The other day, I received an somewhat urgent email from one of the people I’ve been helping with their anxiety-related problems. Her odd sensations were making her extremely nervous and scared. When I read through her symptoms and recalled her situation, I recognized what was happening and realized there are many people with anxiety and panic who experience similar symptoms.

They are scary and it’s no wonder people become increasingly concerned that they are losing their minds at that time.

This young woman is preparing to leave her family home to get married. Naturally, she’s happy to be starting a new life with her companion so it’s troublesome that she would also be so afraid and anxious.

Her symptoms include being constantly sleepy, despite having sufficient sleep every night. Her biggest concern, however, is her sense of unreality, of feeling detached.

Recently, she has developed an increasing sense of distance between her and her family and coworkers. She feels like she ‘doesn’t belong’ with them. This is her sense of detachment.

If you experience similar symptoms, here’s what’s causing them.

First off, sleepiness is an escape mechanism and so is being in a state of feeling detached.

Anxiety and panic trigger in us a fear for our safety. Feeling anxious is not normal so we believe there must be something terribly wrong and that we must protect ourselves in whatever way we can.

We’ve all heard of the fight or flight response that is also associated with anxiety attacks. Our bodies are sent messages to prepare to defend ourselves. To do that, we increase our heart rate so that more energy is available in our muscles so we can run from the danger if need be.

If you’ve ever had a near-miss accident or been involved in a fender bender, you will know that feeling of being disassociated for a very short time. What happened is your body separated your emotional from the logical side of your brain so you could deal with the crisis in a way that your decisions wouldn’t be clouded by emotion.

When you are anxious and feeling disassociated and detached, the same thing is happening. Your body is doing what is necessary to protect your emotions, which can be fragile sometimes.

In the case of my contact, she was dreading the whole idea of moving away from the comfort of her family home – lots of questions and doubts. A great deal of emotions are involved… too much for her to deal with. If she didn’t develop some level of detachment from her surroundings, the effect of the mounting stress on her emotions would be unhealthy.

As I said, sleeping provides an escape from the stress, but it also provides relief from the constant pressure she’s under.

It’s important not to get too obsessed about feeling detached when you are going through anxiety and panic, and experiencing that sense of detachment or derealization. Although it’s uncomfortable to feel that way, and certain disconcerting, it’s not serious. It’s self-preservation tactics at work.

Dealing with friends, family and coworkers involves using our emotions to help us understand how others are feeling and what their conversations mean. Our emotions are always at work as part of our communication network. Without emotions, it would be difficult for us to truly understand the intent behind what people say and do.

Your body feels the need to put emotions in a protective place and it does it by blocking those over-worked emotions to give them – and ourselves - a rest. When we feel stronger, that blockage will be released and the feelings of connection between us and our surroundings will return to normal.

Recently, I posted an article about insomnia and it’s relationship to anxiety and depression. It seems that people who suffer from insomnia tend to also have anxiety and/or depression. Despite the obvious connection, researchers can’t determine which comes first – insomnia or anxiety/depression.

Anyone who has had difficulty sleeping – or not gotten enough sleep due to traveling, family issues, health concerns, overwork or other reasons knows what it feels like to lack sleep. We become agitated, out of sorts, uncomfortable and somewhat short on attention span and tolerance. In some cases, we can actually feel nauseous.

We can also become depressed and anxious, which makes a lot of sense when you consider that your entire being feels out of sorts.

Exactly how does lack of sleep affect you?

According to a study done by the University Of Chicago Medical Center, lack of sleep does more than make you cranky. It affects our body’s metabolic functions, such as processing and storing carbohydrates and regulating insulin and hormone secretion.

By altering our metabolic and endocrine system, sleep loss triggers the simulated effects of aging. In fact, the researchers on this project believe it can also affect the severity of age-related illnesses including memory loss, diabetes, and hypertension.

Some sleep-deprived subjects in the study showed altered glucose metabolism that resembled patients with type-2 diabetes. That’s because the glucose uptake in the body is affected by loss of sleep.

Other effects of sleep deprivation include reduced ability to concentrate, remember and learn. Lack of sleep has a significant toll on brain power. It’s proven that people who do not get enough sleep are more likely to have accidents.
If lack of sleep is allowed to continue in a chronic state, it could cause long term adverse health issues.

What can you do?

There are a few things you can try, apart from seeking sleep medications.

• Practice full relaxation before going to bed, or as soon as you get in bed. Turn on your favorite soothing music, turn out the lights, lie comfortably and begin. Start by taking a few very deep breaths, hold each one for about 2-3 seconds and exhale normally. This sends good clean oxygen into your body and into your muscles, helping them to relax. It also helps remove toxins from your blood stream. A body full of toxins that build up normally during the day is constantly working to get rid of them. Deep breathing is an excellent way to begin cleansing the body. In exchange, the body can more readily relax.

• Here’s something I learned many years ago and only by trying it can you tell whether it works for you. The theory is that people’s bodies prefer to lie in a certain juxtaposition to the north pole. In other words, the body generally prefers to face north/south. This is because of the spin of the earth and the magnetic pulls of the poles. By aligning your body with those poles, the body works ‘with’ them, rather than against them.If possible, rearrange your bedroom so you can lie in a north/south direction. It doesn’t seem to matter whether your head is in the north or the south, although some people have said it does make a difference. So try both if one doesn’t work.

• Look into Feng Shui – this is based on an Asian belief that your home and the items in it must be oriented a certain way to maintain balance and equilibrium in your surroundings. This, in turn, will make your body more comfortable and relaxed.

These are just a few of the things you can try.

To Treat Anxiety – Try the highly acclaimed Linden Method and Panic Away - two excellent programs that have treated hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. I’m constantly pushing these two programs for a very good reason… I’ve reviewed them and understand how they work. They contain the same methods that cured me of my anxiety 20+ years ago, so I know they work if you apply the techniques exactly as explained.

Don’t be impatient. As my therapist once told me, it took time for me to get that stressed and anxious. I wasn’t going to be cured overnight. And he was right. It took work, a lot of self-examination and a determined will to turn my life around. I strongly believe that you can, too.