Many insomnia sufferers experience "sleep-onset anxiety," worrying about not being able to sleep as soon as they hit the bed at night, or trying too hard to fall asleep, which often backfires. The higher nervous activity in the human cerebral cortex involves two processes: excitation and inhibition. During the day, brain cells are in an excited state. After a day's work, they need to rest and enter an inhibited state to sleep. After a night's rest, they naturally transition back to wakefulness.
The Harmful Perception of Dreams
Many who claim to suffer from insomnia fail to view dreams correctly, believing them to be a sign of poor sleep that harms the body. Some even mistakenly equate vivid dreaming with insomnia. These misconceptions often induce anxiety, causing worry about dreaming after falling asleep. This "vigilance" mindset frequently impairs sleep quality.
Self-blame
Some individuals, after a mistake, feel guilty and replay the incident in their minds, regretting their inadequate handling of it. During the day, when occupied with tasks, these feelings of self-blame and regret may lessen. At night, however, they "linger" in fantasies of self-reproach and regret, unable to sleep for a long time.
Anticipatory anxiety
This refers to worrying about oversleeping and missing important events or appointments, leading to frequent early awakenings.For instance, a website administrator working rotating shifts (starting at midnight) often sleeps at 7 PM. Fear of being late makes sleep restless, with only 1-2 hours of sleep before waking up. Over time, this becomes chronic early awakening. Similarly, anticipation before promotions, professional title evaluations, or housing allocation announcements can induce excitement and insomnia.