Insomnia Isn’t Just in Your Head: How Mind and Body Learn Sleeplessness (and How to Unlearn It)

If you live with chronic insomnia, you’ve probably heard “just relax” more times than you can count. But insomnia isn’t a willpower problem—it’s a learning problem involving your brain, body, and environment. The good news: learned patterns can be unlearned. CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia) is the gold-standard, first-line treatment that teaches your system how to sleep again while calming the stress response (1, 11).

In this guide, we’ll explain the stress–sleep feedback loop, how conditioned arousal keeps you awake, practical resets you can start today, and when a structured CBT-I program is the right next step.

Along the way, we’ll share how our team at ScienceWorks Behavioral Healthcare blends therapy with physiology to help sleep return—especially with Ryan Robertson, who guides clients through CBT‑I and practical mind–body tools via telehealth.

The stress–sleep feedback loop: Why alertness feels “stuck on”

When sleep goes off the rails, the body’s arousal system often gets stuck in a higher gear. Stress hormones rise, heart rate variability shifts, and the brain’s threat networks stay extra vigilant—even when you want to rest.

Researchers call this the hyperarousal model of insomnia, a pattern where the nervous system is revved across brain, hormone, and autonomic levels (4). Over time, poor sleep increases stress sensitivity, which further disrupts sleep. That’s the feedback loop.

🔁 Key takeaway: You don’t need to “try harder” to sleep; you need to calm and retrain an overprotective arousal system.

Three forces tend to keep the loop going (3):

• Predisposing factors (your biology and history) make you more vulnerable.

• Precipitating factors (life stressors, illness, schedule changes) kick symptoms off.

• Perpetuating factors (compensation habits like early bed, naps, or clock-watching) sustain the cycle.

At ScienceWorks, we assess these factors collaboratively so your plan targets what’s actually maintaining your insomnia. When needed, we may pair therapy with a formal psychological assessment to clarify co-occurring issues like ADHD, OCD, or trauma that commonly tangle with sleep.

Understanding conditioned arousal: How your brain links bed with wakefulness

Remember Pavlov’s dogs? The same learning principles apply to sleep. When you lie awake in bed, watch the clock, or scroll your phone night after night, the brain quietly pairs bed = wakefulness. This is called conditioned arousal.

Classic behavioral sleep medicine work showed that targeted stimulus control—reserving the bed for sleep and sex, getting out of bed when awake, waking up at the same time—reverses that learning (2, 12).

🧠 Key takeaway: The goal isn’t to force sleep—it’s to rebuild the association bed → sleep and reduce the association bed → effort and worry.

One powerful companion technique is sleep opportunity matching (also known as sleep restriction). By temporarily matching time in bed to your current average sleep time, sleep gets deeper and more consolidated. As efficiency improves, you gradually expand time in bed. It’s structured, temporary, and, in randomized trials, reliably improves sleep continuity (1).

If you’d like guided support with these steps, our Specialized Therapy page outlines how we tailor behavioral protocols—like ERP for OCD, I‑CBT, ACT, and CBT-I—to your exact needs.

Body-based resets: Breath, light, and movement that calm the system

Breath. Slow, paced breathing (around 6 breaths per minute) increases parasympathetic activity and heart rate variability (a marker of vagal tone), nudging the system out of fight‑or‑flight (13, 14, 18). Try this before bed or after a mid‑night awakening:

• Inhale through the nose for ~5 seconds

• Exhale gently for ~5 seconds (no breath‑holding)

• Continue for 3–5 minutes, eyes soft or closed

Light. Morning light anchors circadian timing and reduces evening “tired‑but‑wired” alertness. Aim for 10–20 minutes of outdoor light within an hour of waking; avoid bright light close to bedtime. Light has direct alerting effects—especially at night—so using it strategically matters (6, 7).

Movement. Daytime movement improves sleep pressure and mood; keep late‑evening vigorous workouts modest if they rev you up. Short, gentle stretching in the last hour before bed can help your body remember, “We’re powering down.”

🌿 Key takeaway: Body cues teach the brain. Consistent breath, light, and movement signals can downshift alertness and make sleep more likely.

If stress or sensory sensitivities are part of your picture, our Executive Function Coaching and skills‑based groups can help you build routines that support recovery.

Cognitive resets: Detaching from sleep anxiety

For many people, the fear of not sleeping becomes the loudest noise at night. CBT‑I uses brief, targeted strategies to change your relationship with these thoughts:

• Worry debrief. Set a 10‑minute “worry time” in the early evening to list concerns and next steps—so the bed stops being your planning desk.

• Park it. Keep a notepad by the bed to jot down intrusive ideas and return to breathing.

• Gentle defusion. When a thought shows up (“If I’m awake, I’ll fail tomorrow”), label it: “I’m having the thought that…,” and return to your cue (breath, a neutral phrase, or a body scan).

• Anchor your attention. If you’re awake >15–20 minutes, get out of bed and do a low‑stimulus activity (paper book, puzzle) until sleepiness returns.

🧩 Key takeaway: You can’t logic yourself to sleep. You can make space for thoughts and let sleep happen as physiology resets.

When to add CBT-I: Structured approaches for chronic insomnia

If insomnia has lasted more than 3 months, shows up at least 3 nights a week, and impacts your days, structured CBT-I is recommended as first‑line care by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (11, 16). Meta‑analyses show that CBT-I improves sleep latency, wake after sleep onset, efficiency, and insomnia severity, with benefits that last months to a year (1, 10). For some, boosters or brief refreshers help maintain gains.

At ScienceWorks, CBT-I typically includes:

• A personalized sleep assessment and clear, collaborative targets

• Stimulus control and sleep opportunity matching (with weekly adjustments)

• Circadian‑friendly light and activity timing

• Brief cognitive skills to dial down sleep effort and anxiety

• Tracking progress so you can see changes

Curious if CBT‑I is a fit? You can meet Ryan Robertson and our team, or send a note through our Contact page. We see clients via telehealth in many states.

ScienceWorks approach: Integrated care that blends therapy and physiology

We’re a psychologist‑led practice that treats the whole person. Many clients seeking sleep help are also navigating OCD, trauma, ADHD, or autism. We’re trained in protocols like ERP, EMDR, ACT, I‑CBT, and CBT-I, and we coordinate care around your goals.

Learn more about our Comprehensive Therapy Services and how we pair behavioral science with compassion.

If you’re exploring CBT-I for the first time—or you’ve tried apps and tips without lasting change—consider working with Ryan Robertson. His background in neurobiology‑informed counseling and structured, measurement‑based care helps people trade “try harder” for learn better.

🌙 Key takeaway: Sleep improves when we match the right tools to the right maintainer. CBT-I plus mind–body strategies is a powerful, step‑by‑step way to do that.

FAQs

Isn’t medication faster? 

Sleep medicines can be useful short‑term, but guidelines recommend CBT-I first because benefits persist without tolerance or rebound insomnia (11). Some people use a short medication bridge while starting CBT-I—that’s a shared decision with your prescriber.

What if I have OCD or trauma? 

We can treat both. Sleep often improves faster when we address co‑maintainers—see our pages on OCD treatment and Trauma therapy.

About the Author

Kiesa Kelly, PhD, HSP is a psychologist and founder of ScienceWorks Behavioral Healthcare. She specializes in OCD, trauma, insomnia, ADHD, and autism, and integrates protocols like ERP, EMDR, ACT, I‑CBT, and CBT‑I with compassionate, measurement‑based care. Dr. Kelly provides telehealth therapy for adults and teens across multiple states.

Dr. Kelly’s training and leadership emphasize clear, science‑backed treatment plans and collaborative care. Learn more on her profile: Kiesa Kelly, PhD.

Disclaimer

This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not diagnose, treat, or guarantee outcomes. Always consult your physician or a qualified clinician about your specific situation.

References and Citations

(1) Trauer, J. M., Qian, M. Y., Doyle, J. S., Rajaratnam, S. M. W., & Cunnington, D. (2015). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta‑analysis. Annals of Internal Medicine, 163(3), 191–204. https://doi.org/10.7326/M14-2841

(2) Bootzin, R. R. (1972). Stimulus control treatment for insomnia. Proceedings of the 80th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, 395–396. (Reprint PDF: University of Pennsylvania) https://www.med.upenn.edu/cbti/assets/user-content/documents/Bootzin%201972.pdf

(3) Spielman, A. J., Caruso, L. S., & Glovinsky, P. B. (1987). A behavioral perspective on insomnia treatment. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 10(4), 541–553. (Overview of the “3P Model”.) [PubMed] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3332317/

(4) Riemann, D., Spiegelhalder, K., Feige, B., et al. (2010). The hyperarousal model of insomnia: A review of the concept and its evidence. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 14(1), 19–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2009.04.002

(5) van der Zweerde, T., Lancee, J., Slottje, P., Bosmans, J. E., van Someren, E. J. W., & van Straten, A. (2019). Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: A meta‑analysis of long‑term effects in controlled studies. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 48, 101208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2019.08.002

(6) Cajochen, C. (2007). Alerting effects of light. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 11(6), 453–464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2007.07.009

(7) Mu, Y.‑M., Zhu, G.‑F., Han, J.‑Y., et al. (2022). Alerting effects of light in healthy individuals: A systematic review and meta‑analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 63, 101632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2022.101632

(8) Laborde, S., Hosang, T., Mosley, E., & Dosseville, F. (2019). Influence of a 30‑day slow‑paced breathing intervention compared to social media use on subjective sleep quality and cardiac vagal activity. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(2), 193. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8020193

(9) Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., et al. (2018). How Breath‑Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho‑Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353

(10) van der Zweerde, T., Bisdounis, L., Kyle, S. D., Lancee, J., & van Straten, A. (2019). Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: A meta‑analysis of long‑term effects in controlled studies. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 48, 101208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2019.08.002

(11) Edinger, J. D., Arnedt, J. T., Bertisch, S. M., et al. (2021). Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 17(2), 255–262. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.8986

(12) Sharma, M. P., & Andrade, C. (2012). Behavioral interventions for insomnia: Theory and practice. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 54(4), 359–366. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.104825

(13) Laborde, S., Mosley, E., & Thayer, J. F. (2017). Heart Rate Variability and Cardiac Vagal Tone in Psychophysiological Research—Recommendations for Experiment Planning, Data Analysis, and Data Reporting. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 213. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00213

(14) Gerritsen, R. J. S., & Band, G. P. H. (2018). Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 397. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00397

(15) Cajochen, C. (2007). Alerting effects of light. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 11(6), 453–464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2007.07.009

(16) Sateia, M. J., Buysse, D. J., Krystal, A. D., Neubauer, D. N., & Heald, J. L. (2017). Clinical practice guideline for the pharmacologic treatment of chronic insomnia in adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 13(2), 307–349. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.6470

Note: Citations (1), (5), and (10) cover long‑term durability; (2) and (12) for stimulus control; (3) for the 3P model; (4), (13), and (14) for hyperarousal and autonomic balance; (6), (7), and (15) for light; (11) and (16) for guideline recommendations.