If you're worried about not getting to sleep, you know, you've created a catch-22 there because

then you're going to feel stressed and, you know, you're less likely to fall asleep straight away.

If I don't get enough or proper sleep, then I will never ever be able to recover because

it's a critical required component of healing.

Or, conversely, if I don't get enough sleep,

I'm damaging my body.

Didn't you read the book about how sleep deprivation

causes everything from your car burning oil to cancer?

I'm anxious because I'm not getting enough sleep.

I mean, yeah, it will contribute to your stress levels.

But when you have the attitude that, oh, right,

oh, there's my quick fix. Fix my sleep, never feel anxious again. You're still signaling to the

brain, look, I'm afraid of anxiety and I'm willing to do anything but face it to get rid of it.

Welcome to episode 28 of Disordered.

My name is Joshua Fletcher, and I'm a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety disorders, and I'm based in the UK.

And I am Drew Linzalata.

I am a graduate student in clinical mental health counseling, a therapist in training, a former sufferer, anxious person,

depressed person for many, many years, and co-hosted this fine podcast based in New York in the

USA of A. In today's episode, we're going to look at the topic of sleep anxiety. It's something that I

hear a lot from people. It's something I've experienced personally. Drew, did you ever worry about sleep, fixate on sleep,

see it as the, if I fix my sleep, it's the cure for everything. Well, I was, I mean, I had some

seriously problems. Those of you who listen to the podcast for a while, no, I don't sleep much

...