Sleep Disorders Community

Dear kinleydog,

Having difficulty maintaining sleep is a very common problem; you are definitely not alone! Insomnia, in all its forms, is the commonest sleep disorder. There are many causes of sleep maintenance insomnia. Some common ones include sleep hygiene/habits that prevent sleep continuity (such as alcohol or caffeine use in the evening), poor sleep environment (pets in bed, bad mattress, snoring from bed partner, etc.), use of certain medications at night, certain medical and psychiatric disorders, and various sleep disorders (such as sleep apnea, leg movements at night). The list of disorders that can cause this problem is large. You should definitely discuss this with your family physician. He/she may be able to recommend ways to improve your sleep; if not, he/she may refer you to a sleep specialist. However, I would not necessarily simply get a sleep study as that in of itself may not lead to a diagnosis.

Good luck!

aatif husain

I suffer from both sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, the latter from a 1989 spinal cord injury. I am also in considerable pain from compressed spinal nerves. I disturb my wife's sleep with my snorting and gasping, even though I wear a CPAP breathing tube which was prescribed in 2008. I used to use a BiPAP machine, and I may go back to it if the current situation doesn't improve.The other night I even woke myself up with the terrible noise I was making.

Yes, I wake up constantly and am so alert and aware of everything, including what woke me up (refrigerator kicking in - the cat jumping off the bed and etc.) Everything wakes me up and then I can't get back to sleep. I would like to be able to sleep through the night just once in my lifetime. I am 72 years old and have not ever slept through the night that I can remejmber. I also am considering having a sleep study done.

I used to sleep 10-12 hours! I found out that the reason I felt so exhausted all the time was because I was getting too much sleep. That was BEFORE I started dealing with insomnia. For a long time I would get so frustrated I wanted to cry. But I was also tossing and turning and feeling like I was going to explode with energy. My daughter is in her early 20's and unfortunately deals with insomnia. She said to me "don't look at it as necessarily a bad thing." - Wow! What a revelation. I had been spending years feeling crazy because I couldn't sleep. It was actually a schedule the world puts you on. I was getting like 2 hours of sleep (i.e., I was up all night).

I'm too tired to go to bed late! So now I get 7 hours of sleep - perfect. But that is broken up like this: 10 pm - 1 am. I get up and now look at that time as a pretty neat time that I can do extra things for/by myself. I stay up for a couple hours and go back to bed - I'm usually pretty tired by then. Sleep from 3 am - 7 am and that's 7 hours. So maybe instead of waking up so often - when you first wake up - wake up, get up, and stay up; and do the same thing the next time - or prolong how long you stay up.

This is a lot better for the partner. They can feel at ease that they know you're getting up and it's not so negative. They'll get at least an hour of quiet time. Otherwise they are bogged down by the tossing, turning, getting up so often, etc.
Hope so much that this helps!

Maybe you'll get better sleep if, when you wake up because of a noise. Get up. Make some tea. read a magazine. stay awake until you're more tired. I can only imagine you've tried everything though. Dr. Hasain's advice is very compelling.

Me too. I have fallen asleep 4 nights soundly and jerked awake by noises and am awake the rest of the night. I am tired. I use a Bipap and have had a recent sleep study. Loks like Central Sleep Apnea. Anyone come up with anything please email me.

Sleepy and tired