It is as the title states - I have both of these issues and they're becoming a bit of a problem, and truthfully it'd be nice if I could have some advice on the matter.

Thanatophobia is the fear of death, the fear of the act of dying, and fear of what happens after death. I have had this since I was a small child and recently it's begun to affect my daily lifestyle. I have been to many funerals but none affected me until recently. It was not because somebody had died, but it was because I had started thinking again, about if I died. I had a nightmare a few days ago where I had been shot in my neck. I stood (in my dream) stunned, before falling to my knees as my killer prepared another round. I could feel my head going fuzzy and it was becoming hard for me to keep my eyes open as I screamed and begged for my life. I woke up unable to breathe correctly and it took several hours for me to calm down. As everyone knows, people die eventually. Thanatophobia is an unconscious fear a lot of humans have. It affects my daily life now by clouding my thoughts with depressing feelings and I have no idea what I should do to put these thoughts out of my head.

On the insomnia note, my sleep schedule has diminished greatly in the past few months. Now, I have only been able to sleep maybe 1-2 hours this week. How would I go about fixing this naturally? I don't feel sleepy, and don't remember falling asleep when I wake up and realize I've passed out. I would rather not have to go see a doctor..

Fear of death is normal...I don't know why. Some people will probably just dismiss it. They only thing I can advice you is to try and take of your thoughts on death, because whatever you do it will always be there. Think about the more pressing concerns of life... or the more trivial ones. Or, you can try to numb it on the other hand, by thinking about it so much that it becomes nothing.

For insomnia, try looking for the causes. Check sleeping patterns, or the things you do before you sleep, like drinking coffee or whatnot. Exercise is also said to improve the quality of your sleep. Maybe your thoughts on death is also affecting yourself. I tried getting so afraid of dying in my sleep that I only got only two hours of sleep. Emotional problems like depression can cause both insomnia and oversleeping.

Thanatophobia - The fear of Thanatos.
lol
/ahem

Anyway, >>2 this.

I understand why you fear death; it haunts us all. But it's all just a silly though to fear it so much. Look around you; what could possible harm you? Nothing much I beat. In reality yes death is inevitable but that doesn't matter; it's what you do with your life that counts. Stop thinking about dieing; just think about living. The important thing is is that we chose life; and then live.

As for your insomnia try counting kittens till you fall asleep! LOL (sorry if the joke was inappropriate) but im srry to say I don't really have anything in mind. But our fellow Dollars should be able to help you with it. I have faith in you so take care!

As has already been said, for the insomnia, try to figure out what may be causing it. If it turns out that seeing a doctor would be beneficial, I really think you should do so.

Also, your thanatophobia could be affecting your sleep. If something is constantly weighing on our minds, I think we're likely to dream about it and it would affect our daily lives. To kind of circle back around, sleep (or lack of) can strongly influence a person's mood and how they think about things. When I'm tired past a certain point (usually at night), I start to feel lonely, depressed, etc. When I wake up the next morning, I'll feel much better mentally and sometimes wonder why I was thinking the way I was. In short, I wouldn't be surprised if your insomnia and thanatophobia were affecting and helping to perpetuate each other.

As far as finding some relief, if you're unable to use sleep to improve your mood, then I think you should try to work on the thanatophobia end of it. Being terrified of death myself, I know it's not something that you can just do away with, but you can reduce it greatly. This may not be much consolation, but for strong fears, I think each person has to find a way to deal with them themselves. In my own case, a few years ago I happened to find out about something called SENS (Scientifically Engineered Negligible Senescence) that seems to lend some possibility to greatly extending the length of life, maybe even indefinitely. In addition, I started learning about various things that I can do to lead a healthier and longer life. So, those two things combined helped give me some hope.

However, I still had the fear. Finally, I just got fed up with feeling fear. It was a terrible feeling and I didn't want to feel it anymore. So, what I did (and still do) whenever I have those kinds of thoughts and feelings is I would mentally (and sometimes physically) scream at this fear, raging at it and banishing it out of my conscious thought.

I guess those aren't solutions, per se, to being afraid of death, but they really helped me to not let it overwhelm me. You could try to use what I do to get your fear under control. If I can think of anything else, I'll be sure to post it. Best of luck to you! :)

>>3
This

>>3
>>6
http://phobias.about.com/od/phobiaslist/a/thanatophobia.htm

>>2
>>4
>>5

Thank you for your comments, especially Sejin's. I don't really know what a cause for my insomnia could be, seeing as (minus the sleep bit) every other part of my daily routine is healthy. But I do understand that my fear could also be putting off my sleeping schedule. I'll try different ways to tone down the thoughts in my head.

>>7 No problem! We all need help in our lives, and especially I would do it for any Dollars! Please let us know if you would like to talk about anything else, me and everyone else here will be happy to help. Take care!

I have this feeling too! Oh Gosh I soooo can relate! Solving this is praying and YOLO

i think your insomnia is linked to your fear of death because you getting nightmares about your phobia. beast way in my case to deal with your fear is to face it. desensitize your self to it that what i did with my fear of heights. plane a trip to go skydiving or buggy jumping with a close friend that you truest and go at it.

Just kill yourself :-D it works for ppl like you. Think about it at lest you won't be scared anymore lol

>>7 You're welcome. I hope I was able to be of some help.

>>11 dont go out here and tell some one to go kill themselves and its not funny having insominia and a fear can really mess you up. and >>1 you should go to a doctor they can help you a lot better than we can.