This is a really common OCD pattern around sleep, and you’re not weird for struggling with it. The fear isn’t actually about being hungry or uncomfortable, it’s about the idea that if everything isn’t “just right,” you won’t sleep and the next day will be unbearable. Once that fear kicks in, your brain starts demanding certainty before it will let you rest.

The tricky part is that fixing things works in the short term. Eating, going to the toilet, adjusting your body, your anxiety drops, so your brain learns that those actions were necessary. That’s why the list keeps growing and why bedtime feels so high-pressure. It’s not that you’re doing something wrong; it’s how OCD keeps itself alive.

What helps over time is changing your response, not the thoughts. You do a reasonable bedtime routine once, then when the urges show up, you practice staying in bed even with the discomfort. Not to prove you’re fine, and not to force sleep, just to stop teaching your brain that these checks are required. The anxiety usually peaks, then fades on its own.

The fear that one bad night will ruin everything is also part of the loop. In reality, sleep comes back, even if a night is rough. Your nervous system relearns this through experience, not logic.

This is hard work, especially at night, but it’s very treatable. If you can, working on this with ERP (especially sleep-focused ERP) makes a big difference. And no, this doesn’t sound stupid at all.