When falling asleep at night becomes difficult, it’s easy to feel helpless or alone. In reality, insomnia affects 

 and can last anywhere from a few days to weeks, months, or longer.

Insomnia is a sleep disorder that impedes a person’s ability to fall or stay asleep, leading to low energy levels, mood changes, and an overall decreased quality of life. 

Feeling tired even after several hours of sleep

Difficulty to concentrate on, remember, or perform certain tasks

Most cases of insomnia are acute, which means each episode may only last for up to a few weeks – usually when the patient goes through a stressful period of time. About 10% of reported cases, however, may worsen, leading to longer periods of insomnia. If you have been experiencing at least three days of insomnia symptoms every week for the past month, your condition 

This leads us to an important question: Can insomnia be cured?

Insomnia can be addressed using a variety of treatment methods, depending on its severity. Even chronic insomnia can be cured entirely by addressing the underlying cause of the issue in many cases.  So, what are the options for curing insomnia?

Short term solutions for treating insomnia

Short term or “acute insomnia” can be tackled by 

 to promote better rest. These minor adjustments are often the first steps of treatment programs and can provide short-term relief:

: Refrain from drinking coffee, smoking, or drinking too much at night, as it can take at least a few hours for your body to process these substances.

: Designating a window of time to go to sleep and wake up at about the same hour, be it weekends or weekdays, will help your body get used to the routine.

Exercise is a universal treatment for all ailments, including insomnia! Exercising will also help increase your sleep drive; the consumption of energy leads to more of a need for sleep, as your body wants to recover.

 It’s challenging to go from full-on work mode into sleep mode. It’s important to have a buffer between the time you spend doing stimulating goal-oriented activities and sleep. Fill this time with things you enjoy but don’t require too much mental effort. Good examples are reading, watching a sitcom, yoga, or mindfulness.

The solutions mentioned above are, most of the time, only suited to treat acute insomnia. In chronic cases, addressing the underlying cause of the problem is a much more effective solution.

Insomnia may affect you both psychologically and physically, regardless of the cause of your sleep deprivation. People who experience insomnia have a worse quality of life than those who sleep well, often experiencing mood swings and potentially being predisposed to developing other health conditions.

While it may be tempting to resort to medication, keep in mind this only provides short-term relief, and getting to the root cause of the issue is the best way to cure insomnia for good. Numerous studies showed that CBT-I can be 

more effective than prescription medication

, with 75-80% of patients reporting significant improvements after CBT-I.

If insomnia decreases your ability to function properly throughout the day, you should consult a sleep professional to determine the potential causes of your sleeping issue—and how to treat them.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of talking therapy that focuses on how specific thinking patterns affect a person’s behavior and helps patients correct those “cognitive distortions” (inaccurate, negatively biased thoughts). This approach to therapy is used to treat numerous mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance abuse.

CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia) addresses the feelings, thoughts, or actions that contribute to insomnia, such as stressing over the fact that you don’t get enough sleep or that your lack of sleep may lead to health issues or other problems in your daily life. The objective of CBT-I is to help the patient eliminate the frustration and anxiety they experience during the process of going to bed, allowing them to enjoy night after night of effortless sleep.

Due to its non-invasive nature, CBT-I has proven very successful in treating insomnia, leading to sustaining 

improvement in both sleep latency and total sleep time

 is a safe, evidence-based program that employs CBT-I to restore your natural sleep ability. Dawn provides you with a tailored sleep plan, records your sleeping patterns, connects you with a sleep coach, and much more – all in accordance with requirements by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

If you are ready to explore long-term solutions to your sleeping issues, 

get started on the path to curing your insomnia for good

Wondering if your insomnia can be cured, or how to treat your insomnia? Learn all about insomnia and how to cure it with CBT-I today.

Can Insomnia Be Cured? Insomnia Symptoms & Treatment | Dawn Health

Can insomnia be cured?

Do you have difficulty falling asleep? Do you wake up in the middle of the night, unable to fall back asleep?

If that sounds like you, you may be struggling with sleep-onset insomnia. Not being able to fall asleep when you want to can be a huge source of frustration.

However, there is good news. Understanding what’s keeping you awake and the options for improving your sleep quality is the first step to putting insomnia to rest.

Some people lay down in bed and fall asleep minutes after turning off the light, while for others, falling asleep can be a longer struggle.

The time it takes to transition from being awake to entering a state of sleep is called

. Your sleep latency is an indicator of how healthy your sleep patterns are. Sleep latency depends on many different factors, and it is important to note that the occasional night where it takes longer to fall asleep is not necessarily significant. However, If you frequently experience that it takes you longer than 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep, it can indicate an unhealthy sleep pattern, as adults with healthy sleep patterns typically fall asleep within 

Unhealthy sleep latency is a symptom of sleep-onset insomnia. Sleep-onset insomnia is the 

inability to sleep when one is ready to, at the beginning of the night

The struggle to fall asleep can be temporary (acute) or long-term (chronic). If not treated properly, acute insomnia 

 chronic. Chronic insomnia refers to difficulty sleeping that 

Everyone struggles to sleep from time to time, but if it becomes a pattern, you may be experiencing insomnia. In addition to difficulty falling asleep, symptoms of sleep-onset insomnia 

If you are consistently experiencing one or more of these symptoms, it may be time to consider speaking to your health care provider.

Several factors may contribute to sleep-onset insomnia. The Sleep Foundation lists 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults need 

 per night to function optimally. Sleep-onset insomnia reduces total sleep time, which can have an impact on overall health.

Lack of sleep increases the risk of developing chronic health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and depression. Sleep deficits also 

increase the risk for accidents and decrease quality of life

Your health care provider can help you determine the cause of your insomnia and guide you to find the right course of treatment to return to getting a healthy, restful, consistent night’s sleep.

Medication that has a sedating effect may be used to treat sleep-onset insomnia by promoting drowsiness. The goal when using sleep medication should 

 be to return to a natural cycle of sleep and not create dependency on medication to achieve sleep.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

, “CBT-I focuses on exploring the connection between the way we think, the things we do, and how we sleep. During treatment, a trained CBT-I provider helps to identify thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are contributing to the symptoms of insomnia.”

Learn strategies to challenge unhelpful thinking patterns.

Get help identifying and changing habits that stand in the way of a great night of sleep.

Understand how the connection between thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and sleep is central to CBT-I.

proven to work in numerous clinical trials and are more effective than medication

 of patients experience sustained improvement in sleep after CBT-I.

Start your journey to a restful night’s sleep!

 to learn more about how CBT-I can effectively treat your sleep onset insomnia and why working with the sleep coaches at 

Learn the definition of sleep latency, how unhealthy sleep latency may cause sleep-onset insomnia, and how to treat sleep-onset insomnia with Dawn!

Sleep Onset Insomnia: Definition, Symptoms, Treatment | Dawn Health

What is sleep-onset insomnia? 

A delicate balance between two opposing systems governs our body and mind 

. The sympathetic system is the body’s threat detection system that prepares your body to respond to any threat. On the other hand, the parasympathetic system calms the body and mind and induces a state of relaxation.

'Everything in life has to have balance.' - Donna Karan.

When the balance tilts in favor of the sympathetic system, hyperarousal ensues. A heightened threat detection system, though, comes at a cost.

Read on to learn what hyperarousal is, its symptoms and causes, how it affects your sleep, and what you can do about it.


Hyperarousal is defined as a state where you are more alert or vigilant. Usually, alertness is caused by the brain detecting a threat and entering fight-or-flight mode. The cause can be a real external threat or internal; for example, worrying about the consequences of not getting enough sleep. It is completely normal and something that we all experience from time to time.

The level of hyperarousal one can experience varies a lot, the most extreme being Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Note that PTSD is not a normal state, and you do not have to have PTSD to experience hyperarousal. It can manifest itself as a subtle sense of unease that you might not even become aware of, but can still disrupt your sleep.

Hyperarousal is also used to describe other states where you feel emotions like curiosity, bewilderment, frustration, or anger.

The stimuli can be external, internal, physical or emotional, since your body cannot differentiate between the two. This leads to symptoms 

Sleep requires the body and mind to relax. It is predominantly a parasympathetic activity. But, in a hyperaroused state, 

the sympathetic system overpowers the parasympathetic one

. This makes evolutionary sense because sleeping when there is an imminent threat significantly lowers your chances of survival.

Being constantly on high alert can cause sleep to be delayed and rapid, anxious thoughts to occur at night. Further, inadequate sleep can then lead to more stress. Put differently; it is a 

Unfortunately, if stress is keeping you up at night, you are not alone. According to the National Sleep Foundation Survey, 

 have trouble sleeping due to stress every month. Even though you may have been struggling to sleep, you do not have to. Practical, simple treatments for hyperarousal insomnia 

. In other words, it is a mental state that triggers the body to react physically and mentally to thoughts and emotions. Fortunately, this mental state can be reversed.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)

 directly addresses both our thoughts and behaviors. It is a type of talking therapy that focuses on the idea that how we think, our habits, and our emotions are all linked and influence one another. We can ease mental suffering by challenging our thoughts, changing our habits, and accepting our feelings. CBT-I allows us to do that and more.

To get more information about hyperarousal insomnia and use 

What is hyperarousal, how does it cause insomnia, and how do you treat it? Learn all about hyperarousal insomnia and CBT-I treatment with Dawn.