#163 - Insomnia and Public Health: You're Looking Tired And More Than A Little Human

Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter

We all think we know what insomnia is: trouble sleeping, tossing and turning, maybe staring at the ceiling until sunrise. But does the public really have a clear picture of insomnia and does that impact the massive health impact it has? In this episode, we will:

• Explain how insomnia is not a single problem but a progressive condition, starting with a few rough nights and, in some, developing into a chronic disorder
• Explore why insomnia is often a disorder of perception, where patients significantly underestimate how much they sleep
• Review what studies show about actual sleep time in insomnia—based on polysomnography, actigraphy, and other objective measures
• Identify how public misunderstanding of insomnia has contributed to ineffective treatments and persistent myths
• Walk through a new six-level clinical framework for managing insomnia, from public health education to relapse prevention
• Highlight why “doing nothing new” after a bad night may be the best form of early treatment—and why CBT-I remains the gold standard when things don’t resolve
• Discuss the role of hyperarousal, sleep identity, and over-attention to sleep in making insomnia worse over time

Produced by: Maeve Winter
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• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!