insomnia andyour thinking

What is Insomnia?

Types of Negative Thoughts About Sleep

Primary insomnia is persistent problems with sleep,
lasting for more than one month, and may include: Difficulty falling asleep - also known as onset insomnia
 Waking up on and off during the night - also known
as middle insomnia
 Waking up very early and not returning to sleep
 Unsatisfactory sleep quality
Insomnia is the most common mental health complaint,
affecting up to 30% of adults, and may require specifictreatment even when it occurs as part of anotherdisorder (e.g. depression, generalised anxiety disorder,
post traumatic stress disorder).

1) Assuming the worst about themeaning or cause of sleep
problems. For example, someone
who thinks “I haven’t slept well thispast week, it must mean that I havelost the ability to sleep” is likely to feel much more
distressed than someone who thinks “I haven’t slept
well this past week - I might be stressed about somethingat work or at home, I should address it.”

Insomnia and the Role of Thinking
Insomnia may begin due to a range of factors including
stress or pain. Usually, however, different factors keep
the problem going. Negative thoughts about sleep canplay a very important role in maintaining sleep problems,
as shown in ‘The Vicious Cycle of Insomnia’ below:
Initial poor sleep due to stress, pain, or other reason

Negative thoughts
e.g. I will not be able to cope if I don’t have 8hours sleep a night … If I don’t sleep well I
will surely feel terrible tomorrow and perform
badly at work
Continued poor
sleep and increased
focus on how poorsleep is impacting on
daytime functioning

Emotional and physicalproblems
e.g. Anxiety and worry
about not being able tosleep, apprehension,muscle tension

Change in habits intended to improve
sleep, which in fact make things worse
e.g. napping, lots of time spent in bed trying
to sleep, and unhelpful bedtime routines orsurroundings that increase likelihood ofsleeplessness, such as mobile phoneuse, or watching TV in bed

This diagram shows that negative thoughts
about getting to sleep, quality of sleep, andconsequences of poor sleep can actually
increase the chances of having poor sleep. It is as thoughthese negative thoughts become a self-fulfilling prophecy,
and they can get in the way of returning to regular, good
sleep habits.

2) Blaming everything on sleep is another common
thinking trap. It is true that poor sleep can affectmood, concentration, memory and work performance,but sleep is not the only cause of problems in theseareas. People with insomnia tend to assume that their
sleep problems are the cause of everything that goes
wrong with the day.
3) Unrealistic expectations about how much sleep isneeded can make people feel worse about problems
with sleeping. For example, people who sleep poorly
tend to hold a strong belief that everyone requires 8hours of sleep per night to function well. In fact,people vary greatly in terms of how much sleep theyneed. Some people cope quite well on 4-5 hours pernight, while others need 9-10. Setting strict rules ortargets for your sleep duration will increase anxiety
and interfere with the process of falling asleep.
4) Unhelpful thinking styles such as catastrophising,black & white thinking, overgeneralisation, andselective attention can also contribute to maintaining
sleep problems. For example, people with sleep
problems tend to remember the times they slept
poorly but forget the instances of good sleep, or will
notice every little body sensation when trying to get
to sleep. People with insomnia also tend to classify anight’s sleep as either “great” or “terrible” withoutleaving room for “ok” and “good enough.”

Challenging Negative Thoughts
You can use the Thought Diary process(described in other information sheets)
to challenge negative thoughts aboutsleep. Research has shown that negative
thinking is connected to negative
emotions and behaviour, and so healthy
thinking is a very important part of healthy sleeping.
Thought Diaries are a useful way of identifying yournegative thoughts about sleep, and the feelings andbehaviours associated with these thoughts. You can thenchallenge these negative thoughts and generate more
helpful and balanced ways of thinking.

This document is for information purposes only. Please refer to the full disclaimer and copyright statement available at
http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au regarding the information from this website before making use of such information.

See website www.cci.health.wa.gov.au for more handouts and resources.

CCI

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