I care for my dad with dementia in my home. We have a video monitor which we use at night, and have his sleep habits pretty much under control. I fall asleep fine. I can wake up on my own in the middle of the night, like to use the bathroom, and go back to sleep just fine. However, when Dad calls for me in the middle of the night (this week was BAD, it was four nights in a row because of gas issues with his colostomy, and then last night it was my daughter not feeling well, I need SLEEP, lol!) I wake on high alert/with high anxiety and I CANNOT go back to sleep. I’ve tried oils, breathing & relaxation techniques, and melatonin. I’m just so amped up after I take care of that situation, that nothing works. Any suggestions?
https://elisabethelliot.org/
Something about her voice and the topics, keep me interested and relax me, then before I know it, I am back to sleep. It has been effective for me most every time.
Sometimes when sleepless I've noted tenseness in my body. I would take a deep breath and then on exhale focus on relaxing every part, arms, legs, shoulders... let yourself feel like you are melting into the bed. Keep taking long slow breaths and slow exhales, relaxing more and more as you exhale. Generally you can feel the tenseness go as you relax - then the suggestions about focusing on something like counting numbers or whatever, helps to get the mind off the usual worries and thought threads.
I hope you can get some sleep!