I recently had a client that was studying to take the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT. The LSAT is unlike many other tests and is not a test of your accumulated knowledge, but a test of how your brain works. Can you make logical deductions? Can you unravel word problems, and keep your wits about you under the strain of a timed test?

My client found it intimidating, and as a result, she suffered from one of the biggest reasons that people have trouble sleeping, insomnia anxiety. She spent the week before the test taking practice tests. She aced most of them, and should have been relaxed and confident. Instead she found herself unsure and filled with self-doubt. She had difficulty sleeping regularly and couldn’t concentrate when she needed to most. She became so anxious that she completely psyched herself out and, on test day, she bombed miserably.

Her inability to still her mind and complete the task at hand was all because of her difficulty sleeping caused by insomnia anxiety. In order to attempt a difficult task you need to be rested and clear-headed. She was anything but. She had gone more than a week without ever sleeping more than a couple of hours a night and, as a result, was exhausted. The result was that she was unable to concentrate and as the test went on her anxiety kept building and building until she couldn’t solve anything. Her focus was on the repercussions of her failure to score well instead of successfully completing the test.

Everyone, to one degree or another, is susceptible to this type of situational pressure. It’s important to recognize that in order to rise above what are essentially self-inflicted wounds you need to have a strategy.

What’s important to realize is that insomnia anxiety and depression go hand-in-hand. They can soon become a vicious cycle. The more anxious you are, the less likely it is that you’ll be able to fall asleep. The less sleep you get, the less rested you’ll be in the morning and the less likely you are to perform well at work, in school, or just at life in general. This results in two kinds of anxiety, the psychological anxiety of potential failure, as well as the bio-chemical anxiety of simply not having gotten enough sleep.

Both of these can types of anxiety can lead to depression. The general drowsiness caused by the lack of sleep can lead to depression by itself. When combined with anxiety and self-doubt the process progresses much faster.

This means that it’s important to recognize the early signs of insomnia anxiety. If you feel you are being affected, discuss your symptoms with a mental health professional or your doctor. Together you can decide on the type of treatment necessary. You might find it could be as simple as changing your diet or exercise routine. In some cases it may require medication. No matter what, it’s important to get help with insomnia anxiety so you can get a good night’s sleep and work on your goals and dreams.

Wil Dieck is the founder of Total Mind Therapy and author of an e-Course “Overcoming Insomnia” that you can have at absolutely no charge. Drop by http://howtosleepinfo.com/ for your copy today.