Imagine being awake in the middle of the night, unable to sleep (again), mindlessly doom-scrolling until you hopefully fall asleep again. If you search on ‘insomnia’ you’ll find that it is a very common problem, affecting up to one third of adults in New Zealand. Some have acute insomnia, and others have had a chronic condition for years.
What is insomnia?
‘Poor sleep’ and ‘insomnia’ are often used interchangeably, however they are not the same. Insomnia is when you have difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, and early morning awakenings for several nights a week despite adequate opportunity. It causes distress, and can affect your work, home or social life.
The ‘adequate opportunity’ is an important point. Why? If you only have rubbish sleep because you don’t prioritise sleep by choice, then we are talking about insufficient sleep duration - rather than the inability to sleep. This is often related to work or study cultures that glorify “going hard” and applaud minimal sleep.
Acute insomnia can be transient and a natural reaction to stressful life events, such as grief or excessive stress. However, if your poor sleep persists it is important to seek help.
What is causing poor sleep and sleep challenges?
Some factors that make quality sleep harder to get are:
Irregular sleep schedules
Poor sleep environment (too much noise or light, overcrowded house)
Shift work
Using electronic devices in bed
Excessive stress
Not prioritising sleep by choice
Jet-lag
Factors relating to life phases: pregnancy, having small children, peri/ menopause, older age or caring for sick family members
Other physical and mental health challenges: pain, injury, concussion, side effects of medication, grief and psychological stress or other sleep disorders
Insomnia often occurs alongside other health conditions; however treating it as a separate condition can positively effect those specific health issues.
What can you do?
It’s a hot topic, and most people are now aware that sleep is important for our physical, mental and emotional health. So what can you do?
Make sleep a priority
Keep a consistent bed/wake time
Get plenty of daylight during waking hours
Don’t fret the bad nights but reduce stress and workload to improve sleep
Develop a positive attitude to sleep and know that sleep can improve
Minimise or cut out alcohol and caffeine
Reduce screen time before bed, and keep devices out of the bedroom
Ensure dark or dim light conditions at night, pre bed and during sleep time
Learn how to ask for help – don’t tough it out
Just remember, everyone’s sleep needs and sleep schedules are different.
When to see help?
I see clients who have tried self-help for several months and are at a point where the lack of sleep is affecting their work, family or social relationships and impacting their quality of life. They have poor sleep despite adequate opportunity which has started to cause distress and they may rely on sleep aids.
If your insomnia persists then professional treatment with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) can help.
Contact a trained professional who:
has experience in differential assessment and treatment of insomnia
has a science-based background and uses evidence-based methods
has on-going clinical supervision
CBT-I is one of the most well studied, effective and safest interventions for any sleep disorder. It is a skills-based approach that is drug-free and it involves behavioural and cognitive changes to target underlying issues contributing to insomnia.
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