{"id":11015,"date":"2025-05-12T13:52:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T10:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/?p=11015"},"modified":"2025-09-17T15:11:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:11:43","slug":"brief-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/health\/brief-05\/","title":{"rendered":"Struggling with insomnia: causes, what to do, and tips for fighting it. Why do we sleep?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"podcastplayer\"><figure class=\"wp-block-audio podcastplayer\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/s\/1046d7c48\/podcast\/play\/103397738\/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-4-29%2F401245090-44100-2-8d0a143609575.m4a\" preload=\"none\"><\/audio><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"mks_dropcap_letter\" style=\"font-size: 72px; color: #dd3c7a; \">T<\/span>houghts flicker like disconnected lanterns in a tunnel \u2014 flaring up and fading out, keeping me from sinking into the darkness of sleep. Each new position in bed turns me into a stone sculpture, frozen by the endless, failed attempts to fall asleep. Midnight silence settles like dust on my eyelashes, while the dawn already glides across the rooftops \u2014 cold and relentless, the judge passing sentence on the new day. \u201cYes, I hear you. I hear you coming, glowing blue every second. But please, just wait a little longer\u201d. The night has slipped away, and I\u2019m left standing on the platform \u2014 like someone who missed their train. Just me, and my insomnia \u2014 the ruthless ticket inspector of the last car to the land of dreams.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode of the Misery Shared Podcast, Slava talks about insomnia. He shares his personal observations and tips \u2014 what you can do if you\u2019re struggling to fall asleep, or if you don\u2019t have immediate access to a psychologist. He also explains why insomnia happens in the first place, and what it might be trying to tell you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Disclaimer<\/strong>: the author makes it clear that he is not a psychologist or a psychotherapist. He strongly opposes any form of online diagnosis. This podcast is not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. Its purpose is to explain things in simple terms and to encourage people to seek help from a therapist \u2014 even if it feels like a waste of time. It also aims to help listeners choose a good mental health professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>So, if you need to deal with insomnia right now, there are several science-backed self-help strategies that the author shares in the podcast. Listen to the episode to find out what you can try \u2014 and how to manage insomnia at home, especially if seeing a doctor isn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The exact causes of insomnia can only be listed \u2014 and even then, the list won\u2019t be complete, since multiple factors may be involved at once. For example, if sleep maintenance is disrupted due to anxiety or hyperarousal, and you start waking up earlier than usual, the brain might mistakenly begin to perceive falling asleep itself as a stressful experience. In that case, the cause could be twofold \u2014 an anxiety disorder (or another condition), and a learned association where the act of falling asleep is also seen as something to avoid, like stress. In cases of burnout, the focus shifts toward ineffective sleep. The person may spend a lot of time in bed, but sleep no longer restores their energy. Even after sleeping, they still feel exhausted \u2014 often linked to the depletion of the body\u2019s internal resources. With procrastination, the connection to insomnia is even more direct. We may voluntarily delay sleep \u2014 putting off bedtime until the very last moment. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as self-sabotage or \u201crevenge bedtime procrastination\u201d, and it\u2019s driven by the urge to squeeze out at least some free time for ourselves in the evening or at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if the problem isn\u2019t only \u2014 or isn\u2019t at all \u2014 physiological (like when you want to sleep, but your body wakes you up due to sleep apnea, snoring, or other reasons), then relying solely on sleep medication and not considering a psychologist isn\u2019t a long-term solution. For two reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, sleep disturbances may have already become behavioral. Your brain might have learned certain patterns associated with falling asleep. Or the root cause could lie deeper \u2014 something you\u2019re not even aware of. In that case, you might end up needing sleeping pills not just short-term \u2014 and that could lead to dependence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, artificial sleep is \u2014 in some ways \u2014 like a cheap imitation of real sleep. Even setting aside the potential for building tolerance to the medication (needing higher doses over time) or becoming dependent on it, there are still other important concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Artificial sleep tends to be shorter, with fewer deep sleep phases, less restorative, and often comes with a groggy feeling in the morning. In other words, you might preserve the form of sleep \u2014 just closing your eyes \u2014 but without many of the actual benefits that sleep is supposed to provide by nature. Even if you manage to perfectly match the timing \u2014 falling asleep and waking up at the \u201cright\u201d hours over a long period \u2014 but only with the help of sleep medication, the phases of that sleep still can\u2019t be fully replicated. And because of that, many internal processes \u2014 such as growth, tissue repair, immune function, regeneration, and even the brain\u2019s natural detox \u2014 will be disrupted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Sleeping pills are meant only for very acute situations \u2014 for example, after a loss, a trauma, or during severe anxiety, when someone needs help getting through the peak phase. If they\u2019re used long-term and regularly, without any attempt at therapy \u2014 they become a crutch, not a cure. And when they\u2019re discontinued, rebound insomnia can occur \u2014 even worse than the sleep issues that existed before the medication.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why you need a doctor \u2014 because they can see the bigger picture more clearly. And there\u2019s a reason why psychologists are often prioritized in such cases: in the end, only they can help retrain your body to fall asleep properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From a scientific perspective, sleep is a critically important state for overall health. During sleep, vital processes take place that restore and maintain the functioning of both the brain and body. Although from an evolutionary point of view, being active at night posed risks \u2014 such as predators \u2014 and nighttime immobility served as a protective mechanism, sleep is still essential for the brain. In other words, sleep shouldn\u2019t be seen merely as an evolutionary habit. During sleep, memory consolidation and the \u201creshuffling\u201d of information occur. Scientists also believe that sleep helps strengthen important neural connections while weakening unnecessary ones \u2014 a process known as synaptic downscaling. Moreover, specific stages of sleep have been shown to be directly involved in transferring learned material into long-term memory. In addition, during sleep, the brain activates the glymphatic system, which \u201cwashes\u201d the brain \u2014 blood and cerebrospinal fluid actively filter out metabolic waste, and this process happens most effectively while we sleep. In that sense, sleep acts as a \u201cclean-up crew\u201d for the brain after a day of activity. Beyond that, key growth hormones are released during sleep, and tissue repair and immune system restoration are at their peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Without sufficient sleep, a person loses the ability to retain information, focus, and becomes more vulnerable to illness and premature aging.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>However, for all these restorative processes to take place and activate at the right time, the transition into sleep must happen naturally \u2014 and at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Why this timing matters, what common misconceptions exist about melatonin, and much more \u2014 all of it is covered in this episode of the podcast.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/health\/brief-06\/\">next episode<\/a> will focus on burnout. And the one after that will dive into a somewhat controversial, yet equally fascinating topic \u2014 procrastination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to contact us but are afraid to use comments, you can send us an e-mail. After that it will be enough to delete your letter from the \u201cSent\u201d folder.<br>Our e-mail address is: <a href=\"mailto:help@belarus.fm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">help@belarus.fm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this episode of the Misery Shared Podcast, Slava talks about insomnia. He shares his personal observations and tips \u2014 what you can do if you\u2019re struggling to fall asleep, or if you don\u2019t have immediate access to a psychologist. He also explains why insomnia happens in the first place, and what it might be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[394],"tags":[352],"class_list":["post-11015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-audio-in-russian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}