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I'm Afraid I Won't be Able to go to Sleep. What Do I Do?

Some people worry so much about getting a good night’s sleep, they make it impossible to get.
Then the next night they find themselves thinking of it ahead of time, “I just know tonight is probably going to be another bad night’s sleep.”
It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
These worriers develop a kind of an anxiousness which undermines their ability to successfully go to sleep even if they are sleepy.
This anxiousness then becomes a habit.
Sleep experts, like Dr. Jim Stocks, a pulmonologist at the University of Texas Medical Center in Tyler, Texas, recognize this behavior and teach patients to that their own insomnia-type complaints are not fatal, can be overcome and occasionally happen to everyone.
If you make a big deal about a bad night’s sleep, you’re only making it worse the next time, Stocks said.
He tries to get patients to take an optimistic view—a glass half full rather than a glass half empty approach. And while there may not be a measurable difference in sleep for every patient, if you worry about it, it’s going to seem a whole lot worse than it really is.

Dr. Jim Stocks, a pulmonologist and sleep specialist at the University of Texas Medical Center in Tyler, Texas.
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