Trouble sleeping? 'You have to stop trying', says sleep medicine doctor

ARLINGTON, Va. (7News) — One in three adults do not get enough sleep and up to 70 million Americans have some type of sleep disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

7News Health and Wellness Reporter Victoria Sanchez spoke with a sleep medicine physician with Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic about how to improve overall health by getting enough shut-eye.

“People will come to me a lot and say, ‘I try to fall asleep' and ‘I’m trying and I’m trying and I’m trying, and I can’t fall asleep,'" said Dr. Brian Robertson. “You have to stop trying.”

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For many adults, getting to bed isn't the problem, it's staying asleep.

“I wake up in the middle of the night, and I look at the clock and say, ‘Alright, I have two more hours to sleep.’ But then I can’t go back to sleep. So, help me out here. What can I do?” Sanchez asked.

“Treatment for falling asleep and staying asleep is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia," explained Dr. Robertson. "There are several parts to it but we usually start with the easy things and the first easy thing we do, is tell people to not look at the clock in the middle of the night. Set you clock in the beginning of the night and trust that it will go off. You don’t have to check it. In fact, we want you to take active steps to not know what time it is. We want you to exist in a timeless void where you don’t do math and figure out how many hours are left for you to sleep. Instead, just focus on relaxing and allowing yourself to fall asleep."

If frequent bathroom trips in the middle of the night are the issue, Dr. Robertson suggests reducing how much you drink a few hours before bed.

If you snore or wake up coughing or with panic attack-like symptoms, those could be signs of sleep apnea, which disrupts sleep and your overall health. Schedule an appointment with your doctor or sign up for a sleep study to identify what's going on while you're in bed.