Lying awake in bed all night as the hours slip by? Physician shares what causes sleep anxiety and how to break the cycle

If you go to bed early hoping to get eight hours of sleep, only to lie awake all night, the feeling can be frustrating. Dr Sood explains how to prevent this.

Do you tuck yourself into bed early, hoping to clock a solid eight hours, only to find yourself tossing, turning and staring at the ceiling? Then comes the inevitable phone check – you watch the hours tick away as your brain starts doing the dreaded math: six hours left, now five, now even less. And the more you obsess over the shrinking number, the further sleep seems to slip away.

Dr Kunal Sood, an anaesthesiologist and interventional pain medicine physician, is breaking down why you may struggle to fall asleep at night despite going to bed on time. In an Instagram video shared on September 14, the physician explains what fuels sleep anxiety and how you can break the frustrating cycle.

Why can’t you fall asleep?

Explaining why this happens, Dr Sood highlights, “If you've ever calculated how many hours of sleep you have left, then watch that number get smaller while you're still wide awake, that mental countdown may actually be making it harder for you to fall asleep. Once you start thinking, ‘if I fall asleep right now, I can still get six hours,’ you're putting pressure on yourself to sleep, which can make you more alert and frustrated, which is the opposite of what you want.”

How to prevent sleep anxiety?

If you keep fixating on how little sleep you’re getting, it can make it even harder for your brain to switch off. Instead, adopting healthy sleep-hygiene habits can help you fall asleep more easily. If that still doesn’t work, seeking therapy for insomnia may be the next step.

Dr Sood advises, “The first step is to stop checking the clock. Keep a consistent wake time and get outdoor light in the morning to help anchor your body clock. Try to stop caffeine at least eight hours before bed and go to bed when you actually feel sleepy rather than just because the clock says it's bedtime.”

“If you've been lying there awake and getting frustrated, get out of bed, do something quiet in dim light and return when you feel sleepy again. If this keeps happening regularly, CBT-I or cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is considered the first-line treatment and can retrain the patterns keeping you awake,” adds the physician.

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. It is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.

Dr Kunal Sood, MD, is a double board-certified physician in Anesthesiology and Interventional Pain Medicine. He did his residency and fellowship in anesthesiology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, followed by a one-year fellowship in interventional pain medicine. He later became the Medical Director of the office in Germantown, Maryland.