Published on August 19, 2025 by Zencare Team. Written by Lavender Psychiatry and Zencare Team.
Thank you to Angelica Pucha (MSN, PMHNP-BC), Diane Greenberg (DNP, PMHNP-BC), Jessica Dickey (MSN, PMHNP-BC), and Michele Evans (MSN, PMHNP-BC) for their contributions to this article.
So, what is insomnia, really? If you’re having the occasional bad night where the Sunday Scaries got to you, and your mind won’t shut off or you toss and turn a bit — that’s not insomnia. Insomnia is a real, physiologic sleep disorder diagnosis. It can affect both how long you sleep and how well you sleep.
If you’ve ever found yourself lying in bed for hours, waking up constantly, or feeling wide-awake at 4 a.m. and not being able to get back to sleep (even when you're exhausted), that could be insomnia.
There are actually two main types of insomnia:
- Acute insomnia comes on suddenly, usually in response to a stressful life event like a big move, job change, illness, or even travel. It tends to last just a few days or weeks and often goes away on its own.
- Chronic insomnia sticks around much longer. If your sleep issues happen at least three nights a week for three months or more, that’s considered chronic. This type often requires professional help, especially if it’s connected to another condition such as anxiety or depression.
Insomnia is incredibly common. In fact, studies show that about 30% of adults experience short-term insomnia, and around 10% live with chronic insomnia that lasts for months or even years.
And here’s the thing, insomnia doesn’t just make your nights rough. It affects your days too. Many people feel completely drained, mentally foggy, or irritable even after spending what should have been a full night in bed. That’s because your brain isn’t getting the deep, restorative sleep it needs to reset.
This blog dives into how to know if you have insomnia, what causes insomnia, how to treat insomnia, and how a mental health professional can help you get the rest you need.
How to Know If You Have Insomnia
Not sure how to know if you have insomnia? You’re not alone. Many people struggle to tell the difference between a few bad nights of sleep and a more persistent problem. It can be hard to recognize when disrupted sleep has crossed the line into something more serious.
Let’s break it down with a few quick questions:
- Are you struggling to fall asleep, stay asleep, or waking up too early at least three times a week?
- Has this been going on for three months or longer?
- Do you feel drained, groggy, or just not refreshed during the day, even when it seems like you got enough sleep?
- Is your sleep trouble interfering with your mood, relationships, work, or ability to focus?
- Are you feeling more anxious, down, or irritable because of poor sleep?
Many people don’t realize how widespread insomnia is, or how much it can impact health. Research shows that people with insomnia are two to three times more likely to develop depression. That’s why it’s so important to recognize the signs early.
It’s very common to brush off sleep problems as "just stress" or to believe it's part of getting older. But chronic sleep issues aren’t something to ignore. Your sleep affects everything, including your mental clarity, emotional balance, and physical health, so it’s worth paying attention to.
Still unsure if you have insomnia? Try keeping a sleep journal for a week or two, or use a sleep-tracking app. Write down things like when you go to bed, when you wake up, how long it took to fall asleep, and how rested you feel in the morning. Seeing the patterns clearly can help you understand what’s really going on, and it’s valuable information to share with a therapist or doctor.
If sleep problems are happening regularly and taking a toll on your energy, mood, or focus, don’t just push through them. It might be insomnia, and there are effective ways to treat it.
What Causes Insomnia? From Stress to Sleep Hygiene
So, what causes insomnia? The answer is rarely just one thing. Insomnia usually develops from a mix of mental, physical, and lifestyle-related factors. Let’s take a closer look at what might be keeping you up at night.
1. Mental and Emotional Stress
- Anxiety: When your brain goes into overdrive the moment your head hits the pillow, sleep becomes difficult. Worries about work, relationships, or even about sleep itself can make it hard to relax.
- Depression: People with depression often wake up too early or have broken sleep throughout the night. Trouble sleeping is one of the most common symptoms of depression.
- Trauma or PTSD: Flashbacks, nightmares, and being constantly on edge can make deep, restful sleep feel out of reach.
2. Physical Conditions
- Chronic pain: Ongoing discomfort from physical conditions like arthritis or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome can make it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.
- Hormonal changes: Life stages such as menopause, pregnancy, or thyroid imbalances can all affect your sleep cycle due to hot flashes, night sweats, or other disruptions.
- Medications: Certain prescriptions, such as stimulants, antidepressants, or steroids, can interfere with your sleep. Even medications not intended to affect sleep can still have side effects that do.
3. Lifestyle and Environment
- Poor sleep habits: Inconsistent bedtimes, late afternoon naps, or using your bed for work or watching TV can make it harder for your brain to associate the bedroom with sleep.
- Caffeine and alcohol: Caffeine can stay in your system for hours and make it hard to wind down. Alcohol might help you fall asleep initially, but it often leads to disrupted, lower-quality sleep later in the night.
- Screen time before bed: The blue light from phones, laptops, and TVs reduces melatonin production, which your brain needs to feel sleepy. Using screens too close to bedtime can delay your natural sleep rhythm.
With so many overlapping causes, it’s no surprise that 50 to 70 million Americans are affected by sleep disorders, most commonly, insomnia.
These factors often interact with one another. For example, stress might cause you to lose sleep. Then, because you’re not sleeping, you start to feel anxious about how poor sleep may impact you, which makes it even harder to fall asleep. This kind of cycle is called psychophysiological insomnia, and it’s incredibly common.
Insomnia often has several causes working together. Understanding what’s at the root of your sleep problems is the first step in figuring out how to fix them.
How to Treat Insomnia: Proven Approaches That Work
The first step toward better sleep involves making a few lifestyle changes to your sleep routine. Keeping a consistent bedtime, even on weekends, helps your body’s internal clock find consistency. Even something as simple as avoiding caffeine and heavy meals late in the day can make a difference. Staying active throughout the day and having a consistent bedtime can also help your body’s natural clock stay on track. And avoiding taking naps during the day should make it easier to fall asleep at night.
Many people scroll through social media right before bed without realizing that the blue light and sometimes startling content can keep the brain awake and alert. Swapping that habit for calming activities, like meditating or listening to soft music, can signal to your body that it’s time to rest.
Your sleep environment matters too. Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and comfortably cool (65-69°F is recommended). And if your mind tends to race at night, journaling earlier in the evening can help you get your thoughts down on paper and set worries aside.
But sometimes, even with strong lifestyle habits in place, some people may continue to struggle with insomnia. In these cases, medication can be a valuable tool to help regulate sleep while you work on building and reinforcing long-term strategies, such as talk therapy. When combined with therapy and lifestyle adjustments, medication can support your body and mind as you build lasting, restorative sleep — helping you get the rest you need while addressing the underlying causes.
Therapy can be especially beneficial if your sleep troubles are tied to stress, anxiety, depression, or other mental health concerns. Talking things through can give you new tools for quieting your mind at night, reframing unhelpful thoughts, and breaking the cycle of worrying about sleep itself.
When to Talk to a Professional About Insomnia
You may have tried to push through your sleep problems, but chronic insomnia might need more thoughtful care. If you’ve been having trouble sleeping for several weeks or months, and it’s affected your mood, memory, work, or relationships, it’s time to reach out for help.
Some signs you shouldn’t ignore include:
- Feeling excessively tired during the day, even after spending enough hours in bed.
- Struggling to concentrate or remember things.
- Frequently dozing off, especially when you don’t mean to.
- Noticing that sleep issues are making your daily tasks harder to manage.
A psychiatric nurse practitioner at Lavender can work with you to uncover what’s behind your sleep struggles — whether it’s stress, lifestyle habits, mental health conditions, or something else. They can guide you in tracking patterns, identifying what’s disrupting your rest, and creating a plan tailored to what will work best for you.
Insomnia can sometimes feel isolating, but you’re not alone. Whether your sleepless nights are new or have been around for years, there are ways to get back to feeling well-rested. Paying attention to your habits and getting support sooner rather than later can make a huge difference. If improving your sleep feels challenging on your own, connecting with a professional can help you get the kind of rest that leaves you waking up refreshed, restored, and ready to take on the day.
FAQs
1. What are the first signs of insomnia?
People often notice feeling unusually tired during the day, even after spending enough hours in bed. You might feel irritable, have trouble focusing, or struggle with remembering things. Some people notice that they fall asleep too quickly when they finally lie down, and others rely heavily on caffeine to help them stay alert. If you’re waking up multiple times in the night or taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep regularly, these can also be early signs of insomnia.
2. Can stress cause insomnia?
Yes, stress can play a role in keeping you up at night, but it’s not the only factor. Medical conditions, hormonal changes, living a sedentary lifestyle, and certain substances like caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol can also disrupt sleep. Sometimes it’s a combination of stress and other influences that make it harder to rest.
3. How do I know if I have chronic insomnia vs. just a bad week of sleep?
Many of us have a few nights where sleep isn’t great, but chronic insomnia is more persistent. If you’ve had trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too early for several weeks or months, and it’s affecting your daily life, it’s worth seeking help.
4. What is the best treatment for insomnia without medication
Lifestyle changes are usually the first step. That includes keeping a regular sleep schedule, limiting caffeine, avoiding screens before bed, making your sleep environment quiet and comfortable, and using wind-down routines like meditation or gentle stretching. Therapy can also be a very effective option, especially when insomnia is linked to stress, anxiety, or other mental health conditions.
5. Is insomnia linked to mental health conditions like anxiety or depression?
Yes, and the connection can work both ways: poor sleep can make mental health symptoms worse, and mental health conditions can make it harder to sleep. Anxiety can cause a racing mind that keeps you up, while depression might lead to either too much sleep or not enough. Other conditions like bipolar disorder and PTSD can also interfere with healthy sleep patterns.