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.
Understanding Somniphobia Symptoms
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:
- Chest pain or tightness
- A more rapid or uneven heart rate
- Stomach pains or vomiting
- Difficulty catching breath
- Uncharacteristic shivering or shaking
Someone with somniphobia will also often exhibit the following behaviors1:
- Avoiding going to bed for as long as possible
- Procrastinating bedtime with other activities, such as video games or cell phone use
- Struggling to be present during the day due to intense worrying about sleep
- Experiencing mood swings or irritability throughout the day
Long-Term Effects of Somniphobia
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:
- Depression
- Social isolation
- Substance abuse disorder
- Relationship difficulties
- Lowered quality of life
- Psychological distress
Sleep Anxiety vs. Somniphobia
Sleep anxiety is often confused with somniphobia, but the two conditions are distinct in the type of fear that prevents healthy sleep.
- Sleep anxiety – Sleep anxiety is fear or worry about going to sleep. If you have sleep anxiety, you typically feel apprehensive about not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep, resulting in fear about not getting the quality rest you need.3 Sleep anxiety can create a harmful cycle: anxiety causes sleeplessness, and the resulting sleeplessness causes further anxiety, which in turn causes sleeplessness repeatedly. (It may be possible to overcome sleep anxiety with effective relaxation techniques and adjustments to bedtime habits.)
- Somniphobia – Somniphobia usually involves a more intense fear than sleep anxiety. With somniphobia, you may fear that something terrible is going to happen to you if you fall asleep or that you shouldn’t sleep because you need to stay alert and watchful.3