Please help, I have an embarrassing problem. When I was in around [...]

Posted by WoojinKim @WoojinKim, Jan 12, 2016

Please help, I have an embarrassing problem. When I was in around about 5th grade, i went on a school camp, and was very excited beforehand as it was my first ever camp. Now, at this time, I didn’t think much about sleeping and just slept every night as it came. However, the night before that camp I was so excited that I couldn’t fall asleep, and started getting very anxious which was weird as I never had before. Anyways, since then, whenever something exciting or nerve racking is coming up (vacation, exam, performance, camps, fun day outs. etc.) I worry so much about sleeping that it affects my daily life. The funny thing is, I usually do sleep pretty well, but i always believe that I will barely sleep, and even if I only get a few hours of sleep, I feel rested the next day if it is something exciting. In fact, I have never had a completely sleepiness night EVER and I am now 15 years old. Please help me, I think about it 24/7 and I really just want to live a normal life.
Thanks!
(P.S. I kind of feel this way lately as I am going to a residential university campus camp in about 2 weeks, and I’m worried I won’t be able to sleep the night before)

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Anonymous-90348 | @anonymous-90348 | Jan 12, 2016

Hi @WoojinKim, and welcome to Connect!

This is a common problem among adults as well as teens. It happens to me, too. I'm glad you're looking into this now because learning how to manage excitement and sleep will serve you well when you go to university. Here are a couple of articles with easy tips to get better sleep.

7 Steps to Better Sleep http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/sleep/art-20048379?pg=1

3 Ways to Sleep when You're Excited http://www.wikihow.com/Sleep-When-You-Are-Excited

I particularly like the advice to:
- Make arrangements for the morning well before bed. If you've already got a lot on your mind, dwelling on everything you'll need to do in the morning will only make it worse. Take preventative action and finish any packing, cleaning, or laundry you'll need for the morning well before your head hits the pillow.
and
- Write down what's on your mind. If you have things to do or a brilliant idea on your mind to tackle later, make a note so you won't focus on it while trying to sleep. It's no help to you trying to remember all those undone tasks, and dwelling on them at night might prevent you from getting a good night's sleep.

Try a few of them out and let us know if they helped.

What tips have your parents offered?

Cassie Jones
Community Moderator

PS: Have a great time at residential university campus camp!