Written by: THE BALANCE
Medically reviewed by Dr. Sarah Boss, MD
Last updated: January 20, 2026
Fact checked
Quick Summary
  • Affecting millions of people across the world, insomnia is a common yet the most underrated sleep disorder.
  • It is characterised by difficulty in falling or maintaining sleep leading to overall poor quality of sleep, despite the presence of adequate circumstances and opportunities.
  • Insomnia is highly associated with a decline in overall health and can severely affect personal and social life.
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Affecting millions of people across the world, insomnia is a common yet the most underrated sleep disorder. It is characterised by difficulty in falling or maintaining sleep leading to overall poor quality of sleep, despite the presence of adequate circumstances and opportunities. Insomnia is highly associated with a decline in overall health and can severely affect personal and social life.

If left unmanaged, it tends to become chronic and negatively affect academic performance, productivity at work and quality of life. Fortunately, help is available in the form of luxury treatment centres where users can effectively learn how to deal with insomnia and manage its long-term consequences to maintain a good life.

  • Approximately 40% of the people between the ages of 18 to 24 struggle to fall asleep
  • 33% of the UK citizens above the age of 55 find it difficult to fall asleep fast every night
  • 43% of the UK citizens report that poor sleep quality has made them irritable and aggressive
  • At least one in three people in the UK report sleeping less than before the COVID-19 pandemic

Identified as one of the most prevalent sleep disorders, insomnia continues to affect millions of people across the globe. This unrelenting issue can impact sleep in different ways, such as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, experiencing poor sleep quality, waking up too early or frequently throughout the night, etc. Research suggests that up to 69% of individuals seek primary care treatment for insomnia, indicating a high prevalence rate on a global scale. Nevertheless, the problem remains unmanaged by most people and the majority struggle to cope with it on a day-to-day basis.

Almost everyone suffers from a lack of sleep from time to time. Factors like diet, stress, or jet lag can induce sleep difficulties in individuals, which are quite common and often short-term, usually lasting for a few days. However, if these difficulties become an ongoing process, they can take the form of insomnia and directly contribute to several serious health concerns, including anxiety, depression, stroke, diabetes, and stroke. Additionally, insomnia can also take a toll on executive function, cognition, emotional regulation, decision making, and mood. Research suggests that chronic loss of sleep encourages negative emotional processing, paving the way for anger, aggression, hopelessness, and even suicide ideation in severe cases, making it crucial to learn how to deal with insomnia before it causes permanent damage.

Insomnia can be described in multiple ways depending on its type and specific characteristics of each.

  • Acute Insomnia: This includes short-term sleeping issues that generally subside within a few weeks.
  • Chronic Insomnia: If the sleeping issues persist for at least three days per week on a regular basis for at least 3 months or longer, the problem is labelled as chronic insomnia.
  • Maintenance Insomnia: This type of insomnia is characterised by difficulty staying asleep or frequently waking up too early. It is often a sign of an underlying mental or physical health.
  • Onset Insomnia: In this type of insomnia, the individual faces difficulty in falling asleep. It is usually triggered by factors like mental health symptoms, overuse of caffeine, etc. and often coexists with other types of sleep disorders.
  • Behavioral Insomnia of Childhood: It is characterised by refusal to go to sleep, issues in falling asleep, or both.

Depending on the cause, insomnia can be divided into the following two types:

  • Primary Insomnia: It is also known as idiopathic insomnia and usually does not have a clear underlying cause
  • Secondary Insomnia: This type of insomnia stems from a clear cause which may include the use of certain medication, the presence of a chronic illness, mental health problems such as anxiety, or late-night shift work.

Multiple serious risks are associated with insomnia, especially when it has become chronic. These risks can either be medical, mental or both.

Medical Consequences

The following medical conditions are often considered a consequence of longstanding insomnia:

  • Asthma
  • Stroke
  • Low immunity
  • Seizures
  • Diabetes
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • High blood pressure

Mental Consequences

Insomnia also carries the potential to trigger the following mental issues:

  •  Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Emotional dysregulation
  • Increased frustration, confusion, or aggression

Consequences on Daily Life

Longstanding insomnia can severely affect multiple aspects of everyday life, such as:

  • Performance at school or work
  • Sex drive
  • Judgment and decision-making skills
  • Memory and recollection
  • Increased risk of engaging in accidents due to excessive daytime sleepiness

Recent evidence has also discovered the association between sleep duration and mortality, indicating lack of sleep as an important reason for a shortened life span. Persistent insomnia has, in fact, been found to increase the risk of death by 97 percent.

The presence of the following symptoms can typically recognize insomnia:

  • Waking too early and unable to go back to sleep
  • Spending hours lying awake past bedtime, usually worrying about  sleep
  • Difficulty in falling asleep or maintaining it
  • A consistent pattern of disturbed sleep
  • Increased daytime sleepiness

As the body struggles due to lack of sleep, the following additional symptoms may arise within a few weeks:

  • Increased irritability
  • Persistent fatigue
  • Difficulty in remembering things
  • Poor concentration

Several strategies can be implied to prevent engaging in behaviours getting in the way of good sleep. Some of these strategies to overcome insomnia include the following:

Relaxing Practices: One of the best tips for sleeping with anxiety is frequent engagement in relaxation techniques. Practices like progressive muscle relaxation and mindful breathing can help significantly reduce anxiety levels at bedtime. Other activities such as meditation or a warm bath can also help.

Reduction of Stimuli: You can cope with insomnia by specifying the bedroom for sleep only and minimising other stimuli that may potentially disrupt sleep, such as electronics or book reading.

Fixing a Bedtime: Consider setting a time for going to sleep and waking up each morning to train your mind and body for consistent sleep.

Avoiding Daytime Naps: Napping during the day can be a hurdle in dealing with insomnia. Avoid the naps and impose sleep restrictions during the day to slip into sleep more easily at night.

Avoiding Stimulants: Stimulants such as nicotine and caffeine can disrupt sleep, especially if taken close to bedtime. Limiting their intake, particularly after the afternoon, is recommended to avoid sleep disruption.

Sleep Hygiene: Practice good sleep hygiene by ensuring that your bedroom is comfortable enough for good sleep. Investing in a good mattress and soft pillows are recommended for ideal sleep. Moreover, dim lights can be used to help transition to sleep.

Get Help: If the sleep disturbances persistently affect your life to the point that your daily activities and cognition are being compromised, seeking professional help is highly recommended. An inpatient executive treatment center can be a great place to learn how to beat insomnia and remove its effects on daily life in comfort and peace.

As a leading luxury rehab in the UK, we understand that problems like insomnia often stem from a deeper psychological or medical issue that needs management for a lasting change. At our center, we utilise a holistic approach and offer sleep disorder treatment programs, particularly focusing on restoring balance to the overall wellbeing instead of treating a particular set of symptoms. Our therapeutic team draws on the latest clinical sleep studies and research to provide all residents with the highest level of guidance, support, and professional insight as they progress through their highly individualized treatment plans. These treatment plans can help the residents learn how to deal with lack of sleep and its impacts and support them in implementing healthy sleep hygienic practices in daily life. Developing valuable relaxation skills that can be easily integrated into everyday life is another goal of the treatment plans we offer.

At our resort-style treatment center, all residents are appointed private villas to engage in our intensive treatment courses and holistic wellness activities while enjoying privacy and tranquillity. With round-the-clock support and care, our rehab offers the perfect environment to relax with facilities like a spa, pool, gymnasium, large garden, and more. Each resident is provided with a personal chef and driver to facilitate their stay and allow them to fully focus on relaxing, recharging, and setting the foundation for healthy sleeping habits.

At our luxury insomnia rehab, you’ll be treated with the utmost compassion and respect the moment you arrive. We have a team of highly skilled physicians and staff to work alongside you personally and devise a plan to care for your mental, personal, spiritual, and emotional needs. The team strives to make you feel welcomed and cared for as you work on your recovery.

In addition to the use of evidence-based methods, our approach is to provide a one-on-one care plan to every resident without any discrimination or judgment. These plans have proven to be more effective and comfortable as compared to generalised treatments. We also offer long-term residential stays, allowing the patients to stay with us for a long time, ensuring maximum individual attention and better healing and success rates. We’ll work to provide the highest care for you or your loved one to address your underlying issues.  Contact us now to book a slot today.

While insomnia is usually considered a minor inconvenience or a nuisance, it is much more serious and can have long-lasting effects on the quality of life. Fortunately, the condition is treatable and can be managed with proper support and care. A luxury treatment center can provide you or your loved one a chance to heal and recover in a peaceful environment under the supervision of a highly qualified team for a shot at a better life. Contact us now to know more about our inpatient treatment programs and book your slot today.

FAQs

Does anxiety give me insomnia?
Anxiety and insomnia are two common issues that can hamper the ability to fall asleep. Both of these issues can force you to stay awake for hours, worrying if you are going to get any sleep before the next day begins. Additionally, anxiety and insomnia often play off each other and can easily make the other worse. When you are anxious about something, it is common to think about it as you lie in bed. Without any distractions, the mind seems to go over the anxiety-inducing thoughts over and over again, ultimately triggering the fight or flight response of the body. This response further heightens the sense of anxiety and overstimulates the body, making it impossible to fall asleep. Unfortunately, the association between insomnia and anxiety, also known as anxiety insomnia, can easily convert into a vicious cycle. If you are unable to sleep due to high anxiety levels, the lack of sleep makes you irritable, tired, and even more anxious the next day which further disrupts the quality of duration of sleep the following night.
Are women more likely to suffer from insomnia than men?
Yes, women are more likely to develop insomnia than men, and hormonal imbalance seems to be the major culprit behind it. Hormonal changes that occur during the menstrual cycle and at the time of menopause can disturb the quality and duration of sleep in women. Even during perimenopause, the time just before menopause, symptoms like night sweats and hot flashes can disturb women’s sleep. Additionally, women are more likely to acquire medical conditions that lead to secondary insomnia, such as anxiety, depression, restless leg syndrome, and fibromyalgia.
Is insomnia a serious health risk?
While insomnia is not serious and easily manageable in most cases, it may pose serious health risks. A lack of sleep or poor sleep quality can be an indicator of something sinister, such as sleep apnea, a potentially fatal condition where breathing stops temporarily during the night.  Additionally, insomnia may lead to daytime sleepiness that often comes with serious consequences, such as car accidents, high-stress levels, an increased risk of indulging in substance abuse, and abusing sleep medicines.

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