Difficulty falling asleep is called sleep onset insomnia, and is probably the one that people who have transient insomnia are most familiar with. The mind is buzzing and sleep seems like the last thing that you either want to do, or are able to do.
But insomnia does not always strike as soon as you walk into the bedroom. Some people fall asleep with ease but they have difficulty staying asleep. This is called sleep mainenance insomnia and strikes in a couple of different ways.
Perhaps you wake up at three in the morning for no good reason and make a cup of tea, trudge around the block with the dog, or you simply lie there staring at the ceiling for an hour and a half.
Other people wake up at three o’clock to find themselves in a kind of ‘no man’s land’ where they feel that they are not totally awake and yet not completely asleep either.
Eventually the insomniac either falls into a sound but short sleep again before the alarm goes off, or gives up in disgust and decides the chance of sleep is over for the night.
© 2012 Buteyko Works, Inc. All rights reserved.