Insomnia also known as insomnia, sleep paralysis also known as nightmares etc. There are many sleep related ailments that have a serious impact on our health but fear of the act of sleeping known as somniphobiaperhaps one of the interesting ones.

clinophobia And hypnophobia colloquial, also called fear of sleep This phobia makes the person afraid to fall asleep, and as a result, he cannot sleep even if he is very tired.

Somniphobia should not be confused with the fear of not being able to sleep.

Because people with somniphobia don’t have thoughts like “What if I can’t sleep and can’t gather my energy… What if I’m sleepy and I’ll be very tired tomorrow…”, so what they fear is not being able to sleep. Fear of people with somniphobia, fall asleep immediately. Even if they feel very tired and go to bed, ironically “I hope I don’t fall asleep“They have fear.

But since they know that sleep is necessary for their vital functions, they are aware that they need to sleep; because They have to face their fears every night. To better understand the situation, imagine that you are afraid to drink water, even if you are afraid, you should continue to drink water every day despite that phobia to continue your life activities.

Sleep anxiety is common in people with anxiety disorders.

In addition, people who already have a sleep disorder are more likely to develop somniphobia. In addition, common features of people with somniphobia are frequent nightmares, having experienced past trauma, and fear of death.

One of the main reasons associated with sleep anxiety is is the fear of losing control. People with this phobia They are afraid of movements they cannot control while they sleep.. These include fear of walking in their sleep and hurting themselves or those around them, saying/doing degrading things, not being able to protect themselves from situations such as fire, earthquake or burglary, dying in their sleep, dreaming about a traumatic memory or a recurring nightmare.

It is necessary to pay attention to some symptoms that may indicate that you are afraid to sleep.

These include movements such as increased anxiety at bedtime at night, making various excuses not to go to bed, using drugs, alcohol or substances to make sleep easier, and trying to stay up as late as possible and make it easier to fall asleep.

Besides these people sleep-related environments and conditions also begin to become anxiety-inducing factors over time.. For this reason, the person avoids anxiety in situations such as going to bed at night, being in a dark and quiet environment, and begins to fall asleep in noisy and bright environments, in places such as armchairs or balconies, without even putting his to take off sleep. work clothes.

Somniphobia is a serious condition that needs to be treated with a cognitive behavioral therapy approach with a specialist.

Although it can be supported by drug therapy, It is important to identify and address the underlying core anxiety associated with sleep. Even if it increases anxiety, care should be taken to be in an environment suitable for sleeping at bedtime, activities that disrupt sleep at bedtime should be avoided as much as possible, and action should be analyzed for action can be taken to eliminate the fear. main fear factor. Of course, it is extremely important to get support from a psychiatrist, because it is very difficult for a person to do these things alone.

The aspect that distinguishes somniphobia from other phobias is that it is a different type of treatment. exposure therapy not yield successful results. While the repeated encounters with the fear element are observed to cause depersonalization and thus reduce the severity of the phobia over time, no such situation occurs in sleep phobia.

If you have symptoms that suggest you have somniphobia, rather than self-diagnose and treat, Don’t forget to see a psychiatrist.