Tense While Sleeping?

[jaccat]

i have a major problem with relaxing. I've recently realised just how tense I am, and how it's affecting my health. I have problems with my back, shoulders and arms, not to mention digestive issues and so on. I've been seeing a chiropracter for a while now. The problem is while I might be fine during the day I wake up every morning in pain.

For ages I've though it must be the way I sleep. I got new pillows, tried different positions, even considered whether I needed a new mattress. But in the end it makes little difference.

I have recently been trying mindfulness exercises with the help of my therapist. I really struggle, often it feels like I'm not doing anything. Last night I tried one in bed. Again, I didn't feel anything, although I did become aware that as I was struggling to get one part of my body to relax another part was tensing up.

I am becoming aware just how many issues I have around sleeping. Without going into detail I associate it with death, and have done since I was a toddler. My therapist reckons that's why I used to vomit every night as a child, not to mention it being the cause of my insomnia.

Anyway, it's just occurred to me that's why I'm having so much trouble relaxing in bed, and I'm thinking maybe that's why I wake up in pain. I used to wake up before I threw up, I always did it a couple of hours into sleep, so it was something in my sleep triggering it. Now I'm wondering if the reason I wake up in pain is because I'm tensing in my sleep.

Logically this doesn't seem to make sense to me. After all sleeping is all about relaxing, but what else can it be?

Has anyone else experienced anything like this, and does anyone have any clue how I can deal with it, or even how to make the mindfulness exercises more of a success?

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

I don't know for sure if I tense while I sleep, but I do clench, and have episodes where I wake up feeling like someone beat me up.
With all my muscles sour and aching.

I try to do yoga for it. As long as I can, to get my muscles to relax. Maybe you could try it?

 

[FindingMyself88]

I could've written this post myself. I woke up barely able to move this morning because my back muscles were in spasms.

 

[I'm a lil stressball]

I have real issues with relaxing my body and it does my head in beacuse I'm a dancer. Before I didn't realise how much tensiion I carried in my body, now I'm aware of it a lot more and sometimes I still don;t feel able to relax. I find it difficult to relax enough to go asleep at night, mentally and physically. I find when I relax physically the dreams flow, night terrors, etc. When I relax mentally I wake up in the same position I fell asleep in and I am curled so tightly that all my muscles ache. I have been to physio and they've told me my posture is very good but yet I still carry so much tension in my body. I do get what you're saying and it can be really tough. I find relaxing scary so I do things like pilates and yoga. That way I'm still physically moving and feel stronger and it works on conncecting the mind to body. It doesn't always work and it's not a quick fix but I do think over time there has been an improvement. It's jsut something I really have to commit to. Who knew relaxing took so much concentration :-/

 

[jaccat]

I trained as a dancer. I feel so ridiculous, all that knowledge I have of posture and exercise and yet I'm so tense all the time it hurts. Even basic mindfulness exercises seem too much for me. My T has now given me one so simple it only takes half a minute out of my day. I'm struggling with that!
We've been discussing it in my sessions. she's says my primal fight/flight/freeze response is jammed 'on', my body is telling me I'm not safe even when logically I know that I am, and I have to train myself out of it.
I have to succeed in this before I seriously damage my health:unsure:

 

[takeadeepbreath]

So I've had a lot of similar issues, and my therapist said kind of the same thing about being stuck on the panic response. It was so bad, none of the mindfulness stuff would take for me either. Finally, she figured out a fix for me: I had to relax physically before I could get calm enough for mindfulness. Her trick was to stimulate the vagus nerve by lying down or stretching out in a chair and visualizing the nerve point just below my navel as my clenched fist. It helped me to actually hold my clenched fist at that point, two or three inches below my belly button. Once I was imagining it clenched, she had me imagine it unclenching, and again, it helped me to mimic with my fist. I would do this at first leaned back in the chair in her office so my body was almost a straight line and my ankles were crossed, a supposedly relaxed posture that actually became one. I also had to keep my eyes closed to make it work. Anyway, once I could do it in her office chair, she had me start doing it all the time, just checking in as often as necessary to try and teach my body it didn't have to be so tense constantly. At first I was checking every five or ten minutes, but after a week or two it was every few hours. I always did it right before bed, too, to help with the sleep tension. I hope this helps someone. Talk to your therapist or google for more details or methods for stimulating the vagus nerve, it's worth it.

 

[Chava]

I can't quite ever relax either. I often wake up in pain. If I can use a certain pillow, it helps a bit, but then I might not sleep well at all because I'm not in the position I prefer (so just very finicky...either don't sleep well, or sleep and have pain, though often both). Are you on sleep meds? Certain meds are better or worse for the relaxing and pain part. I take muscle relaxants as I have chronic pain. Through sleep we are supposed to restore ourselves, but I often don't. If you feel okay through the day, it's good you don't have a pain condition happening. But I wonder if you've ever tried any subtle dose of muscle relaxant or even something like gabapentin...and maybe not even daily. ? I do rest better with some meds but my doctor has allowed me a few options so I can mix it up a little and never feel totally dependent on any one of them.

I know meds aren't actually the "cure" in cases like this. Basically just saying I relate and for now that is all that helps. Magnesium supplements are also somewhat helpful. What seems to also be a little helpful, in conjunction with my meds, is making a more conscious effort to slow down in the evening. I can't quite relax, but if I can slow down that helps...slower music, gentle yoga, some mantra meditation, doodling, warm bath, anything to help me at least slow down internally or relax somewhat.

 

[illiciteperspective]

i have a major problem with relaxing. I've recently realised just how tense I am, and how it's affecting...

Yes I have symptoms similar to PTSD and without going into detail I've had problems with being tense in my sleep. Some of my tenseness is due to chronic pain, but I know much of it is because the PTSD. I also have a lot of bad dreams. For a while I wore a guard in my mouth to keep me from grinding my teeth. Anyway...keep working on the mindfulness. I know it's tough to stick with it and you'll have some nights you blow it off. Instead of trying to concentrate on relaxing a certain part of your body, try concentrating on nothing. Empty mind. For most of us a totally empty mind is impossible so concentrate on your breath. Just in and out and eventually your body will relax itself. Good luck!

 

[jaccat]

Thanks for the suggestions. I forgot I had made this post. It's from last year. It is, however, totally current as I am yet again struggling to deal with this right now.

I've learned a few things. The main one being relaxing is actually a trigger for me. It triggers me back to an overwhelming fear response. I have since taken up yoga and been practicing the mindfulness. I can do it a little now, but if I try in front of people it doesn't happen, and if I do it at night I get triggered. I'm still trying to figure a way through this as I have so many bad associations around night time that everything I try seems to end up somewhere bad.

Sleep meds aren't really a route I want to go down. I was given a short course of Zopiclone in the summer that did nothing for me. I didn't want to go down the route of anything stronger as part of my trauma involves family members overdosing on prescription meds. Also, it is likely that forcing myself to relax 'chemically' would result in a full blown panic attack.

I welcome any other suggestions!

 

[Sasapooh]

i have a major problem with relaxing. I've recently realised just how tense I am, and how it's affecting...

I clench my teeth so hard that now I have loosened them, even while wearing a mouth guard for the from the dentist. I often wake up with a headache.
Also, when I cannot fall asleep, I will realize that, of course I can't because every muscle in my body is tensed up.

 

[Eagle3]

Yep, I'm so tense in my sleep I wake up completely clenched: jaw, shoulders, back, arms, legs, everything. I even jerk myself awake, or kick myself out of blankets if i'm having a bad night. The dog has learned not to sleep near my feet because I kick HARD in my sleep! I would love to find a way to relax enough to sleep well, but the best i can do is take lots of turmeric for the chronic pain caused by muscles clenched so hard I've damaged my joints...

 

[Nikita]

Thanks for the suggestions. I forgot I had made this post. It's from last year. It is, however, totally c...

hi there, I just read your email, don't know if you still have problem with that tense. I have the same problem now. I know if I do mindfulness meditation, it will relax my tense. but the problem is I am not discipline. sometimes too lazy, or too sleepy. WE need to be discipline and persistent in doing the relaxation. I know this for sure because there was a time I felt so tired all the time even to move my hand, felt so hard. my doctor checked everything was fine. one day I went to a Chinese doctor who asked me to exercise until I sweat every single day. I said I was too tired how could I exercise? he said do you want to be healed? So I forced myself to exercise everyday for 20 mins until I sweat. two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, no difference. I wanted to give up. FINALLY after six weeks, I feel the difference, I forgot about my tiredness.
TO ALL who read this, pleaseee...... be persistent. I am trying to be persistent now in doing the mindfulness meditation. Take Care everyone....