Anxiety & Sleep: How Worry Can Keep You Awake

Stress and anxiety can make the mind and body feel alert when you want to sleep, while repeated poor sleep can leave you feeling less able to cope the following day.

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How can anxiety affect sleep?

Worry can make it difficult to fall asleep, lead to repeated waking or make it hard to return to sleep. People can then begin worrying about sleep itself, creating an unhelpful cycle.

What practical steps may help?

A regular wake time, a cool and quiet sleep environment, reducing caffeine later in the day, avoiding excess alcohol, getting daylight and activity during the day and developing a wind-down routine can support sleep.

What about CBT?

Cognitive behavioural approaches can help people recognise patterns of thoughts and behaviours that maintain anxiety and sleep difficulties. NHS Every Mind Matters provides self-help CBT resources, and NHS Talking Therapies can provide professional psychological therapies where appropriate.

When should sleep problems be assessed?

Seek advice when poor sleep is persistent, significantly affecting daytime functioning, or accompanied by symptoms suggesting depression, severe anxiety, sleep apnoea, another medical problem or a medicine-related cause.

Urgent mental health support

If you cannot keep yourself safe, call 999 or go to A&E. If you need urgent mental health help but it is not an emergency, contact NHS 111 and select the mental health option.

Related: Anxiety, Worry & Panic.

General information only and not a diagnosis of insomnia or an anxiety disorder.