Can’t sleep? Why it happens and what helps
Another night lying awake while everyone else sleeps? If you can’t sleep, you are far from alone, and there is usually a reason you can find. Stress, your bedroom, caffeine, alcohol, screens, irregular hours, big life changes and health problems are the usual suspects. Changing a few habits is often the best place to start.
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Short-term and long-term insomnia
Insomnia simply means having regular problems sleeping. That might be trouble dropping off, waking often, lying awake for long spells or waking too early. You may also wake feeling unrefreshed, irritable and unable to concentrate.
The NHS splits insomnia into two kinds. Short-term insomnia lasts less than 3 months and often follows a stressful time. Long-term insomnia lasts 3 months or more.
If you have suddenly started struggling, or can’t sleep lately after a hard few weeks, it is likely to be short-term. Even so, the habits you build now can stop it settling in for the long run.
Common reasons you can’t sleep
Ask yourself why you can’t sleep right now. It is often more than one thing at once.
- Stress, anxiety or worry about work, money, health or family
- A noisy, bright, too hot or too cold bedroom, or an uncomfortable bed
- Caffeine later in the day, and alcohol, which disrupts sleep later in the night
- Screens and work in bed right up until lights out
- Irregular hours, shift work, jet lag or long lie-ins
- Life changes such as a bereavement, a break-up, a new baby or losing a job
- Health issues such as pain, needing the toilet, menopause, an overactive thyroid or some medicines
Things to try tonight
Only go to bed when you feel sleepy, not just because it is a certain time. Spend the hour before bed winding down with something calm, such as reading or a bath, and keep the bedroom dark and quiet.
Lying in bed fighting to sleep tends to make it worse. If you feel wide awake, get up and do something calm until you feel sleepy, then go back. Try not to clock-watch, as checking the time only adds pressure.
Habits that help over the next few weeks
The single most useful habit is getting up at the same time every day, even after a poor night. Avoid lying in or napping in the day, as both make it harder to sleep the following night.
The NHS suggests avoiding caffeine, alcohol and smoking for 6 hours before bed, and avoiding exercise in the 4 hours before bed. Keep your bed for sleep and intimacy rather than work, TV or scrolling.
These ideas come from CBT for insomnia, known as CBT-I. It is the main recommended treatment for long-term insomnia and can be done face to face or through an online programme.
More specific help for your type of sleep problem
If one pattern sounds more like you, our other pages go into more detail. There is a page on waking at 3am and lying there until dawn. Another covers a racing mind that will not quieten when your head hits the pillow.
We also cover sleep anxiety, where the fear of another bad night keeps you awake. There is a page for when you can’t get back to sleep after waking. Finally, one looks at feeling tired but wired, exhausted all day yet alert at bedtime.
When to see a GP
See your GP if changing your habits has not helped, or if you haven’t slept properly for weeks or months. The same goes if poor sleep is making it hard to cope day to day. A GP will look for any cause behind it.
Speak to a GP sooner if you snore loudly and stop breathing or gasp in your sleep. Do the same if you wake early feeling low and have lost interest in things. Menopause is a common cause of broken sleep too, and your GP can talk through options. If you are struggling to cope, call Samaritans on 116 123.
If bed has started to feel like a battleground
If you have started to dread the night and feel worn down by the struggle, that is understandable. When sleep goes wrong for a while, your body can forget how to switch off at the end of the day.
What helps is reminding it. With hypnosis you are guided into deep physical relaxation, then learn to link that feeling with your bed and your bedtime. Many people find that, with practice, the bed starts to feel like a place to rest again rather than a place to struggle. It works best alongside the CBT-I style habits on this page, such as a fixed wake time.
I am Adam Cox, a clinical hypnotherapist with 17 years in practice and post-graduate qualifications in clinical hypnotherapy. Sleep sessions are among the most listened to on my podcast, The Hypnotist, which has been downloaded more than 20 million times.
Sleep hypnosis downloads for this
Recorded sessions from my store. Download once, keep them, and play them in bed with your phone on night mode.
Questions people ask
Why can’t I sleep even though nothing is wrong?
Sleep can slip because of small things adding up, such as late caffeine, screens, irregular hours or low-level stress you have stopped noticing. Once insomnia starts, worry about sleep itself can keep it going.
I suddenly can’t sleep. Should I be worried?
A sudden spell of poor sleep is common after stress, illness or a change in routine, and it often settles within weeks. If it lasts 3 months or more, or you have other new symptoms, see your GP.
What is the best treatment for insomnia?
CBT for insomnia, called CBT-I, is the main recommended treatment for long-term insomnia in the UK. Sleeping pills are rarely prescribed and only for short spells, because of side effects and the risk of dependence.
Are over-the-counter sleep aids worth trying?
Pharmacy sleep aids can make you drowsy, but they do not cure insomnia. The NHS says to use them for a short time only. Ask your pharmacist or GP before taking anything.
Could hypnosis help your sleep?
Take my free sleep hypnosis suitability test. Tell me what keeps you awake, try two quick hypnosis experiments and get an honest answer, with your next step.
Want help getting your sleep back on track?
If recordings are not enough on their own, we can work on what is keeping you awake together. Start with a £49 consultation call over Zoom. We talk through your nights and whether hypnotherapy is right for you, and the fee comes off your first session. If poor sleep has lasted 3 months or more, please see your GP too.
Further reading: NHS: Insomnia · Mayo Clinic: Insomnia symptoms and causes · Cleveland Clinic: Insomnia · NHS Every Mind Matters: Sleep problems