Calm Your Mind and Body and Reclaim Your Sleep
What is insomnia?
Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or awakening early. When these challenges persist for most nights for more than 3 months it is defined as chronic and can negatively impact daytime functioning and quality of life.
How common is insomnia?
According to recent epidelogic research, approximately 10% of the US adult population suffers from an insomnia disorder while another 20% experiences occasional insomnia symptoms. Some estimates are even higher (Morin & Jarren, 2022). This is even more common in patients dealing with cancer (Grassi et al., 2023) and organ transplantation (Reiley-Sprong et al., 2013).
Practical Times for Managing Insomnia
Sleep hygiene inventory: Honestly look at your sleep behaviors. There are lots of things that can interfere with sleep. From substances to exercise patterns, take a look at this checklist and see If there are any sleep thieves hiding in your daily sleep patterns.
Make up a sleep routine: Consistency is key in sleep. About an hour before bed begin the wind down process. Doing activities that are going to be restful.
Create a cozy sleep environment: In general, cool, comfy, dark, quiet and free from screens!
Release your thoughts: For when your active mind is causing trouble.
Constructive worry time. This cognitive behavioral therapy techniques involves "scheduling about 15 minutes to focus on worries and develop solutions.
Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half
Set a timer for about 5 minutes
On one side write down whats been bothering you bullet point style.
After the alarm goes off, unfold the paper and and set the timer for another 10 minutes
Explore each worry one by one considering steps that may begin to address it. We are not trying to solve every problem, but just begin taking steps towards solutions.
This is most helpful when done regularly an hour or two before bed.
Deep Breathing.: Diaphragmatic, deep breathing can have a profoundly therapeutic effect on sleep (e.g., Steinmane & Fernate, 2025). Physiologically, this is activating your parasymptathetic nervous system and reducing sympathetic activity, as your body shifts into rest and subsequently sleep.
8 x 8 x 16 - Take 8 deep breaths on your left side, 8 deep breaths on your right side, and 16 deep breaths on your back. Repeat as needed.
Make the bed a place for sleep and sleep alone. You may be familiar with the concept of classical conditioning and Pavlov’s dog! Briefly, a Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov observed that dogs would salivate when they heard the sound of a bell, which was previously paired with the presentation of food. Just as the dog salivates when he hears a bell, we want your bed to make you sleepy by association alone. Chronic insomnia disconnects the association of bed and sleep, as you may spend time worrying and laying restlessly there. We strengthen this association by limiting time in bed to sleeping only. If you are awake in bed for more than 20 minutes, get UP!
Remember although a bad night of sleep is uncomfortable, it is not an emergency. This type of catastrophic thinking tends to be activating and makes sleep even more elusive.
I do always encourage patients to speak with your primary care physician. Sometimes insomnia is related to different medical conditions that can be treated (e.g., sleep apnea). However, if you have ruled out these medical etiologies and would like more assistance, I offer Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Insomnia (CBT-I), the first line, gold standard treatment for insomnia (Furukawa et al., 2024).
