Insomniacs come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. Statistically the only two groups who are more prone to insomnia are middle-aged women and the elderly. On the whole, too, we’re pretty nice, normal bunches who happens to have got ourselves into a sleepless mess and who have to cope with the consequences. We are not necessarily neurotic, maladapted, sad people who find life difficult or stressful (though sleeplessness itself can have this effect).

In fact, about a third of the population are programmed to be poor sleepers should life go temporarily pear-shaped, and it’s estimated that, at any given time, up to 15 per cent or more of the population some estimates put it as high as 25 percent experience insomnia, 4 million of us in the UK and US share complaining of chronic insomnia right now.

Though we’re all very different, there’s no doubt we have a lot of behavioral traits in common. For example, have you ever met anyone who is proud to be an insomniac? On the contrary, we all feel bad, mad or boring about it and most of us feel guilty in some way we see it as sort of letting the side down.

As a result, many of us find talking to normal sleepers generally embarrassing: this is because we either feel bad for talking about it, or they feel bad because they are powerless to help. Put two or more insomniacs together and, hey presto, the floodgates open.

All of a sudden we can bore each other stupid over how much sleep we haven’t had, go into endless detail about last night’s lack of sleep, how we are feeling (usually crap), how tired we are, our current theories of why we can’t sleep this week but could last week, the latest miracle cure, and so on.

We are all acutely aware, too, that unless our insomnia is caused by, for example, a physical sleep disorder, medical problem or one of life’s regular hiccups, we alone are responsible: we do it to ourselves.

So, sorry, but no excuses that this section makes for pretty dismal reading: not sleeping is pretty dismal. But there is one bright note. On good days, insomniacs really shine. It’s like being let out of prison: your appreciation of life, however ordinary and humdrum, is doubled. The world tastes sweet and full of promise again, and you relish every single minute. Sounds daft, but I have literally experienced bliss on occasion.

How common is insomnia?

Insomnia is more common than you think. It is reckoned to be the most common complaint after headaches. Almost all (95 per cent) people will experience the odd bout of insomnia at some time in their lives. Most people who have insomnia don’t seek medical help. Insomnia is also on the increase. This is no comfort for an insomniac, but at least we know we are not alone, and are much more normal after all.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 3:45 pm and is filed under Insomnia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.