"Those are the people who then we say go on to develop chronic insomnia." "But for roughly 15 per cent of people, even once the stressor is gone, they continue to sleep poorly. "For 85 per cent of the people out there, when that initial stressor is gone, sleep goes back to normal, and everything's fine," he said. Prof Drummond said people with insomnia disorder often wrongly attributed every problem to their sleeplessness. While many people experience disruptions to sleep during times of upheaval or anxiety, the difference in patients with insomnia is the sleep problem will persist even after the initial stress trigger is resolved, says Sean Drummond, a professor of clinical neuroscience at Monash University. A 2019 Sleep Health Foundation study found nearly 15 per cent of Australians have symptoms which could meet the diagnostic criteria, whether they realise it or not. Insomnia disorder is defined by a failure to fall or stay asleep for three or more nights a week for three months or longer. "I am so scared my brain is broken and that it will never let me sleep again … I'm not over-exaggerating, I truly feel this way." 15 per cent of Australians may experience insomnia disorder "I know this may sound ridiculous, but will I die from insomnia?" another post reads. "Anyone else have a partner who sleeps like a baby every night? So infuriating!" comments another. "Second day on no sleep, who else?" asks one poster. Sometimes they post medication questions or treatment recommendations, but mostly they're just looking for someone who understands the lonely despair of what feels like endless consciousness. Late at night, online insomnia forums are populated with the desperately sleepless. "But sometimes if you're really worried about it, or have a lot riding on it, then you don't."
And when you go into bed you think, 'I've got to do this well, I've got to sleep'. "Sleep itself becomes the performance," Dr Junge said. "I had a lot of unproductive days where I just had to stay at home, and basically do nothing or try and catch up on sleep, because I didn't have the mental capacity to do anything apart from very basic things."įor decades, Melbourne health psychologist and Sleep Health Foundation board member Moira Junge has seen patients at this "pointy" end of insomnia, when the act of sleep itself – far from being a relaxing and reinvigorating experience – is wracked with performance anxiety.
"I didn't want to see anyone when I was really bad and hadn't had an opportunity to catch up on sleep.
( Supplied: Helena Morland)įor three months, Ms Morland battled through worsening sleeplessness while juggling a university course and raising her family. Helena Morland has dealt with insomnia on and off for the past 10 years.