Why Are They Rebranding Insomnia?

I decided to write an article about preparing for my return to full-time work outside of my home. Doing a brief Google search, I looked for suggestions I could share. This would be helpful to many of us facing the same thing. What I found was disheartening and frustrating.

Most of us have shared our experiences of not being taken seriously when speaking to our primary care doctors. We deal with family not taking us seriously and unhelpful advice from random people we didn't ask. I thought I would find something helpful.

Coronasomnia? What's that?

When I started reading articles, I expected to see chronic insomnia added to the list as a possible long-term complication of those who had tested positive for COVID-19.¹

However, this was not the case. They simply explained what we have been saying all along. There was a glaring difference, though. They mentioned the availability of practitioners those now suffering from insomnia could schedule appointments with virtually. This completely contradicts how many of us have sought help for years and have been outright dismissed.

Seeking help is not a cure-all

Another article is quoted as saying, “That’s because if people don’t seek help when they start to suffer with their sleep, the chances are their sleep issues become a sleep disorder, i.e., insomnia, and unfortunately there isn’t a quick fix...It’s difficult to break habits that have formed.”²

I’m sorry, what? While I can only speak for myself, I have sought help for years and would just be handed a pamphlet with sleep hygiene suggestions.

Insomnia is not a habit to break

It was not my choice to allow my insomnia to get to the point where it became something they regard as a habit. Habits can be changed. Over the past year, I have worked really hard to give up caffeine and processed sugar. If I could have added insomnia to the list of habits to break, it would have been at the top of the list!

It took a pandemic for insomnia to be taken seriously

I understand this has been a rough, unprecedented time for all of us. I have no doubt people have developed insomnia along with other new mental health concerns they are seeking treatment for.

What I take issue with is insomnia now being taken seriously by the health community while most of us, pre-COVID-19, had to fight to be taken seriously.

Why did it take a global pandemic for insomnia to be recognized as something that needed to be dealt with early so it does not become a lifelong problem? Every medical professional is to take it seriously.

The fact they had to morph corona and insomnia into one word to make it sound like a more serious condition shows how little the label of insomnia was taken seriously by medical providers.

Will we be taken seriously now?

I honestly hope so but based on my past experience, it is hard. There is a mention of sleep hygiene in many of the articles, but they also go far beyond sleep hygiene. However, it is not mentioned as the end-all, fix-all for insomnia.

They also don’t solely blame poor sleep hygiene as to why people have chronic insomnia. It is disheartening to see how they are going above and beyond to research this now. When just a few years ago, most of us were written off and left alone to deal with it.