CANCER AND INSOMNIA

Insomnia is one of the most frequent disorders in people diagnosed with cancer: Between 30% and 50% of oncologic patients may have sleeplessness, in front of 15% of general population. Cancer and insomnia have a strong relationship.

Insomnia is the difficulty with sleeping, which can appear in three moments at night: when getting to sleep (taking so long to get it), when supposed to keep sleeping (awakening many times during the night) and ending it (waking up too early in the morning without beeing able to sleep again).
It appears many nights per week and for months, which means it doesn’t happen only two or three nights. Insomnia drives to fatigue and impairment of normal life.

These problems in people with cancer can be due to the disease or the treatment, but their origin could be often found in anxiety. Worries about how cancer will evolve, about the efficacy of treatment or about how the situation affects normal life and familiar environment, make people spending much time thinking about it. During the day, normal activity helps being distracted but, at night, inactivity and silence facilitate these worries. It’s very important to give them the attention they deserve, because resting is essential for well-being and should contribute to the efficacy of cancer’s treatment.

When somebody has insomnia, it can be strengthen by the very anxiety it produces: being in the bed going round and round and watching hours passing by without being able to sleep increases nervousness, so sleeping becomes even more difficult. Insomnia self-feeds. That’s why there are some guidelines than you can implement to improve the quality of your sleeping:

1. Restrict the consumption of caffeine, and take only sleeping drugs prescribed by a doctor. Follow the guidelines he/she has given to you.
2. You can practice physical exercise, with moderate intensity, about the midpoint of the day (not early in the morning, either late in the afternoon or at night). Walking 30 minutes per day can be enough.
3. Keep the same sleeping schedules 7 days a week: go to the bed and get up every day at the same time, no matter how long you have slept.
4. Set up and keep some routines before you go to sleep: reduce light and noise a while before, and make some quiet activity, e.g. reading. Take a hot infusion (except if you think it will make you getting up at night to go to the toilet).
5. Do not use your bed to make things like working or watching TV. These things can make you link your bed to activities which require being awake.
6. If you can’t sleep after being a while in the bed, stand up and walk for some minutes by home, at a very slow step.
7. If some thoughts make you feel anxious, try to change them by others more pleasant, like your ideal place for a vacation or a nice memory from the past.
8. Practice relaxation exercises, leaving your body parts “falling sleep” one by one, and focusing on your own breathing.

It is very important that the conditions in your bedroom are favorable to sleep: silence, low light –or total darkness if you prefere it- and a comfortable temperature: around 18ºC / 64ºF. Your mattress and pillow must be also comfortable to facilitate resting; it is worth the effort to change them if they don’t meet these conditions.

These are some recommendations that may work to you but, if they are not enough, you can seek advice to a psychologist that will help you with this guidelines or other strategies. Remember that at Psychology and Health Place we can help you solving problems with sleeping in order to improve your quality of life.