Maintenance insomnia

[cb3930]

Hello, I have been having pretty severe maintenance insomnia for the last few weeks and wondering what you would recommend to do about it, as it seems to be getting worse. At first I would wake up in the night because of where I was living at the time due to "environmental disturbances" (ie loud noises at night) and so would get up and go to the bathroom but then fall right back asleep. Now that I'm living back at home, sans noises, I'm still getting up but now not being able to get back to sleep for hours. I don't have much trouble falling asleep, but after I've slept for anywhere from 3-5 hrs, I wake up pretty alert. Should I just get out of bed and read? I'm nervous about doing that because it seems like my body will learn to wake up then and never be able to sleep past it. This is not related to any medical condition FYI. How do I unlearn this??

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Understand your concern. Inability to sleep could be problems with initiating sleep or maintaining sleep is called insomnia, which can be due to sleep disorders or due to physiological causes as explained by you. It sometimes takes time to adjust to changes in surroundings. Also, don’t start ‘thinking’ about going back to sleep. The more anxious you get, you are going to face more difficulties falling asleep and this becomes a vicious cycle. So, just relax and let the flow envelope you. Follow good sleep hygiene measures like going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time, avoidance of alcohol, smoking and caffeinated beverages. Maintain warm, comfortable bedroom environment and engage in relaxing activities like a warm bath before bed time.

Also, don’t nap during daytime and exercise during daytime as this promotes sleep.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[cb3930]

I'm 20

[Caryopteris]

How old are you?