[Ryan82]

Hi Martin

I’m a 42 year old male

For about a month I have had insomnia most nights a week. I’m taking restoril and it helps just a little. I wake frequently and sometimes only get 2-3 hours a night. Some nights 3-4. I do wear a cpap but it is pretty old and I have a new one coming.

I also have bad health anxiety and I fear that this little sleep will greatly impact my health

[hiker]

Hi Ryan82, sorry to hear you are struggling. I guess like all of us on the forum at one time or another….

I also have a CPAP, diagnosed with sleep apnea and also insomnia unrelated to the apnea. I am wondering if your insomnia is caused totally or partially by apnea. Maybe you can see how things go once you get your new equipment. If your sleep improves right away, great.

But if you still struggle after that, then maybe your “bad health anxiety” is at play. I am speculating that this is general anxiety over your health, and more specifically here sleep anxiety? If you browse the forum, you will see that this is perhaps the common driver of insomnia—(“I really need to get some sleep, how can I function tomorrow when I’m so tired,” etc. etc. and of course how can you get to sleep when you’re wound up like this.

While meds can sometimes offer short-term relief, I can tell you after 15-20 different ones, including restoril, that there’s no magic pill out there. Rather, the answer is letting go of something you can’t control anyway. Sleep eventually happens, but you can’t make it happen. Easier said than done when you’re hammered by insomnia and can’t think straight. True, though.

There are zero scientifically peer-reviewed studies in legitimate publications which prove that insomnia leads to health problems. The only symptom I have experienced is it can take a week instead of 3-4 days to get over a cold if you can’t sleep a lot. Try not to get sucked into the stuff you read on the Internet, where a number of people proclaim expertise on insomnia and everything else.

Finally, I think you have already come across quite an insight, namely that you have anxiety about your health. This might lead you to focus not so much on every aspect of your health, and more on why you are anxious about it. Check out Martin’s materials and other people’s posts. You are not alone in this.

[Author]

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