
cm2012 4y ago
My wife had horrible, hours long life-disrupting nightmares every day. Prazosin, a medicine your doctor can prescribe, solved them within a week, they are much less common and much less intense now. Highly recommend to try.
- eurasiantiger 4y ago
  Highly not recommended for men! Prazosin decreases luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and ultimately testosterone levels.
  - blacksmith_tb 4y ago
    Sleep deprivation also lowers testosterone levels[1], and Prazosin is commonly prescribed to men with benign prostate enlargement, so pick your battles? 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445839/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445839/
    - eurasiantiger 4y ago
      The OP article actually mentions prazosin: >“There is a medication that a lot of them are on called Prazosin, which is actually a blood pressure drug, but it doesn’t work for many patients, has a lot of side effects, and also decreases your athletic performance. And in the military, athletic performance is very, very important.” >Robert Guithues knew Prazosin well — after he returned from Afghanistan, it was one of the 30 pills he was taking daily to help with the injuries he sustained while deployed, including PTSD and nightmares. But sleep was still elusive, and he knew there had to be a better solution than the drugs, which he feared were doing more harm to his body than good.
aantix 4y ago
Have you ever had a hair tissue mineral analysis done?
heavyset_go 4y ago
Prazosin is the one drug on the market approved for PTSD-related nightmares, I've heard that it works well, but it's a blood pressure medication, so it might not be well tolerated based on conditions or other medications taken.
nonameiguess 4y ago
For what it's worth, though you're clearly not eligible for American VA benefits if you served in a non-American military, the legal definition of a "veteran" in the US is anyone who performed any active-duty military service at all. You don't need to see combat to be considered a veteran. You're obviously less likely to end up with PTSD if you don't see combat, though you'd be surprised. Training can be rough and a fairly high number of people end up being assaulted and/or raped while in garrison, and of course several US military installations have also been the site of mass-shooting events. Anyway, if this has happened your entire life, I wonder if there is really anything you can do about it. That seems distinct from trauma-induced. This seems to describe my sister. From as early as I can remember, so at least when she was as young as 3, she was waking up in cold sweats pretty regularly having dreams the entire family except her was murdered in the middle of the night. Myself, I can't remember ever having a single nightmare my entire life, and I served in the Army during Iraq and Afghanistan and even outside of the military had a few near-death encounters. Some people are just a lot more predisposed to worry than others. It's not necessarily a bad trait, either. I'm reasonably sure the high number of near-death experiences for me is because I'm way too prone to idiotic risks because I never believe anything bad will happen. And always surviving just reinforces that even though I know rationally I just got lucky. Humanity exists right now because my ancestors were mostly a lot more anxious than I am.
- dkiok21k 4y ago
  "The child survives the Trauma of Identity by giving up on his healthy identity, his autonomy, in order to have some connection with his mother, without whom he cannot survive. He is forced to identify with his mother's wants and needs, where his wants and needs are ignored, mis-interpreted or used as a means of persecution by the mother. This, then, brings the therapeutic question "Who am I?". And existentially this question is automatically followed by the question "What do I want?", because in order to know what I want I must have a reasonable sense of who I am. The Trauma of Love happens when the connection that the child does manage to maintain with his mother after the Trauma of Identity is not in effect a clear, loving connection, but rather a connection that is painful, unfulfilling, manipulative and persecutory. These traumas form the foundation of our life, our ability to grow up with a healthy, stable psyche, or not. All later experiences that constitute a trauma are always, also, a re-stimulation of these early, pre-verbal, pre-memory events." https://www.vivianbroughton.com/about-iopt/ https://www.vivianbroughton.com/about-iopt/
mtalantikite 4y ago
I used to have night terrors as a kid and I can relate to that feeling of not wanting to go to bed. I'm not sure if they're genetic or not -- my father grew up during the Algerian revolution, so it's hard to tell if his nightmares are just an artifact of being terrorized by French colonists. I also had a period of getting panic attacks in my early 20s. One thing that was/has been super helpful for my anxiety and general well being was starting a daily meditation practice. The Tibetan teacher Mingyur Rinpoche also had an anxiety disorder and had panic attacks as a child, and is a very clear teacher, if you're ever looking for someone to explore that with. I had had a lot of meditation experience before starting it, but I found his `Joy of Living` course to be very good (if a little basic at first). [1][2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m38SwUKZZJw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m38SwUKZZJw [2] https://joy.tergar.org/ https://joy.tergar.org/
- rpastuszak 4y ago
  > [...] my father grew up during the Algerian revolution, so it's hard to tell if his nightmares are just an artifact of being terrorized by French colonists. Epigenetics in the wild: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-parents-rsquo-trauma-leaves-biological-traces-in-children/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-parents-rsquo...
  - wsc981 4y ago
    Gabor Maté [0] also discusses this topic often, particularly related to children. You can find quite a few interesting interviews with him online, for example with Joe Rogan [1] or Tim Feriss [2]. --- [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabor_Maté https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabor_Maté [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkAcJBjutiQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkAcJBjutiQ [2]: https://youtu.be/H9B5mYfBPlY?t=3944 https://youtu.be/H9B5mYfBPlY?t=3944
    - rpastuszak 4y ago
      Ha, interesting. I learned about Maté during my previous gig (generative music for psychedelic therapy). Will give it a read, cheers.
deleted 4y ago
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irthomasthomas 4y ago
Try sleeping on your side only, or try a snore alarm or breathing aids like nasal strips or decongestant. I find my nightmares and sleep paralysis are linked to snoring. When you snore you are not getting enough oxygen and your heart rate increases to compensate. Then for some weird reason your brain invents dream scenarios to match your racing heart.
SXX 4y ago
I'm not actual doctor and there can be better ways to threat your problem, but here are two things that helped me greatly with quality of sleep. First of all buy yourself high-quality CO2 meter for ~$100 and make sure that CO2 not going over 1000 PPM while you sleeping. Every single time I sleep in closed room with bad ventilation where CO2 getting over 1200-1500 PPM I will wake up in terror. You can't imagine how many people I knew had terrible quality of sleep due to bad ventilaton and never realise it. Second thing if nothing else works. Try strictly-scientific lucid dreaming practices: record as much of dreams is possible in a diary for several months, do deep breathing before sleep, etc. Looking at your hands every now and then is required and slightly weird, but it totally worth it. Once you get lucid in a dream once and preserve memory of it will become much easier to deal with nightmares. Lucid dreaming cost nothing even though some REM sleep tracker like one in Apple Watch is useful. Though beware of bullshit.
- anon400232 4y ago
  I don't understand how ventilation could cause CO2 to get that imbalanced. Can you cite a source?
  - SXX 4y ago
    ELI5? - Your normal city air CO2 is 350-500 PPM. - Humans exhale CO2. - In closed unventilated bedroom CO2 have nowhere to go. - Air isn't being mixed when you sleep too. - In few hours PPM can grow to 2000 or higher. - Cheap air conditioners either dont have fresh air ventilation at all or dont have sufficient efficiency to compensate for two humans breathing. You can google actual numbers elsewhere. Solution usually consist to sleeping with open windows or getting proper fresh air ventination system.
- anon400232 4y ago
  > You can't imagine how many people I knew had terrible quality of sleep due to bad ventilaton and never realise it. Try me. How many? How many tried the intervention you recommended? How many saw a benefit? How many did not?
  - 4y ago
cbtacy 4y ago
That sounds very frustrating and difficult. I'm really sorry. Do you have good professional care? Are you in a safe place?
phyzix5761 4y ago
Meditation definitely helps. A combination of Metta, Anapanasati, and Vipassana mediation really helped me.
- phyzix5761 4y ago
  Meditation*
lake_vincent 4y ago
If I may suggest something unorthodox - have you tried psychedelic therapy? And I don't mean just taking a psychedelic, I mean working with a therapist to go on an intentional healing journey. Might be worth a trip to Oregon :)
- fudgefactorfive 4y ago
  I admit, although not medically prescribed or supervised, doing mushrooms has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Although I still have persistent nightmares it changed my understanding of other people and their perspectives to the point my anxiety in a lot of situations has vanished. I don't think people should go nuts with them but I do think it's a good idea for some people with anxiety to find a clean pleasant care-free place to try them. Even if it just allows them to spend a few hours immersing themselves in completely different thought patterns and potentially gain something from them.
dkiok21k 4y ago
I recommend to try the free workshops by https://www.identitydevelopmentinstitute.com/ https://www.identitydevelopmentinstitute.com/ - please report back!
tbalsam 4y ago
Complex PTSD can be a condition that involves significant to total amnesia of the events causing it, while seeming to appear as constant hypervigilance in the present day. Just a note, even parental emotional neglect (which we tend to develop a blind eye to purely for survival's sake) is enough to cause c-PTSD to form (as defined in the most recent ICD). I'm not necessarily DX'ing but I wish someone had pointed me at some resources when I was just starting to ask the inkling of the same questions. I'm getting to do the work at a much younger age that I see not many people doing until the end of their lives, though it is sort of hell being young and all. Pete Walker's book on Complex PTSD is an amazing read regardless for anyone in the community, I'd say without diagnosing that as a potential avenue -- take a read of a few snippets, see if they resonate with you (or trigger massive denial/distraction chains), and just work your way through the book slowly if so. The techniques in there can help anyone with even "just" an internal (or otherwise) critic. :) Hope this helps, the brain is an interesting place and we've only gotten some really good resources for misc conditions that don't externally seem to fit a particular mold. I'm starting to believe that every trauma reaction variant is some exemplar mode of some superset of possible adaptive coping mechanisms, and that in reality the dx and treatment of these things can be much more on point than the diagnosis of "anxiety" or "depression", which I'm viewing more and more as exceptionally frivolous and misleading as a standalone diagnosis (instead of as a descriptor, or a modifier), and is oftentimes as effective as diagnosing someone with "a fever" or "chills and aches". Doing so would alienate the person (in my eyes) and would take a place in a/the diagnosis "slot" that could hold something more informative to their actual base condition (instead of being a rather shallow observation with practically zero actionable value.... And we wonder why a variety of treatments for depression, for example, have low-30's success ratings across multiple stages of trying different treatments! I can't remember the exact numbers but the 4-5 stage...STAR study, I think it is, was one of the biggest and rather disappointing. The future seems somewhat promising but still too far away.... ::( ) Knowing _why_ is the very extremely hard part. :))))
- creakingstairs 4y ago
  > Complex PTSD can be a condition that involves significant to total amnesia of the events causing it I have a high baseline anxiety and pretty much no memory of anything pre 8 (except for very small fragments). When I’ve come across amnesia part while reading “Body keeps scores”, it frankly frightened me (and still does) of what might be lurking in my past.
LeifCarrotson 4y ago
FWIW, your baseline anxiety level is way higher than mine. My parents tell me stories of when I was a kid and would come to them with nightmares on a couple funny occasions, but it's been decades since I've had what I'd call a nightmare. I have rational concerns about elements of my future that look negative but over which I have limited control - economic, political, ecological, health, and other general concerns - but I don't fixate on them or dream about them. I relish going to sleep, and have either forgettable dreams or pleasant dreams. I enjoy quiet time with my thoughts, going for a jog or bike ride, or just relaxing in the backyard and daydreaming. I see others here talking about high anxiety, and I hope that you're able to find a solution for your issues, but your baseline anxiety level sounds like it's orders of magnitude higher than mine. I'm not trying to brag, I just want to share in the hopes of getting some idea of "average person" - am I perhaps far less anxious than "normal"?
dm03514 4y ago
I have a theory that people with anxiety (i.e. myself) have a strong mind -> body connection, but in a negative way. My anxious thoughts lead directly to physiological changes, increased heart rate, shallow breathing, sweating etc. Based on the people in my life without anxiety, they can have similar thoughts as me, even "anxious" in nature, but they don't seem to have the physiological response that I do, as an anxious person. What do you all think?
- allicombigator 4y ago
  anxiety responses include what you are talking about: if there is a grizzly bear threatening you, your heartbeat should go up and you will sweat the point here is that you are feeling exaggerated anxiety with minimal external triggers, but the nature of the anxiety response is normal
photochemsyn 4y ago
Sleeping with headphones listening to a loop of ocean sounds, or wind in a forest, etc. can be helpful. Exceptionally vivid dreams can get disrupted this way, anecdotally speaking. It seems a little like what this Nightware app is supposed to do. I'd find vivid dreams getting literally washed away by ocean waves using this method, i.e. you might be having a nightmare, and then ocean surf from nowhere sweeps through, and everything gets swept away, and I'd end up in a peaceful dream of floating on the ocean etc.
- geezer_2 4y ago
  This doesn't always work. A friend did massage in a small fishing town in Alaska. As soon as she put on the ocean-waves-breaking-on-a-beach sounds, the massageee would usually bolt upright from the table in a total panic attack. Your mileage may vary!
politician 4y ago
Are you able to lucid dream? If so, you can create impossible illogical situations and force yourself to wake up. Breathing under water, flying so high the overview effect saturates your ability to generate fake ground, jumping and sticking in the air. These are all examples of things you can do that demonstrate to yourself that you’re dreaming.
aszantu 4y ago
For me, keto helped with depression but anxiety only went away when I cut out veggies as well. Vitamin B and zinc are known to help with inflamation. Magnesium as well. Deficiency dawned on me when I was much calmer with red bull which is the only energy drink with vitamin b complex and magnesium. Haven't found much on it apart from: most neurotransmitters are made in the guts, so what we eat does matter. Some additives in fast food can weaken the blood/brain barrier, so stuff that made it through the gut/blood barrier get in the brain and activate the brain's immune system.
RobRivera 4y ago
i found this truly helpful, thrice a week sauna->cold water plunges. about an hour of just 10m sauna-> 1m cold water for a few circuits followed by some relaxation in a hottub or steam room lowered my anxiety and has slowed my brain. also, chill on the caffeinne and reduce alcohol. I'm a vet with ptsd so i take every fruit of mental wellness i can
lutzke 4y ago
> I'm slowly coming to the realization that my baseline anxiety level is way higher than of the average person. For no apparent reason. One book that may be of interest to you: Born Anxious, by Daniel P. Keating: discusses epigenetics and how methylation can predispose certain individuals to higher baseline levels of stress and anxiety. Other books which may not be revelant to you, but would perhaps be of interest to others reading these comments: The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk: Talks about the imprints trauma leaves on the mind and the body, and shines a light on how ineffective and misguided many of the mainstream, frontline treatments offered to people with histories of trauma are. (Just because you don't meet the criteria for PTSD, doesn't mean you haven't experienced some form of trauma.) Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve, by Stanley Rosenberg: I haven't finished this one yet, but it discusses the three fight/flight, social engagement, and freeze/depression states of the nervous system, as described in the Polyvagal Theory put forward by Stephen Porges. I've been told by a clinician with a career in working with trauma survivors that the Polyvagal Theory is a key piece of the puzzle in treating trauma. Even if you're not dealing with the effects of trauma, I think you may still find this book interesting, as it describes how we can get locked into states of anxiety one the one hand, or lethargy on the other, finding it difficult to simply relax and be present for our lives. Author Gabor Maté - I'm not sure if he has any books concentrating specifically on anxiety, but his work seems interesting. Episode 1869 of The Joe Rogan Experience, where he was the guest, was quite illuminating. Molecules of Emotion, by Candace B. Pert: I haven't started this one yet, but it talks about how the body and mind/brain/nervous system aren't as separate as many of us may like to think. It sounds interesting. Some lifestyle changes that may help with anxiety and other mental health conditions, including depression: (completely anecdotal, I am not a doctor, etc.) * Regular, vigorous aerobic exercise, e.g. running five kilometres three times per week. Can't run five kilometres? Check out 'Couch to 5K.' I find that vigorous exercise seems to help 'burn off' anxiety and stress and make it easier to relax. (as recommended by Keating in Born Anxious.) Additionally, depression often goes hand-in-hand with anxiety, and "the efficacy of exercise in decreasing symptoms of depression has been well established." (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC474733/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC474733/) * Yoga: teaches one to listen to and befriend one's body. When one is constantly anxious and on alert, the body can tend to be constantly tense, ready for action. * Diet: the so-called Mediterranean diet seems to be quite healthy: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7536728/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7536728/ I'm not sure if eating healthy has been shown to help with anxiety, but can it really hurt?

more_corn 4y ago

You sound like the perfect candidate for nightware. You should check it out and report back. I’d like to believe the marketing, but it sounds too good to be true.

machiaweliczny 4y ago

For my anxiety/depression SSRIs helped. I am much better without any side effects.

ddorian43 4y ago

Read "The body keeps the score" book.

dimator 4y ago

I have many friends that use marijuana in the evening, which helps them relax and sleep. Edibles are very effective these days.

jakear 4y ago
As relevant here, it blocks REM sleep and thus dreams. This can have downsides.
- yamazakiwi 4y ago
  That is only in high THC strains. Many people use cannabinoids before bed as a supplement to encourage REM sleep.
- eurasiantiger 4y ago
  It can also have significant upsides.
gedy 4y ago
Pot triggers panic attacks in some people though.
- freedomben 4y ago
  Particularly if you take too high a dose. If it happens, I recommend reducing the intake.
  - squeaky-clean 4y ago
    It happens to me with only the tiniest little green speck in a bowl. Regardless of strain. Sometimes it's because someone took to much, but some people really do just get panic attacks from it. I used to be a daily smoker, then something in my body just flipped. I have a couple friends where the same thing happened in their early 30s. I've gotten bad anxiety from smoking too much in the past, but these are different. Full blown panic attacks with heart-attack-like symptoms and crushing fear. (My cardiologist checked me out, it really is just panic attacks). It did used to be great at preventing nightmares for me (and it was fun). Sure, sleep quality was worse than ideal but I almost never had an ideal night of sleep. But now I've tried too many times to find "the secret" to stop me from having panic attacks, nothing works and it's just made me become anxious at the sight/smell of weed.
    - BaronVonSteuben 4y ago
      Interesting, thanks for sharing. If you haven't tried it, Alprazolam (Xanax) has been a miracle for panic attacks, although these days it's pretty difficult to get from doctors. Modern American society seems to have decided that any medication that can possibly be abused is evil and must not be used even if somebody could really benefit from it. If you get some though, do NOT take it all the time and build a physical dependence. Withdrawing from Benzos is worse than opioids. If you only take it occasionally though you won't have any issues.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  I quit marijuana, but I did use it daily for years. An under appreciated aspect of pot and anxiety is the strain consumed. Broadly speaking pot is put in to two categories: indica and sativa. More indica leaning strains will produce more of a body depressing feeling of relaxation and tiredness. Sativas are more associated with alertness, and as I used pot while doing other things I only consumed pure sativas. However some strains of pure sativa are particularly prone to increasing anxiety. When I encountered those strains I had to stop consuming them and look for something else. Dosage is also very important. I consumed only roughly a pea-sized amount of ground flour in a sitting. High doses of sativa are much more likely to highten anxiety. I think it’s common for people to take a big rip of pot and suffer negative side effects. Very small doses are under appreciated I believe. That said I quit marijuana early this year. I think overall my anxiety has decreased. I believe I may have been masking emotional problems, and quitting marijuana made it easier for me to process them. However if someone is having nightmares, they may consider smoking indica before bed. It may always depend on the strain, but I believe indica is unlikely to trigger panic attacks.

schoen 4y ago

There are lots of therapies available for anxiety disorders -- medication, CBT, talk therapy, biofeedback. Some of the psychedelic therapies that are getting official trials now also show promise for anxiety. I hope you'll find something that works well for you!

n0tth3dro1ds 4y ago
- skyyler 4y ago
  CBT is backed by clinical evidence. What makes you think it's pseudo-scientific?
  - n0tth3dro1ds 4y ago
    Clinical means nothing. I can open a chiropractic clinic and create “clinical” evidence all day long. It’s still pseudo-science if the results aren’t replicable. Studies surrounding CBT (and the field of psychology as a whole) are not replicable. They are, almost always, based on converting qualitative metrics (how you feel) and filtering them through a designed survey in order to convert these qualitative, subjective abstractions into something that resembles something quantitative and scientific. The result is a field has with a ~40% replicability rate in it’s most “prestigious” journals. So, yes, the “professionals” have PhDs and use the doctor salutation. They’re not scientists. They’re just pretending. Want to know what you almost never see in the studies investigating the effectiveness of these “therapies”? Life outcome investigations. “Do patients doing CBT actually recover from their depression, as measured by educational attainment/employment/regaining employment?” Good luck finding a study indicating that any significant subset of “depressed” people got over their issues as a result of the CBT itself with a HARD LIFE OUTCOME as the point of investigation. It’s all subjective feelings filtered through qualitative 1 thru 10 surveys. Patients never improve. They stay on the $200/session revenue stream forever and get a lifetime prescription to go with it, often for a nebulous “condition” that is basically synonymous with descriptions of the normal human condition. “I feel anxious” gets you a script. Outside of panic attacks, it’s a normal feeling. “I have trouble focusing” gets you an amphetamine script. It’s a normal feeling. “I lack motivation and purpose” gets you an SSRI, with nary a blood test or a scan of the brain. Again, a perfectly normal part of being a human. Psychotropic intervention in this field is barbaric and pseudoscientific. If there is any justice in this world, it will be held in the same esteem as lobotomy in the future.

anonymouswacker 4y ago

Have you tried seeing a psychoanalyst, or otherwise delving into the meaning of dreams/nightmares? "What you resist persists."

lisper 4y ago

You are not alone. My earliest memories (like from age 3-4) are of very specific nightmares, and they have continued to dog me my entire life. (Also in 1991 I surprised a burglar in my home who took a pot-shot at me with a .38 on his way out the window, and that didn't help.) FWIW: 1. I think it's genetic. Anxiety seems to run in my family. We are descended from Holocaust survivors. I think it is plausible that that one event produced strong evolutionary selection pressure in favor of paranoia and anxiety. 2. It gets better as you get older (at least it has for me). 3. Anxiety is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you're afraid of being anxious, that makes you more anxious. Meditation helps. Quiet and/or white noise too. Good luck.

shagie 4y ago
> 1. I think it's genetic. Anxiety seems to run in my family. We are descended from Holocaust survivors. I think it is plausible that that one event produced strong evolutionary selection pressure in favor of paranoia and anxiety. It's... interesting genetics. https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2011/sep/09/pregnant-911-survivors-transmitted-trauma https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2011/sep... > How might the traumatic experiences of a pregnant woman be transmitted to her unborn children? Research published over the past 10 years or so suggests that this probably occurs by epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene activity that are not due to changes in DNA sequence. Epigenetics reveals how genes interact with environmental factors, and has been implicated in many normal and abnormal brain functions. > A key study in this emerging field, published in 2004, showed that the quality of a rat mother's care significantly affects how its offspring behave in adulthood. Michael Meaney of McGill University and his colleagues found that rat pups that had been repeatedly groomed and licked by their mothers during the first week of life were subsequently better at coping with stressful and fearful situations than pups who received little or no contact. > They further showed that these effects are mediated by epigenetic mechanisms that alter expression of the glucocorticoid receptor, which plays a key role in the body's response to stress. Analysis of the pups' brains at one week old revealed differences in DNA methylation, a process by which DNA is chemically modified. Methylation involves the addition of small molecules called methyl groups, consisting of one carbon and three hydrogen atoms, to specific sites in the DNA sequence encoding a gene. --- Grandmaternal stress during pregnancy and DNA methylation of the third generation: an epigenome-wide association study - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5611722/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5611722/ > Stress during pregnancy may impact subsequent generations, which is demonstrated by an increased susceptibility to childhood and adulthood health problems in the children and grandchildren. Although the importance of the prenatal environment is well reported with regards to future physical and emotional outcomes, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that mediate the long-term consequences of early stress across generations. Recent studies have identified DNA methylation as a possible mediator of the impact of prenatal stress in the offspring. Whether psychosocial stress during pregnancy also affects DNA methylation of the grandchildren is still not known. In the present study we examined the multigenerational hypothesis, that is, grandmaternal exposure to psychosocial stress during pregnancy affecting DNA methylation of the grandchildren. We determined the genome-wide DNA methylation profile in 121 children (65 females and 56 males) and tested for associations with exposure to grandmaternal interpersonal violence during pregnancy. We observed methylation variations of five CpG sites significantly (FDR<0.05) associated with the grandmother’s report of exposure to violence while pregnant with the mothers of the children. The results revealed differential methylation of genes previously shown to be involved in circulatory system processes (FDR<0.05). This study provides support for DNA methylation as a biological mechanism involved in the transmission of stress across generations and motivates further investigations to examine prenatal-dependent DNA methylation as a potential biomarker for health problems. --- Intergenerational effects of maternal post-traumatic stress disorder on offspring epigenetic patterns and cortisol levels - https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/epi-2021-0015 https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/epi-2021-0015 > Aim: To investigate the association between maternal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during pregnancy and offspring DNA methylation and cortisol levels. Materials & methods: Blood genome-wide DNA methylation and cortisol was measured in the youngest child of 117 women who experienced sexual violence/torture during the Kosovo war. Results: Seventy-two percent of women had PTSD symptoms during pregnancy. Their children had higher cortisol levels and differential methylation at candidate genes (NR3C1, HTR3A and BNDF). No methylation differences reached epigenome-wide corrected significance levels. Conclusion: Identifying the biological processes whereby the negative effects of trauma are passed across generations and defining groups at high risk is a key step to breaking the intergenerational transmission of the effects of mental disorders --- And specifically about Holocaust survivors - Study finds epigenetic changes in children of Holocaust survivors https://www.research.va.gov/currents/1016-3.cfm https://www.research.va.gov/currents/1016-3.cfm > The researchers focused on FKBP5, a stress gene linked to PTSD, depression, and mood and anxiety disorders. The results suggest that Holocaust exposure had an effect on FKBP5 methylation—a mechanism that controls the gene's expression—that was observed in parents exposed to the horrors of the concentration camps, as well as their offspring, many of whom showed signs of depression and anxiety. > ... > She says the researchers pursued this study because offspring of Holocaust survivors "said to us in clinic, 'we are casualties of the Holocaust and need treatment.'" Her team tested blood samples of 32 Holocaust survivors and 22 of their adult children for methylation of intron 7, an area in the FKBP5 gene. For a control group, they analyzed Jewish parents who lived outside of Europe during World War II—most were U.S.- or Canadian-born—and their offspring. > Interestingly, Holocaust survivors and their children showed epigenetic changes at the same site of FKBP5 intron 7 but in the opposite direction. Survivors had a 10 percent higher methylation than the control parents, while the Holocaust children had a 7.7 percent lower methylation than the control children.

givemeethekeys 4y ago

I suffered for a couple of decades: anxiety, random panic. I was able to address them by following the following: 1. Have things to look forward to. 2. Pay attention to nutrition, health, rest, breathing, exercise. 3. Meditate. Socialize. 4. Occasionally when anxiety grows, breathe, visualize yourself performing a repetitive yet fun activity (like swimming laps, chopping vegetables.. whatever takes focus). Your heart rate will drop and things will calm down. Sometimes when your heart is racing, it's possible you just have pent up energy and you need to crank out some pushups and squats at 3am. Such is life.

sossles 4y ago
4. is underrated and mysterious. I've dealt with periods of anxiety by playing an online competitive card game, something that "should" be stressful, but having played it hundreds of times before, the steady stream of familiar choices that ultimately don't matter, is soothing.
girthbrooks 4y ago
When I'm spun up I try to avoid additional physical exercise as I don't want to have a stroke or a heart attack or something. I'm physically fit and my resting heart rate is in the 48-51bpm region day to day. Am I completely overthinking this?
- jwagenet 4y ago
  I’m not familiar with the medical evidence, but… why would exercise instigate a cardiac event when anxious? Perhaps if having a panic attack it would be unwise, but I feel like exercise can serve as a distraction or outlet to anxiety and be beneficial on the whole.
- anon400232 4y ago
  Please explain what you mean by spun up. If we are talking about emotional stress coupled with a slight increase in heart rate, I would not be concerned about doing exercise. Quite the opposite -- I think a quick jog around the block can do wonders. The key is to be able to do the exercise without bringing additional stress.

cm2012 4y ago

My wife had horrible, hours long life-disrupting nightmares every day. Prazosin, a medicine your doctor can prescribe, solved them within a week, they are much less common and much less intense now. Highly recommend to try.

eurasiantiger 4y ago
Highly not recommended for men! Prazosin decreases luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and ultimately testosterone levels.
- blacksmith_tb 4y ago
  Sleep deprivation also lowers testosterone levels[1], and Prazosin is commonly prescribed to men with benign prostate enlargement, so pick your battles? 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445839/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445839/
  - eurasiantiger 4y ago
    The OP article actually mentions prazosin: >“There is a medication that a lot of them are on called Prazosin, which is actually a blood pressure drug, but it doesn’t work for many patients, has a lot of side effects, and also decreases your athletic performance. And in the military, athletic performance is very, very important.” >Robert Guithues knew Prazosin well — after he returned from Afghanistan, it was one of the 30 pills he was taking daily to help with the injuries he sustained while deployed, including PTSD and nightmares. But sleep was still elusive, and he knew there had to be a better solution than the drugs, which he feared were doing more harm to his body than good.

aantix 4y ago

Have you ever had a hair tissue mineral analysis done?

heavyset_go 4y ago

Prazosin is the one drug on the market approved for PTSD-related nightmares, I've heard that it works well, but it's a blood pressure medication, so it might not be well tolerated based on conditions or other medications taken.

nonameiguess 4y ago

For what it's worth, though you're clearly not eligible for American VA benefits if you served in a non-American military, the legal definition of a "veteran" in the US is anyone who performed any active-duty military service at all. You don't need to see combat to be considered a veteran. You're obviously less likely to end up with PTSD if you don't see combat, though you'd be surprised. Training can be rough and a fairly high number of people end up being assaulted and/or raped while in garrison, and of course several US military installations have also been the site of mass-shooting events. Anyway, if this has happened your entire life, I wonder if there is really anything you can do about it. That seems distinct from trauma-induced. This seems to describe my sister. From as early as I can remember, so at least when she was as young as 3, she was waking up in cold sweats pretty regularly having dreams the entire family except her was murdered in the middle of the night. Myself, I can't remember ever having a single nightmare my entire life, and I served in the Army during Iraq and Afghanistan and even outside of the military had a few near-death encounters. Some people are just a lot more predisposed to worry than others. It's not necessarily a bad trait, either. I'm reasonably sure the high number of near-death experiences for me is because I'm way too prone to idiotic risks because I never believe anything bad will happen. And always surviving just reinforces that even though I know rationally I just got lucky. Humanity exists right now because my ancestors were mostly a lot more anxious than I am.

dkiok21k 4y ago
"The child survives the Trauma of Identity by giving up on his healthy identity, his autonomy, in order to have some connection with his mother, without whom he cannot survive. He is forced to identify with his mother's wants and needs, where his wants and needs are ignored, mis-interpreted or used as a means of persecution by the mother. This, then, brings the therapeutic question "Who am I?". And existentially this question is automatically followed by the question "What do I want?", because in order to know what I want I must have a reasonable sense of who I am. The Trauma of Love happens when the connection that the child does manage to maintain with his mother after the Trauma of Identity is not in effect a clear, loving connection, but rather a connection that is painful, unfulfilling, manipulative and persecutory. These traumas form the foundation of our life, our ability to grow up with a healthy, stable psyche, or not. All later experiences that constitute a trauma are always, also, a re-stimulation of these early, pre-verbal, pre-memory events." https://www.vivianbroughton.com/about-iopt/ https://www.vivianbroughton.com/about-iopt/

mtalantikite 4y ago

I used to have night terrors as a kid and I can relate to that feeling of not wanting to go to bed. I'm not sure if they're genetic or not -- my father grew up during the Algerian revolution, so it's hard to tell if his nightmares are just an artifact of being terrorized by French colonists. I also had a period of getting panic attacks in my early 20s. One thing that was/has been super helpful for my anxiety and general well being was starting a daily meditation practice. The Tibetan teacher Mingyur Rinpoche also had an anxiety disorder and had panic attacks as a child, and is a very clear teacher, if you're ever looking for someone to explore that with. I had had a lot of meditation experience before starting it, but I found his `Joy of Living` course to be very good (if a little basic at first). [1][2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m38SwUKZZJw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m38SwUKZZJw [2] https://joy.tergar.org/ https://joy.tergar.org/

rpastuszak 4y ago
> [...] my father grew up during the Algerian revolution, so it's hard to tell if his nightmares are just an artifact of being terrorized by French colonists. Epigenetics in the wild: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-parents-rsquo-trauma-leaves-biological-traces-in-children/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-parents-rsquo...
- wsc981 4y ago
  Gabor Maté [0] also discusses this topic often, particularly related to children. You can find quite a few interesting interviews with him online, for example with Joe Rogan [1] or Tim Feriss [2]. --- [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabor_Maté https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabor_Maté [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkAcJBjutiQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkAcJBjutiQ [2]: https://youtu.be/H9B5mYfBPlY?t=3944 https://youtu.be/H9B5mYfBPlY?t=3944
  - rpastuszak 4y ago
    Ha, interesting. I learned about Maté during my previous gig (generative music for psychedelic therapy). Will give it a read, cheers.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

irthomasthomas 4y ago

Try sleeping on your side only, or try a snore alarm or breathing aids like nasal strips or decongestant. I find my nightmares and sleep paralysis are linked to snoring. When you snore you are not getting enough oxygen and your heart rate increases to compensate. Then for some weird reason your brain invents dream scenarios to match your racing heart.

SXX 4y ago

I'm not actual doctor and there can be better ways to threat your problem, but here are two things that helped me greatly with quality of sleep. First of all buy yourself high-quality CO2 meter for ~$100 and make sure that CO2 not going over 1000 PPM while you sleeping. Every single time I sleep in closed room with bad ventilation where CO2 getting over 1200-1500 PPM I will wake up in terror. You can't imagine how many people I knew had terrible quality of sleep due to bad ventilaton and never realise it. Second thing if nothing else works. Try strictly-scientific lucid dreaming practices: record as much of dreams is possible in a diary for several months, do deep breathing before sleep, etc. Looking at your hands every now and then is required and slightly weird, but it totally worth it. Once you get lucid in a dream once and preserve memory of it will become much easier to deal with nightmares. Lucid dreaming cost nothing even though some REM sleep tracker like one in Apple Watch is useful. Though beware of bullshit.

anon400232 4y ago
I don't understand how ventilation could cause CO2 to get that imbalanced. Can you cite a source?
- SXX 4y ago
  ELI5? - Your normal city air CO2 is 350-500 PPM. - Humans exhale CO2. - In closed unventilated bedroom CO2 have nowhere to go. - Air isn't being mixed when you sleep too. - In few hours PPM can grow to 2000 or higher. - Cheap air conditioners either dont have fresh air ventilation at all or dont have sufficient efficiency to compensate for two humans breathing. You can google actual numbers elsewhere. Solution usually consist to sleeping with open windows or getting proper fresh air ventination system.
anon400232 4y ago
> You can't imagine how many people I knew had terrible quality of sleep due to bad ventilaton and never realise it. Try me. How many? How many tried the intervention you recommended? How many saw a benefit? How many did not?
- 4y ago

cbtacy 4y ago

That sounds very frustrating and difficult. I'm really sorry. Do you have good professional care? Are you in a safe place?

phyzix5761 4y ago

Meditation definitely helps. A combination of Metta, Anapanasati, and Vipassana mediation really helped me.

phyzix5761 4y ago
Meditation*

lake_vincent 4y ago

If I may suggest something unorthodox - have you tried psychedelic therapy? And I don't mean just taking a psychedelic, I mean working with a therapist to go on an intentional healing journey. Might be worth a trip to Oregon :)

fudgefactorfive 4y ago
I admit, although not medically prescribed or supervised, doing mushrooms has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Although I still have persistent nightmares it changed my understanding of other people and their perspectives to the point my anxiety in a lot of situations has vanished. I don't think people should go nuts with them but I do think it's a good idea for some people with anxiety to find a clean pleasant care-free place to try them. Even if it just allows them to spend a few hours immersing themselves in completely different thought patterns and potentially gain something from them.

dkiok21k 4y ago

I recommend to try the free workshops by https://www.identitydevelopmentinstitute.com/ https://www.identitydevelopmentinstitute.com/ - please report back!

tbalsam 4y ago

Complex PTSD can be a condition that involves significant to total amnesia of the events causing it, while seeming to appear as constant hypervigilance in the present day. Just a note, even parental emotional neglect (which we tend to develop a blind eye to purely for survival's sake) is enough to cause c-PTSD to form (as defined in the most recent ICD). I'm not necessarily DX'ing but I wish someone had pointed me at some resources when I was just starting to ask the inkling of the same questions. I'm getting to do the work at a much younger age that I see not many people doing until the end of their lives, though it is sort of hell being young and all. Pete Walker's book on Complex PTSD is an amazing read regardless for anyone in the community, I'd say without diagnosing that as a potential avenue -- take a read of a few snippets, see if they resonate with you (or trigger massive denial/distraction chains), and just work your way through the book slowly if so. The techniques in there can help anyone with even "just" an internal (or otherwise) critic. :) Hope this helps, the brain is an interesting place and we've only gotten some really good resources for misc conditions that don't externally seem to fit a particular mold. I'm starting to believe that every trauma reaction variant is some exemplar mode of some superset of possible adaptive coping mechanisms, and that in reality the dx and treatment of these things can be much more on point than the diagnosis of "anxiety" or "depression", which I'm viewing more and more as exceptionally frivolous and misleading as a standalone diagnosis (instead of as a descriptor, or a modifier), and is oftentimes as effective as diagnosing someone with "a fever" or "chills and aches". Doing so would alienate the person (in my eyes) and would take a place in a/the diagnosis "slot" that could hold something more informative to their actual base condition (instead of being a rather shallow observation with practically zero actionable value.... And we wonder why a variety of treatments for depression, for example, have low-30's success ratings across multiple stages of trying different treatments! I can't remember the exact numbers but the 4-5 stage...STAR study, I think it is, was one of the biggest and rather disappointing. The future seems somewhat promising but still too far away.... ::( ) Knowing _why_ is the very extremely hard part. :))))

creakingstairs 4y ago
> Complex PTSD can be a condition that involves significant to total amnesia of the events causing it I have a high baseline anxiety and pretty much no memory of anything pre 8 (except for very small fragments). When I’ve come across amnesia part while reading “Body keeps scores”, it frankly frightened me (and still does) of what might be lurking in my past.

LeifCarrotson 4y ago

FWIW, your baseline anxiety level is way higher than mine. My parents tell me stories of when I was a kid and would come to them with nightmares on a couple funny occasions, but it's been decades since I've had what I'd call a nightmare. I have rational concerns about elements of my future that look negative but over which I have limited control - economic, political, ecological, health, and other general concerns - but I don't fixate on them or dream about them. I relish going to sleep, and have either forgettable dreams or pleasant dreams. I enjoy quiet time with my thoughts, going for a jog or bike ride, or just relaxing in the backyard and daydreaming. I see others here talking about high anxiety, and I hope that you're able to find a solution for your issues, but your baseline anxiety level sounds like it's orders of magnitude higher than mine. I'm not trying to brag, I just want to share in the hopes of getting some idea of "average person" - am I perhaps far less anxious than "normal"?

dm03514 4y ago

I have a theory that people with anxiety (i.e. myself) have a strong mind -> body connection, but in a negative way. My anxious thoughts lead directly to physiological changes, increased heart rate, shallow breathing, sweating etc. Based on the people in my life without anxiety, they can have similar thoughts as me, even "anxious" in nature, but they don't seem to have the physiological response that I do, as an anxious person. What do you all think?

allicombigator 4y ago
anxiety responses include what you are talking about: if there is a grizzly bear threatening you, your heartbeat should go up and you will sweat the point here is that you are feeling exaggerated anxiety with minimal external triggers, but the nature of the anxiety response is normal

photochemsyn 4y ago

Sleeping with headphones listening to a loop of ocean sounds, or wind in a forest, etc. can be helpful. Exceptionally vivid dreams can get disrupted this way, anecdotally speaking. It seems a little like what this Nightware app is supposed to do. I'd find vivid dreams getting literally washed away by ocean waves using this method, i.e. you might be having a nightmare, and then ocean surf from nowhere sweeps through, and everything gets swept away, and I'd end up in a peaceful dream of floating on the ocean etc.

geezer_2 4y ago
This doesn't always work. A friend did massage in a small fishing town in Alaska. As soon as she put on the ocean-waves-breaking-on-a-beach sounds, the massageee would usually bolt upright from the table in a total panic attack. Your mileage may vary!

politician 4y ago

Are you able to lucid dream? If so, you can create impossible illogical situations and force yourself to wake up. Breathing under water, flying so high the overview effect saturates your ability to generate fake ground, jumping and sticking in the air. These are all examples of things you can do that demonstrate to yourself that you’re dreaming.

aszantu 4y ago

For me, keto helped with depression but anxiety only went away when I cut out veggies as well. Vitamin B and zinc are known to help with inflamation. Magnesium as well. Deficiency dawned on me when I was much calmer with red bull which is the only energy drink with vitamin b complex and magnesium. Haven't found much on it apart from: most neurotransmitters are made in the guts, so what we eat does matter. Some additives in fast food can weaken the blood/brain barrier, so stuff that made it through the gut/blood barrier get in the brain and activate the brain's immune system.

RobRivera 4y ago

i found this truly helpful, thrice a week sauna->cold water plunges. about an hour of just 10m sauna-> 1m cold water for a few circuits followed by some relaxation in a hottub or steam room lowered my anxiety and has slowed my brain. also, chill on the caffeinne and reduce alcohol. I'm a vet with ptsd so i take every fruit of mental wellness i can

lutzke 4y ago

> I'm slowly coming to the realization that my baseline anxiety level is way higher than of the average person. For no apparent reason. One book that may be of interest to you: Born Anxious, by Daniel P. Keating: discusses epigenetics and how methylation can predispose certain individuals to higher baseline levels of stress and anxiety. Other books which may not be revelant to you, but would perhaps be of interest to others reading these comments: The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk: Talks about the imprints trauma leaves on the mind and the body, and shines a light on how ineffective and misguided many of the mainstream, frontline treatments offered to people with histories of trauma are. (Just because you don't meet the criteria for PTSD, doesn't mean you haven't experienced some form of trauma.) Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve, by Stanley Rosenberg: I haven't finished this one yet, but it discusses the three fight/flight, social engagement, and freeze/depression states of the nervous system, as described in the Polyvagal Theory put forward by Stephen Porges. I've been told by a clinician with a career in working with trauma survivors that the Polyvagal Theory is a key piece of the puzzle in treating trauma. Even if you're not dealing with the effects of trauma, I think you may still find this book interesting, as it describes how we can get locked into states of anxiety one the one hand, or lethargy on the other, finding it difficult to simply relax and be present for our lives. Author Gabor Maté - I'm not sure if he has any books concentrating specifically on anxiety, but his work seems interesting. Episode 1869 of The Joe Rogan Experience, where he was the guest, was quite illuminating. Molecules of Emotion, by Candace B. Pert: I haven't started this one yet, but it talks about how the body and mind/brain/nervous system aren't as separate as many of us may like to think. It sounds interesting. Some lifestyle changes that may help with anxiety and other mental health conditions, including depression: (completely anecdotal, I am not a doctor, etc.) * Regular, vigorous aerobic exercise, e.g. running five kilometres three times per week. Can't run five kilometres? Check out 'Couch to 5K.' I find that vigorous exercise seems to help 'burn off' anxiety and stress and make it easier to relax. (as recommended by Keating in Born Anxious.) Additionally, depression often goes hand-in-hand with anxiety, and "the efficacy of exercise in decreasing symptoms of depression has been well established." (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC474733/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC474733/) * Yoga: teaches one to listen to and befriend one's body. When one is constantly anxious and on alert, the body can tend to be constantly tense, ready for action. * Diet: the so-called Mediterranean diet seems to be quite healthy: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7536728/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7536728/ I'm not sure if eating healthy has been shown to help with anxiety, but can it really hurt?