[Jonathan618]

Why do you wake up at night? | Barry Krakow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izgtCxsLVd0

[Martin Reed]

A good reminder that it’s important to identify whether sleep apnea is present since cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) will not address sleep apnea.

Some points I’d like to make:

1. It is, in fact, quite normal to wake during the night! Waking is part of normal sleep. It’s our reaction to these awakenings that usually determines how easy or difficult it will be to fall back to sleep — or if we even remember the awakenings.

2. There is no evidence that chronic insomnia damages the brain or the heart or inhibits the body’s ability to fight infection.

3. Insomnia is not sleep apnea. The suggestion that treating someone for sleep apnea will conquer insomnia is inaccurate — because not everyone with insomnia has sleep apnea.

A tool to help evaluate for sleep apnea is the STOP-Bang questionnaire:

http://www.stopbang.ca/osa/screening.php

I discussed the differences between insomnia and sleep apnea with sleep physician Daniel Erichsen in Episode 5 of the Insomnia Coach Podcast.

If you feel you might have sleep apnea, it’s important to seek medical advice and appropriate treatment.

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The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Jonathan618]

Thanks for watching the video. I just thought it might be helpful.

[DanielE]

Hi Jonathan and Martin!

Daniel here, sleep physician here mentioned above!

Hope you’re both doing well. I think watching this video – the most important point to make imho is that waking up in itself is completely normal. When you interpret a sleep study you see that waking up several times per hour is common.

However – the reaction to waking up is what sets people with and without insomnia apart.

Someone with no trouble sleeping whatsoever just roll over and don’t ever remember waking up!

Many with insomnia are immediately aware of being awake and identify this as a problem and then start thinking of what to do. And that, the thought process of figuring out what to do and how to avoid this in the future and wondering why one woke up – that’s the real issue.

Not waking up.

Just some thoughts that listening to this video made me want to share.

Stay well and sleep better everyone!

[Author]

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