Educational reference
About this symptom
Sleep disturbance covers several distinct experiences: difficulty falling asleep, waking during the night, waking earlier than intended and being unable to return to sleep, sleeping considerably more than usual, or sleeping a normal length of time and waking unrefreshed.
The pattern can be informative. Early-morning waking is often described in depressive conditions; difficulty falling asleep is common where worry is prominent; sleeping much more than usual occurs in some depressive presentations; and a markedly reduced need for sleep, without tiredness, is a feature of mania and hypomania rather than of insomnia.
Sleep is affected by a great many things besides mental health: pain, shift work, caffeine, alcohol, medication, sleep apnoea, and life circumstances among them. Disturbed sleep also makes other difficulties harder to manage, so it is often addressed directly alongside whatever else is going on.
Persistent sleep problems are worth raising with a health professional in their own right.