How do you sleep at night with overwhelming anxiety?

[janemariesayed]

I'm sure I am not the only one who has this problem.. Nearly every time I go to bed and lay down my mind just constantly dwells on all of my anxious thoughts. That stupid thing I said today, that embarrassing event from 10 years ago, the potential to cause some personal trauma for myself the next day, over and over again. I find myself constantly spending hours trying to sleep only making myself feel worse and worse until I finally fall asleep. How do you manage it? How do you "shut down" for the night and get sleep like a normal person? I feel like I've tried a lot but nothing has really worked for me so far.

When early evening arrives I start to settle down. I switch off anything that is to do with work or chores. I may watch TV, or read. I always go to bed early and each night I watch a DVD until I fall asleep. The film takes my focus so I don't think about anything else. It helps me to mentally switch off so it works for me.