Your Sleep Profile

Sleep problems are often less about “trying harder” and more about how safe and settled your nervous system feels at night. Based on your responses, you may recognize yourself in one of the patterns below. Each reflects a different reason sleep can become disrupted — and each has a clear path forward.

This sleep profile is educational and not a medical diagnosis.

A full evaluation may include medical history, medication review, and sleep assessment.

Stress-Activated Sleeper

Your body may be tired… but your nervous system isn’t.

Stress-Activated Sleepers often feel mentally alert at night, even after a long day. The mind replays conversations. The body feels wired but exhausted. Sleep becomes something you try to force instead of something that happens naturally.

This pattern isn’t a failure. It’s a protective response. Your system may just need help shifting out of “alert mode” and back into safety.

The good news? This is highly treatable with nervous system-informed sleep work.

This could be you if:

Mind feels alert “often” at night
Physical tension at bedtime
Sleep difficulties present 1–6 months
Trouble falling asleep more than staying asleep
Reports high stress during day
Using supplements but still wired

Behavioral Loop Insomnia

Some sleep problems start small… and then habits form around them.

Behavioral Loop Insomnia happens when the brain starts associating the bed with frustration, clock-watching, or “trying to sleep.” Over time, bedtime itself becomes activating.

You may:

Go to bed earlier to compensate
Stay in bed awake for long stretches
Worry about how you’ll function tomorrow

Nothing is “wrong” with you.
Your brain has just learned an unhelpful sleep pattern — and patterns can be retrained.

This is exactly what CBT-I is designed to treat.

This could be you if:

Sleep difficulty over 1 month
Reports trying to fix sleep by going to bed earlier
Reports lying awake for long periods
Trouble staying asleep
Reports frustration about sleep
No major medical rule-outs indicated

Hormone / Medical Rule-Out

Sometimes sleep disruption is not purely behavioral.

If your answers suggest sudden onset, frequent awakenings, loud snoring, major life-stage shifts, or medication changes, it may be important to rule out underlying contributors such as:

Sleep apnea
Thyroid shifts
Perimenopause / menopause
Medication side effects
Pain conditions

This doesn’t mean something is “serious.”
It simply means sleep is a full-body process, and sometimes we need to look at the physiology alongside behavior.

A coordinated approach often works best.

This could be you if:

Sudden onset (< 1 month)
Reports loud snoring or never evaluated for sleep apnea
Currently taking sleep medication
Major life stage (postpartum, menopause)
Reports frequent awakenings without mental alertness
Significant daytime fatigue

Chronic Insomnia Pattern

When sleep disruption lasts more than 6 months, the brain can become conditioned into a long-standing insomnia cycle.

You may feel:

Exhausted but unable to nap
Anxious about bedtime
Reliant on medication or supplements
Frustrated that nothing “sticks”

Chronic insomnia is not a personality flaw.
It’s a learned brain pattern — and it is one of the most treatable sleep conditions when approached correctly.

Evidence-based behavioral sleep medicine is considered first-line treatment for chronic insomnia.

And yes — medications can be thoughtfully integrated when appropriate.

This could be you if:

Sleep difficulty > 6 months
Trouble falling AND staying asleep
Reports exhaustion
Currently using sleep medications
You feel “nothing works”