Insomnia — what happens when your nervous system won't let you rest
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Last Updated
October 1, 2026
Insomnia is your nervous system stuck in alertness.
Insomnia is regular difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early, leaving you tired and less able to function by day. Your GP assesses the cause and leads treatment, including CBT for insomnia or sleep-clinic referral. At our Islington clinic we support that care with somatic coaching, mindfulness, nutritional therapy, Ayurvedic consultations and treatment for night-time jaw clenching.
Visible Signs & Symptoms
Insomnia is more than an occasional bad night. It describes a pattern in which you regularly struggle to sleep despite having the chance to, and feel the effects the next day. The NHS describes insomnia lasting three months or longer as long-term. Short spells around stress, illness or travel are common and often settle on their own.
The three common patterns
- Difficulty getting to sleep: lying awake with a busy mind or a restless body
- Difficulty staying asleep: waking several times in the night, or once and staying awake
- Waking too early: surfacing in the small hours and not being able to drift off again
Many people move between these patterns, or have more than one.
Night-time signs
- Lying awake for long periods, clock-watching or worrying about not sleeping
- Light, unrefreshing sleep
- Waking with a racing mind, a pounding heart or tension in the body
Daytime signs
- Tiredness, low energy and needing caffeine to function
- Irritability, low mood or feeling more anxious
- Poor concentration and memory
- Difficulty napping even when exhausted
Signs in the jaw and mouth
Night-time clenching and grinding often travel with broken sleep. Waking with a tight or aching jaw, headaches at the temples, tender teeth or worn tooth edges can be clues that the jaw muscles are working through the night. These signs do not explain insomnia on their own, but they are worth mentioning to your dentist. See teeth grinding.
Loud snoring, pauses in breathing noticed by a partner, or waking gasping are different signs and need a GP assessment for possible sleep apnoea.
Clinical Root Causes
Sleep depends on the body being able to shift from alertness into rest. Insomnia usually develops when something keeps it on alert, and then habits form around the poor sleep that keep the pattern going.
Stress and an alert nervous system
Worry, sustained pressure and anxiety are among the most common causes. A mind that will not switch off and a body that stays braced make it harder to fall asleep and easier to wake. Chronic stress and burnout often show first as broken sleep.
Physical and medical causes
- Pain, including jaw and facial pain from clenching or grinding
- Breathing problems during sleep, such as sleep apnoea, which need medical assessment
- Hormonal changes, including perimenopause, pregnancy and the months after birth
- Conditions such as an overactive thyroid, reflux, restless legs or needing to pass urine at night
- Some prescribed medicines, which your GP or pharmacist can review
- Low mood and other mental-health conditions
Habits and environment
- Caffeine late in the day, and alcohol, which can help you drop off but fragments sleep later
- Irregular bed and wake times, shift work and jet lag
- Screens, work and bright light late into the evening
- A bedroom that is too warm, noisy or light
- Heavy meals late at night, or going to bed hungry
The loop that keeps it going
After several poor nights, bed itself can become linked with frustration and effort. People go to bed earlier, lie in, nap or worry about sleep, and each of these can make the next night harder. Gently unpicking that loop is the focus of CBT for insomnia.
Occasional poor sleep is part of life. Persistent insomnia is different: it affects mood, concentration, patience, work and relationships, and makes everyday stress harder to absorb. Poor sleep and anxiety also feed each other, so addressing one often helps the other. Long-term poor sleep is linked with wider health problems, which is why it deserves proper attention rather than simply being endured.
It also matters to look for the cause. Insomnia is sometimes the first visible sign of something else, such as a breathing problem during sleep, a hormonal change or low mood, and those need the right clinical care rather than sleep tips alone.
When to see your GP
- Poor sleep has gone on for several weeks despite sensible changes
- Tiredness is affecting work, driving or relationships
- A partner notices loud snoring, pauses in breathing or gasping
- You have pain, low mood, night sweats or other symptoms alongside poor sleep
Your GP can look for underlying causes, review any medicines, and discuss CBT for insomnia, which NICE recommends, or referral to a sleep clinic. Sleep medicine and any prescribing stay with your GP or specialist.
Red flags: get help now
- You feel so sleepy that you fall asleep while driving or at risk: stop driving and see your GP promptly
- Chest pain or severe breathlessness at night: call 999
- Thoughts of harming yourself: call 999 or go to A&E, or call Samaritans on 116 123
- Urgent advice that is not an emergency: call NHS 111
What body-level support offers
Diagnosis and medical treatment for insomnia come from your GP or a sleep specialist. NICE recommends CBT for insomnia as a first-line approach for long-term insomnia, and any sleep medication is a decision for you and your doctor. We are a private clinic and do not diagnose sleep disorders, prescribe for sleep or treat sleep apnoea. What we offer is body-level and lifestyle support that sits alongside that care.
If poor sleep is recent or stress-related
Consistent wake times, daylight in the morning, less caffeine after midday, a wind-down hour without work or screens, and a cool, dark bedroom often help. Mindfulness with Laura-Maria Schober teaches practices for settling a busy mind at night. Our page on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy describes a more structured approach.
If insomnia is persistent and your GP pathway is in place
- Somatic coaching with Laura-Maria Schober (MSc, EMCC) works with the body's alertness: breath, held tension and the felt sense of being unable to switch off. It complements CBT for insomnia rather than replacing it.
- Nutritional therapy with Nicoletta Peloni (mGNC, mANP) reviews meal timing, caffeine and alcohol, blood-sugar steadiness and overall diet quality as foundations for sleep.
- Ayurvedic consultations with Dr Reena Sohal focus on daily rhythm, evening routine and diet from an Ayurvedic perspective.
If night-time clenching is part of the picture
Dr Vishal Patel, our principal dentist, examines the teeth and jaw muscles for signs of grinding. Where appropriate he makes a Davies-technique hard splint, which protects the teeth and eases night-time loading on the jaw muscles. Some people find they sleep more comfortably once the jaw is less strained, though results vary. Read more about the Davies splint. If snoring or breathing pauses are reported, we will ask you to see your GP rather than treat it here.
If life pressures are keeping you awake
Where sleep is disrupted by decisions or relationship strain, life and relationship coaching with Binta Patel (ICF ACC) offers structured, forward-focused support. Coaching is not mental-health treatment.
How we choose with you
We begin with a free 20-minute discovery call, ask what your GP has already looked at, and suggest one starting point rather than a long programme. Sleep tends to respond to small changes kept up consistently, so we would rather you try one thing properly than five things at once. If anything you describe points to a medical cause, we will tell you plainly and ask you to see your GP first. With your consent, we are happy to keep your GP informed.
Cost
- Discovery call (20 minutes, phone): free
- Somatic coaching, initial session: £75
- Mindfulness session: £65
- Nutritionist session (90 minutes): £75
- Ayurvedic medicine session: £75; Ayurvedic review appointment: £50
- Life coaching session: £75
- Davies splint: £495
Results vary from person to person, and we do not promise outcomes.
Getting here. We are at 222 Essex Road, Islington N1 3AP, two minutes from Essex Road station on the Great Northern line (one stop from Highbury & Islington). Buses 38, 56, 73, 341 and 476 stop on Essex Road, and many patients cycle or arrive by Lime or Forest e-bike. Appointments run Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm; we do not take walk-ins.
This page is part of our wider guide to psychotherapy, which sets out every option we offer side by side.
Breathwork in London — clinical applications and where DWL integrates it
Breathwork has evidence-based clinical applications and wellness-industry over-claims in roughly equal measure. The honest framework for where it helps, what to look for in a practitioner, and how DWL integrates breath into wider clinical care.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy — an 8-week structured programme
MBCT combines cognitive therapy with mindfulness meditation practices. Strong evidence base for relapse prevention in recurrent depression and ongoing anxiety management.
If your question isn't here, call reception on 020 8127 4567 or book a free discovery call.Text Link
View all FAQs →Can somatic therapy help with insomnia?
For insomnia driven by sustained sympathetic activation or anxiety patterns — often, particularly alongside CBT-I. For insomnia driven by medical causes like sleep apnoea, somatic work alone isn't sufficient. An initial consultation helps identify which pattern fits.
Is TMJ causing my insomnia?
TMJ and broken sleep frequently travel together rather than one simply causing the other. Nocturnal jaw clenching contributes to micro-arousals, and a Davies-technique splint can interrupt that cycle, with some noticing sleep improvement within 2-3 weeks.
Can I take sleeping pills and try integrative therapy at the same time?
Yes. Integrative and body-based work sits alongside whatever your GP has prescribed. Many patients use short-term medication to break an acute cycle while building the longer-term nervous-system foundation.
How long does it take to fix chronic insomnia?
There's no honest quick answer. Sleep usually improves first in the somatic-affected dimension within the first couple of months. Measurable sleep-architecture change for most patients takes 6-12 months of consistent work alongside CBT-I.
Do I need to see a sleep clinic first?
Not always, but you should see your GP first. Your GP rules out medical causes and decides whether a sleep-clinic or CBT-I referral is appropriate. If sleep apnoea or a mood disorder is suspected, the clinical pathway leads first.
Can nutritional therapy help me sleep?
It can support the substrate sleep depends on — magnesium, B-vitamins, omega-3 status, iron, and vitamin D all affect sleep architecture. Nutritional therapy is a foundation rather than a standalone cure.
What's the difference between insomnia and just having trouble sleeping?
Trouble sleeping is a single bad night or a brief period under stress. Insomnia is a clinical pattern lasting three nights per week for three months or more, with daytime function affected.
Is melatonin available without prescription in the UK?
In the UK melatonin is prescription-only. Your GP can prescribe it where appropriate. We don't recommend bypassing the prescription pathway.
