Insomnia is a common sleep disorder characterized by having difficulty falling asleep or getting a good night’s sleep more than three nights a week for three consecutive months or more. What&rsquo's more, insomnia often goes together with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) or other mental health disorders.

When speaking of social anxiety disorder, the sad truth is that people with SAD are more likely to experience insomnia-related issues because they are prone to worry about the events of the day or the next day at night. In return, these people will also find it hard to function during the day and have a poor quality of life overall.

How to Get Diagnosed with Insomnia?

First and foremost, you have to check whether or not you’ve noticed some of the following insomnia signs:

• You have long sleep latency (time to fall asleep)
• You wake up often during the night
• You can’t fall back asleep once you wake up

So, if you experience any of the above-listed issues and also suffer from social anxiety, you’d better seek professional medical help because it is quite likely that these two conditions are related.

Once you discuss your sleep issues with an expert, you will be asked to complete a sleep questionnaire like the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index or keep a sleep log or diary. Completion of any of these tools will allow your doctor to analyze your sleep patterns and quality. And, in case of severe insomnia, your doctor may ask you to do a sleep study in a special laboratory.

How is Insomnia Treated?

In general, there are three treatment options for insomnia: medication, therapy, or a mix of these two. One of the most effective therapies is cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) which is as effective as medications for short-term treatment of chronic insomnia. Still, only one percent of chronic insomnia patients actually get this therapy.

A study showed that brief cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia can improve all targeted sleep parameters and reduce sleep-related anxiety. This also suggests that brief CBT-I can be considered as a treatment option for SAD patients who also have insomnia.

But, although CBT-I has proven to be successful, the number one treatment for insomnia remains medications because they provide results faster, commonly within days. Some common drug categories for treating insomnia include non benzodiazepines ‘z-drugs’ (Eszopiclone), benzodiazepines (Estazolam), tricylic antidepressant (Low-dose Sinequan), and melatonin agonist (Ramelteon).

What’s the Connection between Insomnia and SAD?

A survey showed that people with both mood and anxiety disorders, or only mood or anxiety disorders, are at higher risk of suffering from insomnia. To be more specific, those who suffered from both mood and anxiety issues had experienced severe insomnia which was related to increased daily impairment, i.e. inability to function well throughout the day.

Another study conducted on students including some with clinical anxiety symptoms found that there’s a link between social anxiety and increased insomnia symptoms. SAD patients reported greater sleep dissatisfaction and daily impairment.

But, another finding was that depression may indeed play a huge role in the connection between insomnia and social anxiety disorder. Simply put, the co-occurrence of depression is a key factor leading to insomnia development.

At last, people with generalized social anxiety disorder were found to have poorer sleep quality, it takes them longer to fall asleep, wake up more frequently during the night, and have more difficulty functioning throughout the day.

The bottom line, if you suffer from social anxiety disorder and find it hard to fall and remain asleep, ensure you discuss your sleeping issues with your doctor so that you get successful treatment for both.