Sensationalized Worries/Fears

I'm not sure how these feelings among us started, but as someone who suffered anxiety disorders for some time, I must say, this was a fairly regular occurence. It still happens, but I generally just turn on some late night conspiricay radio, and listen to stories of aliens, the Illuminati, chem trails, and weird religious theories....it may not put me back to sleep, but it sure puts my petty paranoid fears to rest.

truth
Linkat, I'm no experienced psychologist, so take this with a grain of salt. I've long thought that phobias are either displacements of repressed anxieties/fears to some generally (if not universally) recognized "dangerous object", i.e., snakes, spiders, hieghts, dogs, etc.. OR they way of giving FOCUS to generalized anxieties that are too vague to be dealt with.
Similarly, night frights may serve to displace fear from some other, more frightening object. A lesser fear may be a way to avoid a greater one. That may be why in the morning the fear seems so minimal compared to its magnitude at night.
Just a guess.

truth
Another guess, Linkat. At night anxieties may cause one to breath shallowly. This results in an imbalance of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide in the brain. This is hyperventilation (too much oxygen(, and is experienced as (1) a shortness of breath (an illusion of lack of oxygen), causing one to breath deeper and faster and thus exascerbating the imbalance (a fact of too much oxygen in the brain). The best way to deal with this is to breathe into a paper bag so that you'll take back the expressed carbon dioxide, thus creating a balance of Oxygen and Carbon Dixoide. In the morning the fear is gonet because of the re-balancing in the brain.
I remember a night whenin I was sleeping with my face down on the pillow. This resulted in an imbalance that caused me to waken with a start and considerable anxiety. Knowing that the fear was merely chemical with no basis in fact (i.e., there was nothing to be afraid of), I studied the nature of the fear carefully as in a state of watchful meditation. After I finished with this "exercise", I breathed into a paper bag, and then went back to sleep. I believe a lot of people think their anxieties are symptomatic of neurosis, but they may merely reflect poor breathing practices.

You can think that coherently at night JL. You are amazing. Even though I am quite a logic person during my waking hours, once I am tired, I have no brains what so ever.

I could see the large fear being hidden as a smaller more manageable fear. Could this be similar to dreaming? Some people believe that dreams are a way of figuring out solutions to different issues.

So either I am or am not neurotic. Or it is only my breathing. Well I slept o-k last night so either I perhaps it was only the sleeping. And I followed up on a few things that I was concerned on during the previous night so I could have been either exhausted or resolved my minor issue.

truth
My main point, I guess, is that while we may have real problems that wake us at night, our breathing patterns may make them seem much worse. Hyperventilation can by itself generate great anxiety Our problems may only give form to that anxiety and thereby make the problems seem more frightening than they are. Then we put them in more realistic perspective when we awaken.

Oh, man, I just read an article about this. About how our bodies/ brains are physically altered in some way at night that makes this true. (Less rational, more prone to fears.) I can't remember a hook though to do a Google search on it. Will keep thinking.

Freaky - I would love to read that article. This doesn't happen that often, but the other night it did. The weird thing was when I decided o-k it is close enough to wake up time, I might as well get the morning started - I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. By the time I was in the bathroom, I felt as if what was bothering me all night was minimal. I even went to the bathroom during my hours of not being able to fall asleep and still felt a little anxiety.

truth
LInkat, before I go to a psychologist, where you might be mistakenly diagnosed as some kind of anxiety neurotic, I would check out my breathing, particularly if you have no problems during the daytime. Are you sure you do not suffer from apnea?

JLN, what I remember reading is that it is just a standard thing, with everyone. It is better or worse depending on stress level, coping mechanisms, diet, all sorts of things like that. But it's just a standard physiological phenomena that IF things have aligned (stress, lack of outlet, etc.), a specific issue can seem cripplingly awful at night and then rather pedestrian in the morning.

Jane Brody? Maybe Jane Brody... (Off to look.)

Oh but before I do, Linkat was just mentioning elsewhere that she has a 20 month old and a 5-year-old -- that's major stress and also major lack of outlet, since one's thoughts are so much on the kids and so little on one's self. (Are you a stay-at-home mom, Linkat?)

Oh yes,This is very familiar territory

Just a couple of weeks ago a I did a very small favor for a friend in work which was against the rules(I wouldn't even have got into any real trouble)
But what a night I had I was really terrified all night Even though I knew I wasn't in any trouble I just could not get the incident out of my head

You really have to have this happen to understand how it feels so I really feel for anyone who has this happen regularly

(:0) (:0)

JLN's statement about breathing correctly has worked for me. I have learned to breath correctly with my diaphragm instead of the lungs and slowly to a count. It was hard for me to learn but once I got it I have had great success with it. Now I can even lower my blood pressure about 10-15 points when I need to.

In addition, I have learned visualization techniques along with the breathing it is kind of like self-hypnosis or I guess it could be a sort of meditation type of thing.

The one good thing about phobias is that they are easy come and easy go by definition. While some are deeper some are easily let go of. For the deep ones like my fear of flying I went to a desensitization class.

Now I fly and get places when I need to. I will never like it but along with the breathing, the visualization, and the desensitization I am no longer bound to travel by train, boat, or auto.

truth
Good for you, Joanne.

Sozobe-Not a stay at home mom so I do have the added stress of work. Luckily my husband works from home a lot and I have parents that watch the youngest and the 5 year old 3 days a week. Funny thing, the anxiety issue was with my child and whether my choice of her kindergarten was appropriate. We had decided on it the day before and suddenly all these well thought out ideas did not seem reasonable. In the morning they were all reasonable and made sense.

Next time this happens, I will try the breathing. I have not had this issue since.

I have read that a good work out is an excellent
antidote to anxiety.

Well, thanks everyone for your opinions. But the real answer is that evil spirits gain power during the night. Your anxieties will be strongest directly about the witching hour.