Finding Help for Insomnia in Singapore
Strangers stepped quietly into a cosy room, polite and reserved.
One woman spoke of lying awake beside a partner who falls asleep within minutes, feeling envious and alone with her thoughts. Another recounted the remedies he had tried, from teas and supplements to white noise. He was demoralised but still determined to find a lasting cure. Someone else described the exhaustion and helplessness of turning up for work after yet another sleepless night.
As their stories unfolded, eyes brightened. People leaned in and nodded, recognising frustrations they themselves had lived with for years. In that moment, the loneliness of insomnia began to soften. They felt seen, heard, and finally understood.
These were real conversations from our group therapy for insomnia programme. For those living with insomnia, its effects reach into work, relationships, and everyday life. Yet much of this struggle remains hidden from the public eye.
Insomnia in Singapore
With work and family responsibilities competing for our time, it can be easy to accept poor sleep as part of life. But there is a difference between having too little time to sleep and being unable to sleep even when you give yourself ample time to.
Insomnia may involve difficulty falling asleep, prolonged middle-of-night awakenings, and/or waking earlier than intended, despite having adequate opportunity for sleep. When these difficulties occur at least three nights a week for three months or longer, and persistently affect daytime mood and functioning, they may indicate chronic insomnia.
The costs of insomnia extend beyond a difficult night. At work, fatigue and poor concentration can make familiar tasks feel harder. At home, irritability and low energy may affect relationships or leave less room for things we enjoy. Time, energy, and money spent searching for remedies can add to the overall burden. Over the long-term, chronic insomnia is associated with poorer mental health and increased risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases (Riemann et al., 2022).
Many of us put off seeking help for insomnia, hoping it will resolve on its own or that we will find time to address it later. Yet each difficult night can carry a cost into the next day, and over time, those costs can become harder to overlook.
Limitations of Sleep Aids
When we are desperate for sleep, a pill can seem like the most immediate answer. Medication can provide relief and has a place in alleviating sleep difficulties.
However, some sleep aids can come with notable drawbacks, including drowsiness, impaired alertness, tolerance, dependency, rebound insomnia, and increased fall risks in older adults.
That is why primary care doctors are advised to discuss potential side effects with patients and to limit the use of sedatives to short courses of two to four weeks. For individuals with chronic insomnia, a referral to a psychiatrist or sleep specialist is recommended (Ho et al., 2025).
The First-line Treatment for Insomnia
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is an evidence-based treatment recognised as the gold standard for insomnia management by the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and the European Sleep Research Society (Riemann et al., 2023).
But how is psychological therapy more helpful than medication?
Having persistent nights of insomnia can change the way we think and behave around bedtime and in bed. We may spend longer in bed hoping to catch up, monitor how much sleep we are getting, or worry about how we will cope the next day. These responses can leave us more alert, frustrated, and activated: the very ingredients that make our mind and body decide that it is unsafe to sleep!
CBT-I works by addressing these root causes of insomnia. With professional guidance, we move towards establishing healthier sleep patterns, rebuilding the positive association between bed and sleep, and changing beliefs and attitudes about sleep and wakefulness to relieve pressure and activation.
Research assures us that CBT-I is as effective as medication in the short term and more effective in the long term due to its focus on lasting behavioural change (van der Zweerde et al., 2019).
Our Group CBT-I Programme
At Somnus Sleep Wellness, we provide a six-week group CBT-I programme where participants learn these strategies in small groups and practise them between sessions. They also listen to and support one another throughout the process.
We track outcomes using the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), a questionnaire that measures the severity and impact of insomnia. About 85% of participants reported lower insomnia severity at programme completion. The benefits remained evident eight weeks after the programme ended, with 67% of follow-up respondents achieving or maintaining a significant improvement compared with their baseline.
These changes are also observed and felt in our interactions with clients, as we notice shifts in their attitudes towards sleep and their outlook on daily life.
Taking the Next Step
If you have been struggling with sleep, consider speaking with us. You do not need to wait until sleep difficulties feel unmanageable before seeking help.
We offer a complimentary screening session to understand your sleep difficulties and assess whether our group CBT-I programme is suitable for you. It is a chance to ask questions and decide on your next step.
Learn more and request your complimentary screening. You are not alone, and help is available.
References
Ho, R., Lim, C. S., Tor, P. C., Ho, C. S. H., Pang, J. W. C., Ng, B. Y. (2025). Pharmacological management of chronic insomnia disorder in Singapore: Recommendations from an expert panel. Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare, 34. https://doi.org/10.1177/20101058251318763 9
Riemann, D., Benz, F., Dressle, R. J., Espie, C. A., Johann, A. F., Blanken, T. F., Leerssen, J., Wassing, R., Henry, A. L., Kyle, S. D., Spiegelhalder, K., & Van Someren, E. J. W. (2022). Insomnia disorder: State of the science and challenges for the future. Journal of Sleep Research, 31(4), e13604. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13604
Riemann, D., Espie, C. A., Altena, E., Arnardottir, E. S., Baglioni, C., Bassetti, C. L. A., Bastien, C., Berzina, N., Bjorvatn, B., Dikeos, D., Dolenc Groselj, L., Ellis, J. G., Garcia-Borreguero, D., Geoffroy, P. A., Gjerstad, M., Gonçalves, M., Hertenstein, E., Hoedlmoser, K., Hion, T., Holzinger, B., … Spiegelhalder, K. (2023). The European Insomnia Guideline: An update on the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia 2023. Journal of Sleep Research, 32(6), e14035. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14035
van der Zweerde, T., Bisdounis, L., Kyle, S. D., Lancee, J., & van Straten, A. (2019). Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: A meta-analysis of long-term effects in controlled studies. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 48, 101208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2019.08.002
