The vicious cycle of insomnia and anxiety

When insomnia and anxiety occur together, their effects can compound. A remarkable 24% to 36% of people with anxiety disorders experience insomnia, while people with insomnia are more likely to develop an anxiety disorder than those without sleep issues.

When insomnia and anxiety occur together, their effects can compound. A remarkable 24% to 36% of people with anxiety disorders experience insomnia, while people with insomnia are more likely to develop an anxiety disorder than those without sleep issues.

Employers play an important role in supporting employees who are struggling with these issues. This whitepaper examines the relationship between insomnia and anxiety, their effects on your workforce, and solutions for mitigating their impacts.

Key insights:

  • Learn why and how insomnia and anxiety feed on each other
  • Understand how these conditions affect employee productivity and health care costs
  • Recognize the compounding effects of untreated sleep and anxiety issues
  • Assess solutions to help your employees break the insomnia-anxiety cycle

A peek inside:


Download the guide

During the COVID-19 public health emergency, Sleepio and Daylight are being made available as treatments for insomnia disorder and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), respectively, without a prescription. Sleepio and Daylight have not been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of insomnia disorder and GAD, respectively.

1. Qaseem, A., Kansagara, D., Forciea, M. A., Cooke, M., & Denberg, T. D. (2016). Management of chronic insomnia disorder in adults: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine, 165(2), 125-133.2. Riemann, D., Baglioni, C., Bassetti, C., Bjorvatn, B., Dolenc Groselj, L., Ellis, J. G., … & Spiegelhalder, K. (2017). European guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia. Journal of Sleep Research, 26(6), 675-700.3. Wilson, S., Anderson, K., Baldwin, D., Dijk, D. J., Espie, A., Espie, C., … & Sharpley, A. (2019). British Association for Psychopharmacology consensus statement on evidence-based treatment of insomnia, parasomnias and circadian rhythm disorders: an update. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 33(8), 923-947.4. King’s Technology Evaluation Centre. (2017, November 9). Overview: Health app: SLEEPIO for adults with poor Sleep: Advice. NICE. https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/mib129.5. Espie, C. A., Kyle, S. D., Williams, C., Ong, J. C., Douglas, N. J., Hames, P., & Brown, J. S. (2012). A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of online cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic insomnia disorder delivered via an automated media-rich web application. Sleep, 35(6), 769-781.6. Carl, J. R., Miller, C. B., Henry, A. L., Davis, M. L., Stott, R., Smits, J. A., … & Espie, C. A. (2020). Efficacy of digital cognitive behavioral therapy for moderate‐to‐severe symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Depression and Anxiety, 37(12), 1168-1178.

DOC-3046 Effective 11/2023