Research on insomnia shows how poor sleep can have a serious effect on mental health

I’ll often lie awake until three or four in the morning, before drifting off for just a few hours. Then comes the dreaded alarm clock. My mind and body are exhausted all the time – there’s always this knot of anxiety in my chest, doing away with any hope of a good night’s sleep.

Simon* is a National Health Service mental health nurse with the who, like millions of people in the UK, suffers from insomnia: a sustained difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep. His job is to support the recovery of people with severe mental illness, but his own sleep problems have had a profoundly negative impact on his mental health.

Most of us experience a bad night’s sleep from time to time, but can usually get back on track within a night or two. People suffering from insomnia, by contrast, have sleep problems that last for months or years at a time, taking a major toll on their health and wellbeing.

Around a third of people will experience insomnia at some point in their life, with women and older people more often affected. Nearly 40% of sufferers fail to recover within five years. People with insomnia have an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Insomnia is...

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