Learning About Insomnia and Sleeping Disorders

Living With Insomnia

Page written by:

Christian Colmenares

In order to truly understand the severity of sleep disorders, it is imperative that we acknowledge the experiences of those that live with these conditions. While understanding sleep disorders is important, it is equally as important to learn about the implications that these disorders have on an individual's life. Work stresses, family life, and stress derived from financial instability, are all common factors of life that people encounter; understanding the role that sleep disorders play amidst these aspects of human life is that truly reveals the severity of the implications that are associated with these disorders.

While focusing on the byproducts of these disorders is key to understanding how they affect individuals, learning about their experiences and practices that helped reduce the effects of their conditions is extremely valuable. Learning about the elements that individuals experience as a direct result of living with these disorders is essential to comprehending these conditions.

Investigating the differences between individuals that suffer from sleep disorders helps sleep scientists and medical professionals comprehend the functionality of these conditions, which can pave the road for progression to take place.

(Mayo Clinic 2016)

Real Life Experience

Megan McCarthy is a freshman student at Mount Saint Mary College. She struggled with long term insomnia, but she was able to get a handle of it. She explains, every night her mother would put her to bed but she couldn’t go to sleep. She stated she couldn’t fall asleep for as long as she could remember. Megan said “My exhaustion started to really affect my motivation, my social life and my grade point average. My mother thought it was a phase, so I struggled through those years. I picked up my slack and suffered through the sleepless nights. When Megan reached high school, she decided to make a change because she was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Her mother took her to a doctor, and she was diagnosed with insomnia. Megan tried medication (sleeping pills) for her insomnia, but unfortunately it didn’t help.

In college, Megan was able to come up with a new routine to help get some sleep. Megan now can effectively learn and control her time management. Due to Megan’s experience with insomnia she wants to become a nurse. Megan reminds others, “sometimes you cannot beat a disease. The best way to deal with it is to find a way around it.” The way Megan tackled her insomnia was to understand it better, find the right routine for her. Time management is very important for people who suffer from insomnia.

(Vasta 2014)

Real Life Experience

A woman named Emily Fitton (pictured on the left) suffered from short term insomnia and would frequently wake up in the night. On her worst nights, she wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep. This would mainly occur when she was more stressed than usual but her insomnia intensified after a family crisis. She mentions in the daytime her, “symptoms include feeling irritable, clumsy, and cloudy – profoundly unwell and exhausted” (Fitton 1). She tried to take melatonin to fix her issue but it did not work. After doing some research, she was able to develop better sleeping habits that included Positive Sleep Thoughts (PST) before bed to replace her negative thoughts. Using this practice helped reduce her stress and gave her better focus for a good night’s sleep. Over time her sleep improved, and she had better focus during the day.

(Fitton 2018)

Work Cited

Clinic, M. (2016, October 15). Insomnia. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Retrieved March 5, 2022 from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/care-at-mayo-clinic/mac-20355177.

Fitton, E. (2018, April 13). The Power of Mind Over Sleep. Manhattanpsychoanalysis.com. Retrieved March 5, 2022 from https://manhattanpsychoanalysis.com/blog-post/mind-over-sleep/.

Vasta, C. (2014, May 2). How Insomnia Affects Life- Personal Experience On Insomnia. thecpapshop.com. Retrieved March 5, 2022 from https://www.thecpapshop.com/blog/experience-insomnia-scholarship-essay-megan-mccarthy