Fact checked by Jonathan Eilenberg, CPE
Jonathan Eilenberg, CPE
Jonathan Eilenberg is a Certified Professional Ergonomist who is a Senior Ergonomics Engineer at Casper with over 6 years of experience in occupational injury prevention.
Somniphobia is an intense fear of sleep. People with somniphobia may fear sleep due to nightmares, sleep paralysis, or generalized anxiety. This fear can lead to difficulties with focus, concentration, and overall health.
Sleep isn’t always as simple as lying down, closing our eyes, and turning off our brains. Daily stresses or illnesses can keep us awake despite our best efforts to get our nightly recovery. But for people with somniphobia, restful sleep can be even harder to achieve.
Somniphobia is a phobia or intense fear of sleep. In addition to anxiousness before bedtime, someone with somniphobia might experience difficulty concentrating, a faster heartbeat, or even a queasy stomach. What’s more, this sleep phobia can affect anyone—from elementary school kids to adults with restless legs syndrome.
In this article, we’ll comprehensively break down somniphobia, from somniphobia symptoms and causes to treatments. We’ll also include practical tips for this specific phobia and strategies from the sleep experts at Casper to reduce sleep anxiety, sleep dread, and fears to help achieve the sleep of your dreams.
Somniphobia is a challenging condition because it combines the physical and mental symptoms of a phobia with behavioral habits that counter healthy sleep.
The common physical symptoms of phobias like somniphobia include1:
Someone with somniphobia will also often exhibit the following behaviors1:
Although therapists can treat most phobias successfully, the severity of somniphobia may vary from person to person. In cases where somniphobia cannot be treated or avoided, the condition can leave lasting adverse effects on your mental and physical health.
While researchers don’t know a ton about the long-term effects of somniphobia specifically, we can learn from the long-term effects of similar phobias, which can include2:
Sleep anxiety is often confused with somniphobia, but the two conditions are distinct in the type of fear that prevents healthy sleep.
Sometimes, knowing the cause of a phobia can help us address it at the source. Unfortunately, experts aren’t yet certain what causes somniphobia. However, if we examine the nature of phobias and the common fears and traumas related to sleep dread, we can speculate on what may cause or worsen somniphobia.
Phobias don’t usually have a single cause. They can result from a particular incident or trauma, or may develop early in life as a learned response from a sibling or parent.4
Many phobias often develop during childhood and are more likely to occur if a close family member also has them.2 However, it isn’t clear if this is due to genetics or shared life experiences.
Some of the most common phobias include4:
Phobias can affect anyone regardless of age, sex, gender, race, or social background. Some people go to great lengths to reconfigure their life around avoiding their phobia. In contrast, others may find other methods of coping with the frequent distress if contact with their phobia is unavoidable.
Fear of sleep is a common phenomenon for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). An estimated 50 to 75% of PTSD patients report frequent nightmares, and according to a 2014 study, those who reported frequent nightmares also reported greater fear of sleep.5
For others, fear of sleep can be associated with the following factors1:
When distressing events happen involving sleep, such as frequent nightmares, this can lead to an association of bedtime with danger, and further exacerbate the fear of sleep.
Nightmares can be distressing even without somniphobia. If you’ve ever had a particular nightmare and wondered about what it could mean, there are patterns you can research about the causes and meanings of anxiety dreams.
Do you have a feeling you or a loved one might be wrestling with somniphobia? Your healthcare provider can properly diagnose the condition by ruling out other potential contributors to your poor sleep quality.
Here is a list of determinations a doctor might need to make to confirm somniphobia1:
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, up to 50% of children will experience a sleep problem.6 While phobias may often start developing during childhood, it’s rare for a child to be diagnosed with somniphobia. Since only 4% of parasomnias, or sleep disorders, persist beyond adolescence, the best course of action is often parental reassurance, proper safety measures, and a consistent sleep-wake schedule.6
However, children can and often do experience fear of sleep. Signs that a child is afraid to sleep may include1:
To help kids feel more comfortable and excited about bedtime, a dreamy new mattress can help. Check out our full guide on how to choose a mattress for a child to know what features to look for to ensure your child gets the very best rest.
Having somniphobia doesn’t doom you to a lifetime of difficulty sleeping. Like other phobias, it’s completely possible to overcome somniphobia. Types of treatments your medical provider may recommend are exposure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, or medications for better sleep.
Phobias can develop in anyone, so there isn’t a guaranteed method to prevent somniphobia from affecting you or a loved one. The best way you can protect yourself is to instead focus on developing proper sleep hygiene and healthy sleep habits—something we’re experts in at Casper.
Here are some actionable and effective bedtime routines for adults to manage a healthier sleep schedule and better sleep hygiene:
Somniphobia, like any serious phobia, should not be taken lightly. But unlike other phobias, sleep is not a situation you can avoid with careful planning or vigilant resistance. Sleep is essential for our health and well-being, and avoiding sleep may only make the symptoms of the phobia worse.
Casper can help make sleep enjoyable and approachable, even for those who have sleep anxiety or somniphobia. Experience the comfort of finding your perfect mattress that suits your individual sleep style and preferences. Upgrade to a pillow that can help you wake up refreshed and pain-free, and sheets that cocoon you in comfort and cool your worries throughout the night.
For help deciding on the perfect sleep products for you, chat with one of our dedicated Sleep Specialists today.
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