For many years, the only thing I knew about long-term insomnia was that it was disturbed sleep at least 3 times a week for at least 3 months. While this statement is true, it gives us absolutely no understanding of what long-term insomnia is.

One of the keys to understanding insomnia is knowing the difference between acute and chronic insomnia. Acute insomnia is clear. Sleep disturbed by some obvious cause. Such as noise, stress, jet lag, but also hormonal imbalance or pain.

There are countless things that can disrupt our sleep, but only one thing will guarantee that acute insomnia will become chronic/long-term/learned and that is our habits and thoughts about sleep. This is when our relationship to sleep changes.

Learned insomnia can be caused by some initial trigger that has long since subsided. It is based on our reaction to a sleepless night, a conditioned reaction (remember how we learned about Pavlov’s reflex in elementary school?), a vicious cycle of not sleeping and worrying about not sleeping. Learned insomnia is our constant internal battle.

When you don’t understand the difference, you can spend forever trying to find that one trigger that’s causing your problem. You need this basic information about sleep and insomnia so that you don’t fall into every trap that exists by trying every single sleep hygiene tip in the hope that this one will get you a good night’s sleep.

Another important thing is to know how the human brain works. Our brain was developed for one specific thing in particular, and that is our survival. The brain ensures all processes in the body so that we are healthy and feel good. And what is important – he is constantly on the alert. Imagine that you are crossing a road crossing, you look carefully, you enter the crossing, and at that moment, out of the corner of your eye, you see a speeding car that does not seem to want to stop in front of the crossing. In that one-thousandth of a second, a number of subconscious processes are triggered that ultimately cause you to jump back to the safety of the pavement. The brain has evaluated the potential threat and ensured that you act.

There is a part in the brain called the amygdala. This tiny amygdala is constantly looking for possible threats. It is very reactive. It processes stimuli much faster than our prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for logical thinking.

Metaphorically, the amygdala is like a large set of snapshots of all the life-threatening situations it has ever faced. When enough stimulating elements of the current situation match one of these snapshots, the amygdala triggers an emotional, physiological, and behavioral response that was appropriate in the original situation.

For example, when the amygdala has a record of fear of insomnia, you may start to feel anxiety and fear when you see a bed.

Whenever the amygdala registers danger, it prompts us to act quickly. Dodging a speeding car, pulling your hand away from a hot stove, running from a bear. Therefore, the amygdala is very necessary, but sometimes it can cause us problems. It can create fear of things that are not a real danger for us – irrational fear or phobias. However, they are real to our brain as they are stored in our amygdala.

An activated amygdala can influence our behavior. It blocks communication with our prefrontal cortex – logical thinking, so in fear we can think and act irrationally.

An insomniac’s fearful brain can act anxiously. It makes us lie in bed, take sleep supplements, Google symptoms. Such behavior may relieve us in the short term, but in the long term it only worsens the situation. The good news is that the amygdala is flexible. It can create new fears and correct existing ones.

Insomnia is based on an unrealistic threat. There is NOTHING behind insomnia. No disease, no disorder, it’s just a collection of our anxious thoughts and learned behaviors.