Very often an auto accident may cause emotional trauma that results in insomnia.
After an auto accident, you may have difficulty falling asleep, sleeping soundly through the night, or are tired during the day from lack of rest. Your body cannot relax to allow for restful sleep, and your mind may be racing with anxious thoughts pertaining to the accident or other accident related stress.
These symptoms may be the result of physical and mental trauma. You may be experiencing anxiety from the accident, commonly referred to as PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. If you have these symptoms, it could be that your brain is recycling the traumatic events of the accident and making it hard to relax body and mind so that sleep can occur.
Major trauma and sudden, dramatic life changes can cause our brains to go into a state of hyper-vigilance. We are on guard, preparing for the worst, wondering if there was anything we could have done to avoid it. We replay the events of the accident as a movie in our minds. The stress involved in physical recovery, in financial and insurance related worries, and in mental energy lost by anxiety make it difficult to focus during the day, and fall asleep at night.
Many physicians and counselors recommend adding a ritual before sleeping each night to calm the mind and body for rest and eventual sleep. These may include turning off the television and the computer—the noise and constant mental input adds to your brain’s level of anxiety—and instead, turning on some soft, relaxing music, making a cup of hot herbal tea, and lying down to simply breathe deeply and relax. As anxious thoughts arise to cause worry and stress, imagine taking in the thoughts with your in-breath, and releasing them as you exhale. Some accident victims find relief through keeping a journal of recovery—writing down anxious thoughts on paper, then closing the journal and making a ritual to release these thoughts after writing them.
With each day that follows an accident, your mind and body are in the process of healing. By creating quiet time in a comforting, safe, and familiar environment, and practicing relaxation techniques, deep breathing, and a ritual of releasing anxious thoughts, you can provide a boost to recovery by improved sleep and reduced mental stress.
The experts at Accident Injury Assistance provide wonderful resources for physical therapy, chiropractic therapy, post-traumatic counseling, and help with insurance claims.
Contact our specialists today for more information regarding our affordable rehabilitation and treatment options.
