Insomnia and the Anxiety Cycle

Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep is often fueled by worry and heightened arousal.

What This Can Look Like

Insomnia often includes:

  • Lying awake for long stretches
  • Racing thoughts at bedtime
  • Worry about how sleep loss will affect the next day
  • Increased anxiety and low mood tied to poor sleep
Person awake scrolling on phone

How the Cycle Maintains Itself

When sleep becomes a nightly struggle, the bed can start to feel like a place of stress. People often respond by spending more time in bed, changing routines, or trying to “force” sleep, which can worsen the problem.

How CBT-I Helps

CBT-I is the gold-standard, evidence-based treatment for insomnia. It focuses on addressing the thoughts, behaviors, and physiological patterns that keep sleep problems going, rather than relying on medication. Treatment is structured and practical, with skills that are applied both during the day and at bedtime.

CBT-I includes:

  • Strategies for unhelpful sleep-related thoughts
  • Behavioral tools that strengthen sleep patterns
  • Skills for reducing physiological arousal and bedtime worry

Over time, these approaches help reduce sleep-related anxiety, improve consistency, and restore confidence in your ability to sleep naturally.

Worried Man Person lying awake

Treatment at KY Cards:

What to Expect

Treatment is collaborative and structured, and often effective in a relatively short amount of time when procedures are consistently implemented.