Trouble sleeping? A practical guide to insomnia
Almost everyone has a rough night now and then. But when poor sleep becomes a pattern, it affects how you feel, think and cope. The good news: there's a lot you can do, and simple, practical strategies help most people.
What is insomnia?
Insomnia means regularly having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too early, and feeling the effects during the day. It's very common, and it's often driven by stress, worry, irregular routines, or habits that quietly work against sleep. Sometimes it's linked to another issue such as low mood, anxiety, pain or a health condition.
Practical steps to sleep better
These evidence-based habits (sometimes called "sleep hygiene") help most people:
- Keep regular hours. Go to bed and get up at similar times every day, including weekends.
- Build a wind-down routine. Give yourself 30 to 60 minutes of calm before bed: dim lights, no screens, something relaxing.
- Get daylight in the morning. Natural light early in the day helps set your body clock.
- Watch caffeine and alcohol. Caffeine can linger for hours; alcohol may help you drop off but breaks up sleep later.
- Keep the bedroom for sleep. Cool, dark and quiet. If you can't sleep after about 20 minutes, get up and do something calm until you feel sleepy.
- Don't clock-watch. Checking the time feeds worry, which makes sleep harder.
Trying harder to sleep usually backfires. The goal is to remove the pressure and let sleep come.
What tends to make it worse
A few common habits quietly work against you: long daytime naps, relying on alcohol to fall asleep, catching up with very long lie-ins, and using sleeping tablets for more than a short period. Sleeping medications have a place for short-term use, but they don't fix the underlying pattern and aren't a long-term solution.
When to see a doctor
It's worth seeing your GP if:
- poor sleep has lasted more than a few weeks, or keeps coming back;
- it's affecting your mood, concentration or daily life;
- you also feel low, anxious or overwhelmed; or
- you snore loudly or have been told you stop breathing in your sleep.
Your doctor can look for anything underlying, talk through options, and, where it would help, connect you with psychology for CBT-i, the recommended treatment for ongoing insomnia.
Sleep affecting your days?
Our GPs and psychology team can help you get to the bottom of it. Book online, seven days a week.
How Sirius Health can help
Your GP can review your sleep, check for any underlying causes, and, if it would help, arrange a Mental Health Treatment Plan so you can see our psychology team for CBT-i. Because we work under one roof, your care stays joined up.
Sources: healthdirect · Insomnia; Sleep Health Foundation (Australia).