Can You Break Your Sleep System?

CAN YOU BREAK YOUR SLEEP SYSTEM?

One of the biggest mistakes people with insomnia make is to believe that they can't sleep like a "good sleeper" and that there is something wrong with them like they broke their own sleep system, which means they feel like things are hopeless and are stuck with insomnia for the rest of their life.

Does this sound like you?

If so, keep reading…

First, I want you to think back to a time before you had insomnia. 

Did you sleep well back then? Or at least better than now?

Of course. 

This is because sleep is a natural biological process you can’t break. It’s like breathing and eating, a natural passive process that can’t break.

The problem with insomnia is that we get in the way of our own sleep system. Here is why…

There are two things we need for sleep…

1. A high sleep drive
2. Low to no hyperarousal levels.

Sleep drive is how sleepy you are. 

The higher the sleep drive, the sleepier you feel, and it’s like hunger. The longer you go between meals, the hungrier you are; the same goes for sleep.

Insomnia is rarely a sleep drive issue unless you sleep a lot during the day to make up for the lack of sleep at night.

Also, don’t get this confused with that feeling of being wide awake as soon as you go to bed. You still have a high sleep drive; it’s just being masked by hyperarousal.

This brings me to hyperarousal.

Hyperarousal is a heightened state of alertness from fear, worry, stress, frustration, anxiety, puzzlement, excitement, and more.

When we have insomnia, we experience almost all of those. We fear sleeplessness, stress about not sleeping, frustration from nothing working, anxiety about sleep, puzzlement about why we still struggle, etc.

This is why you can’t sleep. Your sleep system is not broken.

There is one extremely rare sleep disorder that is kind of like a broken sleep system called Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI).

It’s a genetic disease, and as of 2018, there have only been about two dozen documented cases. That’s how rare it is.

Hopefully, that puts your mind at ease.

I’m curious, did you ever start to really believe that your sleep system is broken at some point? Tell me in the comments below. :) 

To learn about the real reason you have insomnia, check out my blog post, “ The Real reason you have insomnia.  https://www.katelingates.com/blog/the-real-reason-you-have-insomnia