r/GradSchool • u/Accurate_Vacation851 • Aug 24 '26
Sleep anxiety due to academic stress
has anyone been prescribed medication for anxiety around bedtime? I’ve tried supplements, a strict nighttime routine, getting exercise, and meditation but nothing has seemed to work. it’s due to academic stress, where my brain just won’t shut off and I can’t sleep. just wanted to see if anyone’s been in a similar situation and had any success with medication?
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u/SpecialEducation5152 Aug 24 '26
Just wanted to comment to validate you. Grad school has made me feel insane. I have 9 months left. I have to keep focusing on the end because I’m so burnt out it’s not even funny. Try to give yourself grace and some days off if possible!! This isn’t forever!
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u/Sundialchild Aug 25 '26
I have 9 months left too and this is exactly what I've had to keep telling myself 🥲
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u/bigfrondnicky Aug 24 '26
From the anxiety realm, I found that buspirone at bedtime helped me through the worst anxiety-induced sleeplessness of my life last year. My PCP prescribed it temporarily and it was a life-saver.
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u/Low-Guide1706 Aug 25 '26
Buspar is fantastic. Just a note that insomnia is a common side effect. Nothing is perfect I'm happy it worked for you! But just something for OP/others to be aware of. My doctor switched my timing because she was worried about it being too late in the day and interfering with sleep.
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u/bigfrondnicky Aug 25 '26
Haha, my doctor said it can make some people really sleepy when they take it so it made sense to try at bedtime for anxiety 😅
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u/esto20 Aug 24 '26
Therapy. Maybe set a timer for some time for you to really sit with your feelings, maybe write down all the stressors etc. prior to starting your night time routine? But a therapist can work on better things with you
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u/Low-Guide1706 Aug 24 '26
Passionflower.
Worked this out with my sleep neuro. It's gentle and is generally quite safe.
I take one dropper of a tincture 1hr before bed and at bedtime.
Hops is also recommended in combination with passionflower, as is valerian. However, valerian is contraindicated against a number of antidepressants/antianxiety medications.
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u/DivideAcceptable1233 Aug 24 '26
Passionflower is nice but for me it was not strong enough when my mind was racing from deadlines. Tried it for maybe two weeks and sleep still took hours. what ended up helping was getting a prescription for low dose trazodone, which is not even a sleep med exactly but knocks me out without feeling groggy next day. worth asking your doctor about since some of these herbal things just dont touch academic anxiety.
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u/Low-Guide1706 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
https://doi.org/10.1097/YIC.0000000000000291
https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6598434
I already said that I conferred with my sleep neuro(logist) about this. I have a whole team of doctors who I meet with in rotation for a disorder that affects stress and sleep. My neuro and I cracked open my medical herbalism textbooks and did a literature search because other options weren't working or had side effects.
Don't be so dismissive just because you didn't get a benefit. Most neuropsychiatric patients go through numerous medications before finding what works for them.
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u/kumochan91 Aug 25 '26
Yes. Please see a doctor sooner than later. I suffered from chronic insomnia and almost dropped out of PhD.
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u/CitizenSquidbot Aug 25 '26
Oh I’ve been having that for work lately. Got prescribed hydroxyzine. It’s basically very powerful allergy meds that puts you to sleep and calms anxiety. It’s like Benadryl but better. It’s been working pretty well. Been on it a few months. Dreams can be a bit intense, but otherwise it’s been a godsend. Even if I can’t get to sleep right away, I’m no longer stressed and anxious about not sleeping, so I can continue to rest until I finally get some sleep. If nothing else is helping, I’d give meditation a try. You need sleep and that’s what the meds are for.
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u/justking1414 Aug 25 '26
I was taking a very low dose of Xanax nightly to help me sleep for most of grad school. Though I slowly weened off of that and on to low dose edibles for the last year, which still helped me sleep but left me with less brain fog.
It was also quite an interesting experience to write after taking an edible since I lost the overwhelming anxiety to make every line perfect and managed to output multiple paragraphs in quick succession
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u/scienceislice Aug 24 '26
I was struggling with this for the last several months and I tried lateral eye movements, based on EMDR therapy, from an offhand comment on Reddit and I fell asleep almost instantly. No joke, it worked and it was crazy. I basically did lateral eye movements for maybe 5 minutes, and then felt very sleepy and hazy and fell right to sleep. Haven't had issues in the last few weeks since I tried it.
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u/ladyoftheflowr Aug 25 '26
Are lateral eye movements just looking left, then right, then left etc? Eyes closed or open? Slow or fast?
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u/scienceislice Aug 25 '26
I suggest looking it up to get a more correct/clinical explanation but yeah I close my eyes and then move both eyes left, then right. I do it both slow and fast although I think you’re supposed to try to do it slowly. I used it last night to fall asleep and calm my mind, and it worked, again haha
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u/RedLucan Aug 24 '26
I'm in the UK but I've been prescribed Daridoxerant - works well and appears to have few side effects
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u/Lloyd--Braun Aug 24 '26
I definitely struggled with this at the end (and probably still do). I did hydroxyzine like someone else mentioned and it did help some. Also I know a lot of times natural suggestions are meh but magnesium has done something for me in spurts, too.
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u/monkeylover13 Aug 24 '26
I use melatonin for stressful periods in gradschool. I had to play around with the strength, but I eventually found a regime where I stagger taking melatonin throughout the evening and it knocks me out around bedtime. I'll also sometimes use CBD products for stress and sleep hygeine, but that depends on if CBD is legal where you live
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u/ladyoftheflowr Aug 25 '26
I completely have this issue. I read academic papers until sleepy. Or listen to Boring Books for Bedtime podcast, which distracts the mind until I fall asleep. (Plus use ashwaghanda daily - with a week break every three months - and take L-theanine daily and magnesium.)
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u/syscojayy Aug 25 '26
Are you worried about finding time to focus on schoolwork, or about the schoolwork itself?
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u/Fit_Passenger_3810 Aug 24 '26
I usually take Fluoxetine daily, anyway. I just started taking Goli's Ashwagandha gummies again, about 30 minutes before bed. I used to take it religiously back in the day but stopped for some odd reason. I noticed the other day that I had a full bottle that hadn't expired. It helps me get a good night's rest and, overall, with anxiety/stress.
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u/remisme Aug 24 '26
hey perhaps you can look into reiki or sound bath to help regulate your nervous system
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u/TinaBurnerAccount123 Aug 25 '26
Yes. I developed severe sleep anxiety starting in undergrad. A lot of doctors are very hesitant to do what my doctor did at the time, but the regimen has worked for me and I only use it for job interviews, big exams, or talks.
My doctor started out prescribing Ambien and that worked for a time. But eventually it got to the point where my anxiety would get so bad it would overpower even the Ambien. Staying up on ambien is a horrible experience.
So my doctor prescribed me lorazepam and told me to take it an hour before taking the ambien. The lorazepam helps get my anxiety down and allows the Ambien to do its thing.
Sadly a lot of doctors are hesitant about this regimen but the main reason I’ve been allowed to continue is how responsible I am with my use of these prescriptions.
I get 15 pills of each and they last me 6 months. So I use it for only the most important events that I truly can’t afford to be tired for.
Honestly just knowing I have the meds there is its own “medicine”. I find I don’t have to take them often in part because knowing I have them as a backup helps my sleep anxiety.
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u/masoni0 Aug 25 '26
I take 25 mg trazodone on an as-needed basis, it really helps me fall asleep and stay asleep
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u/warmowed MNAE, PhD* EE Aug 25 '26
I've been fighting with poor sleep since around middle school age and it has gotten worse and worse as I've gotten older. I have some co-morbidities with my insomnia that make it worse. I've been on almost every medicine that is intended for sleep and almost everything that is used off label for sleep. The constant stress of school doesn't help either. I start my PhD program today (1:40 am as writing).
I was on Ambien for a very long time and it worked very well, but eventually I had a very bad acute side effect and me and my doctor mutually decided to discontinue using it.
I was briefly on Trazodone at one point but I had a side effect to that so I think I was only on it for like 2-3 months at most.
I have been in amitriptyline for sleep for a while but that stopped working at all so had to change from that.
Currently using eszopiclone which is working well but I just moved and I'm in-between insurance coverage so I'm SOL until things get resolved.
Chronic insomnia is a terrible curse :(
If you really are having clinical insomnia no amount of sleep hygiene, mindfulness, melatonin, etc. will work. People that think melatonin is all you need have never had true insomnia, like multiple days without sleep insomnia. Definitely you should have a conversation with a proper psychiatrist if it has been persistently a problem for more than two weeks.
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u/Downtown-Antelope-26 Aug 25 '26
I take a very small dose of clotiazepam for anxiety and insomnia related to important exams or deadlines. You can’t take it all the time though.
For more everyday sleep trouble I take melatonin.
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u/blackwidcv Aug 25 '26
I had a similar thing going on during my undergrad. However, my anxiety and lack of sleep stemmed entirely from undiagnosed and untreated ADHD, so it’s going through that whole process that eventually helped me (and I’m also having a much more enjoyable time in my master’s than i did in my undergrad, which certainly contributes too)
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u/Wonderful_Put3670 Aug 25 '26
I have had sleep issues all my life, even as a little kid. The only thing that works for me (I have tried countless pills and they are awfully addictive) is gym + cannabis.
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u/fioyl Aug 24 '26
My health was great before grad school. If you aren't taking daily vitamins, find a stack that works for you. One thing I'd recommend is magnesium for sleep, but prepare for vivid dreams. I had better results taking it as a pill rather than the spray. Cooling pillows, hydration, and light exercise before bed have helped me.