Sleeping disorders and social anxiety self help tips

Social anxiety and sleeping disorders often go hand in hand. Sleep deprivation may prevent you from getting rid of your social fears and anxieties and even worsen the situation. And vice versa, being in the socially anxious state can disturb sound sleeping and lead to insomnia. It a kind of a vicious circle. But you shouldn’t linger and try to do something about your sleep. Here are some useful social anxiety self help tips to consider.

• Let’s start with the so called counter-sleeping habits. Yes, I mean caffeine, nicotine and alcohol.
• Start with relaxation and breathing exercises. Do it while in bed. You will kill two birds with one stone if you manage to relax (more sleep and less anxiety). Keep it in mind.
• In addition to the first tip - have a warm bath right before the sleep as it will help you to fall asleep sooner.
• Your regime is very important. Make a sleeping schedule and try to stick to it as carefully as you can. Go to bed and get up exactly at the same time every day.
• Then it comes to your sleeping environment. Make it comfortable and sleep-provoking. It should be cool and dark and silent. Your bed should be smooth and sweet and dear to you.
• Don’t forget to do physical exercises. A half an hour of walking in the evening may work wonders.
• Last but not least, keep a sleeping diary. It will help you to trace the development of your disease and mark improvements.

Process goes on!

One of the social anxiety self help methods is to take action. It is no use to sit still and wait until some miracle happens. You should do it yourself! Stop thinking that medicines or therapists will do all the work for you and bring you relief. It’s all in your hands. Hands that can pull the wheels rolling and leaving anxieties and fears behind. You should always have in mind that process goes on.

Remember that during anxiety attacks it is your body that turns anxious and you should learn to master your thoughts and relax. When you feel socially anxious try to distract yourself from it. It is just your body that is anxious and you should try to make your body busy with something more worthy and interesting. Process should go on!

Of course, you (as all socially anxious and depressed people) may be reluctant to do anything at all but no one says that social anxiety self help is an easy job. There are so many opportunities to get in action and invigorate oneself! Start working at yourself: give up smoking, alcohol, sugar; there's more to life that this; walk every day; chat with friends; meditate; entertain yourself everyday… Keep in mind that process goes on!

Coping with loneliness as social anxiety self help

It’s not a secret that people suffering from social anxiety are often lonely. They try to avoid social situations that are painful and fearful to them. Therefore they prefer not to go out to parties, celebrate holidays, to enjoy and entertain themselves. It’s better to say they are compelled not to do it. So it’s time for another social anxiety self help.

You should learn to cope with loneliness if you want to cope with your social anxiety. Remember, a human being is still a social creature. So here are several tips suggesting what you can do about your loneliness:

• Think about everyone you know and have ever known. Try contacting them and see what happens next. Always have a list of possible contacts. Think of old friends, too. You must try to come back to the world from your lonely corner and tell the world that you are still a social creature. And you will start to feel better.
  
• If you believe that friends, family and relatives are not an option, then try to get acquainted with people you don't know. Internet with its chat rooms, forums and social services websites is an inexhaustible source of opportunities to meet new interesting people. You can start creating your network of friends, for example, at Myspace.com.
  
• Think if you can be of help to someone else. You will feel much better after making a positive contribution to someone’s life voluntarily. And you won’t feel lonely anymore.
  
• Join a support group. Look around for an anxiety disorder support group. Ask your therapist, check the local newspaper, and contact local hospitals.
  
• Meet people who like to do what you like to do by becoming involved in your hobbies and interests. Look for local classes or groups where you may meet other people.
  
• Find someone to talk about your loneliness. Talking about it may help you explore other issues or come up with unique ways to cope with it.
  

Meditation and social anxiety self help

First and foremost, meditation has much to do with religion and spiritual development. Originally this mental exercise was used to reach conciliation and realization of higher existence or something. Among its methods are concentration, contemplation, suspension, etc. All the same, for those who suffer from social anxiety meditation preserves its purpose of escaping fears and phobias and reaching tranquility. So it can be a social anxiety self help exercise that really works.

Meditation teaches you to breath properly. It helps you to relax. It makes you collect your thoughts and focus on them. Finally, it teaches you to master your anxiety.

So if you have taken the decision to try this self help method you should follow some important tips in order not to get frustrated at the very beginning. Here they are:

• Before meditating tell everyone that you will be meditating and that you are not supposed to be disturbed. Don’t forget to turn off your mobile.
  
• Find a quite place and sit comfortably. It’s up to you to decide what pose to take. The main thing is that you should feel safe and able to relax. Many people prefer leaning against the wall while sitting on the floor or just lying on the bed.
  
• It is of great use to put on some pleasant, slow and relaxing music. Instrumentals or “sounds of nature” are the best choice.
  
• Concentrate on your breathing. You should breathe naturally. Feel your breath going in and out.
  
• Close your eyes and begin to relax. With each breath your mind leaves earthly troubles and hustles. Try to look at your anxious thoughts as if they were bees and butterflies. Let them flutter away. Don't let them have any meaning to you.
  
• Practice this exercise every day for 10-20 when it’s convenient for you.

After several time you will come to love it. And you will find out that meditation can be a good social anxiety self help.

Visualization as social anxiety self help method

One of the working methods of social anxiety self help is visualization. It is quite personal and the way and success of its application differs significantly from person to person. But the main thing about visualization is to rich the state of entering a safe place where nothing can harm you. It’s a kind of self-training and in order to escape and finally get rid of social anxiety it should be practiced regularly.

It will be much more convenient to give a personal example of visualization then to speak of it in scientific terms. Here it goes.

~I'm sitting on the sand by the vast even sea and the orange sun is setting over the horizon. I can see the soft-winged clouds slowly drifting in the sky. I’m feeling the warm breeze on my face and hair. Next to me is my dearest girl/boy holding my hand in gentle hers/his. The rustling of sea-waves is caressing and lulling me to perfect tranquility…~

Well, it takes a lot of practice to go from a state of total anxiety into a state of “perfect tranquility” in a manner of minutes. Sometimes it takes hours, but you will definitely reach it if you strive, as visualization is a social anxiety self help method that works.