Insomnia

Insomnia is the inability to sleep, and the sufferer may not be able to go to sleep, may sleep fitfully, or may wake early and not be able to go back to sleep. Insomnia is often accompanied by worrying and the content of the worrying may include worrying about the insomnia itself.

Treatment for insomnia is by a combination of looking at any beliefs the sufferer has about insomnia and the effects on them, sleep diaries and sleep hygiene, behavioural experiments on what time to go to sleep, and last but not least, an alarm clock – you may not have control over when you can go to sleep but you do have some control of when you wake up.

Sleeping tablets

Should you use sleeping tablets? The short answer is no, and according to NICE, not more than three times a week and then for not more than a month.