Some people with insomnia think they're awake when they're asleep
Many people with insomnia or fragmented sleep report feeling awake all night, yet objective measures like sleep studies, wearables, or bed sensors often show they were sleeping or in lighter stages of sleep for much of that time. Commenters describe confusing experiences such as dreaming of lying awake, snoring while believing they’re conscious, and having conversations or doing tasks with no later memory, and they debate the roles of anxiety, sleep apnea, drugs like CBD or marijuana, and placebo effects. Several point to behavioral approaches such as sleep restriction and consistent routines as more reliable long-term fixes than supplements or sedatives, while noting how individual physiology and health conditions make sleep perception highly variable.
Accessing the Article / Paywall Workarounds
- Some readers hit a Scientific American paywall; others could read it freely depending on region.
- Multiple people shared archive links and the trick of prepending the URL with archive.is.
Subjective vs Objective Sleep
- Many report nights where they are “sure” they were awake most of the time, yet devices or partners indicate they slept or snored.
- Several describe “half-asleep” states: thoughts racing, surreal or dreamlike thinking while feeling awake, and large time gaps suggesting sleep occurred.
- Some explicitly recall dreaming that they were lying awake and only realize it later via dream content or changed body position.
Self-Tracking and Devices
- One user uses an Angel Care sensor pad plus DIY data logging (motion/breath-based) to visualize nights that feel sleepless but show long low-motion periods.
- Others use smartwatches or 24-hour blood pressure monitoring and were surprised to see normal sleep patterns despite feeling awake.
- Some distrust wearables, noting they can misclassify “lying still but awake” as sleep.
Sleep Disorders and Interventions
- Recurrent theme: snoring + feeling unrested → suggestions to check for sleep apnea or broader “sleep-disordered breathing.”
- Discussion of CPAP: transformative for some, but access and DRM/Rx constraints are a barrier in the US.
- Cheap experiments recommended: nasal dilators, nasal strips, air purifiers, pulse oximeters.
- Sleep restriction therapy is repeatedly endorsed as highly effective for chronic insomnia, though described as brutal at first.
Substances: CBD, Melatonin, Marijuana
- One commenter reports major benefit from ~1.25 mg CBD before bed; others are highly skeptical, calling the dose too low and likely placebo.
- Counterpoint: sensitivity to cannabinoids varies widely; some feel strong effects from very small doses.
- Melatonin’s impact on sleep quality is debated; some see benefit, others not.
- Marijuana is described by several as ultimately harmful to sleep architecture or anxiety, even if it initially seems to help.
Altered Sleep States and Parasomnias
- Many accounts of lucid dreaming, hypnagogia, sleep paralysis, and “mind awake, body asleep.”
- Numerous stories of complex behaviors while apparently asleep (talking, turning off alarms, even sex), with no memory afterward.
- ICU and clinical anecdotes reinforce the idea that “everyone sleeps,” even when they feel they haven’t.