Monday, January 7, 2008

Somniphobia: The Fear of Sleep

Do you feel anxious before you go to bed at night? If you do then you may suffer from Somniphobia. Somniphobia is the fear of sleeping or going to bed. Those who suffer from this phobia are afraid of what will happen to them or around them while they are asleep. They are also afraid that if something does happen they won’t wake up. Some are afraid that they will die in their sleep.

I get a bit anxious at bedtime when I’m home alone, but that’s usually the only time. I think it’s mostly due to my pyrophobia though. I’m afraid the house will catch on fire and I won’t wake up. It’s really amazing how much we let fear dictate our lives. Maybe I could relax a little more if I didn’t have to deal with all this fear. What would your life be like without fear?

Do you have Somniphobia? Let’s talk about it.

13 comments:

D_r_e_a_m_e_r said...

Hi

I recognise myself in what you are saying. I also have somniphobia, also only when I am alone. However I fear I will die in some way so I get so stressed that I get panic attacs.Therefore I have avoided it completely, but I am Sooo afraid beacuse me and my fiancé is planning on moving to another country and I really don't know how to cope with it. Iany suggestions? Do you take some sort of medicine?

Kind regards
Karin

serial said...

hi guys im a 44 year year old bloke who does not want to go to bed.im not afraid of whats gonna happen in my sleep,im more afraid of whats gonna happen if i dont wake up in time!this keeps me awake for at least 3-4 hours so the rest of the day im buggered!any ideas?please?
i dont know if its the Somniophibia maybe its another 1!

Anonymous said...

I'm 45 years old and like "serial", I also have some fear of sleep. As I write this, I am putting off sleep. When I lay down I do not quite in the panic attack stage, but enough to keep awake for a couple 2-3 hours. Over the years I have become increasingly obsessed with death and dying as I go through the day. The fact that two persons at my workplace died in their sleep recently does not help. When I lay down, all of these thoughts come out - What if I don't wake up? I guess you start to think more about your own mortality as you get older, but in some ways these thoughts disrupt my life, for example I can't get on a plane!. The only thing that helps me right now is that Ambien sleep medicine, it puts me in a semi- "goofy" state where things don't bother me as much and it puts me out.Lorazepam is another good one. Another one I tried was Trazodone, which was supposed to make me drowsy, relaxed and treat anxiety, but instead it made me anxious, nervous and raised my heart rate to uncomfortable levels. I really wanted this to work! I am still looking for answers, but I will put out more information as I learn more.

Mike G

Anonymous said...

I realized I had Somniphobia when my parents noticed a weird sleeping habit when I was little. They saw that I was sleeping during the day when people were up more then sleeping at night when no one is up. I hate being asleep when no one is up to make sure nothing is going wrong. I also have chronic night terrors that make me hurt my self in my sleep so I really hate going to sleep now cause I am afraid to have a night terror..

Anonymous said...

Wow, I didn't know anyone else had this condition. I don't feel so alone now. I am very scared to go to sleep, but it has nothing to do with dying or anything like that. I'm scared of the terrifying dreams I will have. I've had night terrors since I was 2 and my mom said I've been an insomniac since about 1.5 yrs. old. I know this is young to have this problem. I've tried hyponotizm, it didn't work. The only that helps me now is I take Ambien everynight. It helps me sleep and kind of puts the dreams at bay so I don't have as many or as many bad ones.

valentina said...

I have fears that I'm gonna die.in my sleep I'm 21 female kinda heavier.

Anonymous said...

I have a problem sleeping in so much as when I eventually do get to sleep, which is usually when I'm to the point of total exhaustion, I have extremely violent nightmares which will wake me up immediately regardless whether I take sleep medication or not. Even being totally exhausted, it is extremely rare that I can sleep beyond 1-1/2 hrs and sometimes going without any sleep for numerous days at a time. Any suggestions you might have of a way in which to combat this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Anonymous said...

I stay awake until morning to sleep to go to bed...I'm phobic of night time sleeping and take sleep meds too.

Anonymous said...

I have had issues with sleep for as long as I can remember. I'm commonly referred to as a "night owl," but I stay awake because I don't like to sleep. I run through scenarios that could happen once I go to bed; how I'd save my son if someone broke into our tiny apartment, fire, earthquake, or anyone dying in their sleep. I have to tell myself that everything is fine and will be fine, without thinking further, or I have a panic attack. I have to wake up my husband and have him tell me a story to divert my attention. I really, really don't like to sleep.

It didn't occur to me until very recently that I could have a phobia of sleep. I thought for a while maybe I was scared of the dark. Then I thought I was dealing with postpartum anxiety that was exaggerating my preexisting sleep issues. Then I started to realize that this has always been a problem. That I've never liked sleep. My mother told me that I never slept as an infant. I would cry until I fell asleep every night until I was in kindergarten.

This leads me to believe that some may be hard wired to have specific fears an if we don't learn how to cope with them at an early age, they get progressively worse.

I wish I knew where to get help.

Anonymous said...

I have this. I have it cripplingly bad. I've suffered from nightmares since I was a child, and didn't feel safe in my bed. I also have a schizophrenic mother that I was terrified child services was going to give me back to. I was also bullied all my way through school. I was always afraid things were coming to get me when I wasn't vigilant. Then, lo and behold, if I wasn't also raped in my bed as a twelve year old. I was also fondled while I was sleeping. It's better if I can sleep in the day. It helps that I love the night. Everyone else is asleep and it's like I have the power. But down side is, I miss out on life. I hate my bed. And I hate going to sleep. I want it to stop.

Anonymous said...

I have come to realize that I possibly have this phobia. On and off for some years now, I can be tired, know I should get some sleep, but when I try, when I'm almost about to finally fall asleep, I jump up gasping for air like I can't breathe/catch my breath, and then I end up being awake until almost morning. Then I finally am able to sleep . A lot of times I say I'm afraid to go to sleep because I won't wake up. I always sleep better when others are awake, so if something weird is happening with me, they can wake me up and help me. Kind of like I don't like and am scared of heavyduty medicines from the doctors. I can take them just fine in the hospital, but at home I'm scared if something goes wrong there is no one there but the dog.so I have issue with not being in control of how my body is feeling . I would really like to figure out how to deal with this so I can get some decent sleep and not seem so rundown all the time... Help...?...in Minneapolis MN

Anonymous said...

hey guys well I'm only 19 and have lived with my girlfriend for the past year or so, lived on my own since I was 16. but now i'm back home and sleeping alone. everyone here has a specific fear or cause for not sleeping but im struggling because i have no idea what i'm afraid of. I simply cannot sleep at night even leaving the tv on I am afraid to fall asleep so much that even at 4 a.m. when I do I wake up shortly after with an accelerated heart rate and jump out of bed and turn on the light and have to check that im in fact awake and I pinch myself or scratch myself to make sure im not dreaming. I don't know why im afraif but any noise keeps me up no matter how exhausted I am. i cant figure out why im afraid of sleeping.

Anonymous said...

I have this phobia too. I don't like sleeping alone so if I have to I stay up until times like one in the morning. I usually call my mom late at night telling her that I cant sleep.

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