Racing Thoughts Fuel My Insomnia Even When I’m Sleeping

I am always concerned about what could happen. I have always been that way. My anxiety is often through the roof as I worry over what bad things could happen, and it’s hard to shut it off at the end of the day. One of the bigger issues I have trying to fall asleep is dealing with racing thoughts that fuel insomnia. I can’t shut my mind off in order to wind down and relax.

Racing thoughts and anxiety fuel insomnia

The more I think, the more anxious I become. The more anxious I am, the harder it is to fall asleep.

Now, these racing thoughts fuel my insomnia and wake me from my sleep.

Anxiety-filled dreams wake me in the night

I have always had issues with racing thoughts keeping me awake. I have trouble shutting off my brain so I can fall asleep. Unfortunately, my latest issue allows these thoughts to wake me from my sleep.

In the past week, the things I worry about have made it into my dreams. My biggest unresolved issues appear in conversations during a dream, and I wake up confused and filled with anxiety.

I can’t even escape my troubles by falling asleep.

Struggling to sleep after screaming dreams

After waking from a stress-filled dream, it is impossible to fall asleep until I can calm the racing thoughts a bit. For the past week, this has woken me up right about 3 hours before I need to get up and start my day. I spend an hour and a half trying to go back to sleep.

These dreams start with a conversation about a pressing issue I need to resolve. The conversation gets louder and louder in my dream, and the volume continues to increase until it wakes me. Although I have had dreams that woke me up and I have had dreams about issues I have had, never have the volume of my dreams caused me to wake up before.

I have not had dreams that end with someone screaming my problems at me.

Trying to resolve issues that keep me awake

Some of the things being screamed at me are items on my to-do list. I am trying to complete as many of those tasks as I can in hopes that it will help.

Some of the things yelled at me are problems that do not have solutions. All I can do is try to find a way to resolve these issues, but I am having little luck.

Being reminded of these problems in my sleep adds to my stress levels. It makes it even harder to calm the racing thoughts at bedtime. After all, what’s the point in putting it out of your mind if it’s only going to reappear in a dream and wake you?

Racing thoughts fueling my nightmares

This new problem is frustrating. The dreams are quite vivid and seem very real at the time. Imagine having someone stand over you and scream at you about all the things you need to do and all the things you’re not handling as you should.

It’s a nightmare, and it’s happening every night now.

I am at my wit’s end. The only thing I can do is work toward resolving some of the issues in hopes that it will solve the problem.

Have you ever experienced something like this? When racing thoughts fuel insomnia, how did you resolve it? I would love to hear about your experience.