Many people who experience excess anxiety have difficulty falling asleep or sleeping through the night. If this is more than an occasional problem for you, you may want to speak with your doctor. If you are not taking other medications, you might want to consider taking something to help you sleep. Over-the-counter sleep medications, however, are not recommended for long-term use.

There are also many non-medicinal techniques you can practice. We talked about several of these in Chapter 5 when we discussed medications (because certain medications can cause hyper-wakefulness).

By now, it's well documented that stress can also cause or aggravate headaches, backaches, neck and shoulder pain, and stomach upset. Of course, stress can also lead to emotional symptoms. Not only will stress almost certainly exacerbate your OCD, it can also cause irritability, concentration difficulty, jumpiness, and a bunch of other negative emotions and thoughts. Stress also can affect reproduction, respiration, and your body's immune system.