Services
Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Parth Vaishnav, Consultant Psychiatrist (MD Psychiatry) · Last reviewed October 2026
Insomnia Care
Sleep Apnoea
CBT-I Therapy
Quick Answer
Chronic insomnia and most sleep disorders are highly treatable — usually without long-term sleeping pills. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), the global first-line treatment, retrains the sleep system; medication is used briefly and strategically when needed. Dr. Parth Vaishnav treats insomnia, sleep anxiety, and circadian rhythm disorders in Ahmedabad.
Introduction
Lying awake at 2 a.m. watching the clock, dreading the night before it begins, dragging through the day on broken sleep — poor sleep quietly damages mood, memory, immunity, blood pressure, and blood sugar. Many people self-treat for years with over-the-counter pills, alcohol, or endless mobile scrolling, all of which make sleep worse. Sleep is a trainable biological system, and treatment restores it.
Overview
Sleep disorders range from insomnia (difficulty falling or staying asleep at least three nights a week for three months or more) to circadian rhythm disorders (a body clock out of sync with life's schedule — common in night-shift workers, IT professionals, and students) and sleep disrupted by anxiety or other psychiatric conditions. Because sleep and mental health are deeply intertwined, a psychiatrist is ideally placed to treat both together.
Conditions Treated
• Insomnia Treatment — structured CBT-I with strategic short-term medication where required • Sleep Disorder Treatment — assessment of the full range of sleep complaints, with referral for sleep studies (polysomnography) when apnoea or other conditions are suspected • Sleep Anxiety Management — treating the fear of not sleeping, which itself perpetuates insomnia • Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders — delayed sleep phase in young adults, shift-work disorder, and jet-lag-pattern problems, corrected through timed light exposure, chronotherapy, and melatonin timing
Signs & Symptoms
• Taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, or waking repeatedly at night • Early-morning waking with inability to return to sleep • Non-refreshing sleep — waking tired despite hours in bed • Daytime fatigue, irritability, poor concentration, or drowsiness while driving • Dread or anxiety about bedtime; watching the clock • A sleep schedule drifting later and later (sleeping at 3–4 a.m.) • Loud snoring with breathing pauses (suggests sleep apnoea — needs a sleep study)
Causes & Risk Factors
• Stress, anxiety, and depression — the most common drivers of insomnia • Conditioned arousal — the bed itself becoming associated with frustration and wakefulness • Irregular schedules, night shifts, and late-night screen exposure suppressing melatonin • Caffeine (chai, coffee, colas) late in the day; alcohol fragmenting sleep • Medical causes — pain, reflux, thyroid problems, restless legs, sleep apnoea • Long-term dependence on sleeping pills, which lose effect and disturb sleep architecture
How Diagnosis Works
Assessment includes a detailed sleep history, a one-to-two-week sleep diary, screening for anxiety, depression, and substance factors, and validated scales such as the Insomnia Severity Index. When apnoea, restless legs, or unusual night-time behaviours are suspected, Dr. Parth Vaishnav Vaishnav coordinates polysomnography (sleep study) with partner labs. The goal is to identify the true driver of poor sleep, because treatment differs completely by cause.
Treatment Options
• CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia) — sleep-window restructuring, stimulus control, and cognitive work; the international first-line treatment, more durable than pills • Sleep hygiene, properly personalized — not just generic advice lists • Strategic short-term medication — modern, carefully selected agents when rapid relief is needed, always with a taper plan • Supervised de-addiction from long-term sleeping-pill use • Chronotherapy, timed bright-light exposure, and melatonin timing for circadian disorders • Treatment of underlying anxiety, depression, or pain conditions driving the insomnia
Why Early Intervention Matters
Short-term insomnia becomes chronic when the brain learns to associate bed with wakefulness — a cycle that deepens every month. Early treatment prevents that conditioning, avoids years of pill dependence, and protects cardiovascular and metabolic health, mood, and workplace safety. If poor sleep has persisted beyond a month, structured help will save you far more time than it takes.
Why Choose Dr. Parth Vaishnav
Dr. Parth Vaishnav treats sleep as a system, not a symptom to sedate — combining CBT-I, chronobiology-based methods, and rational, time-limited prescribing. Patients dependent on years of sleeping pills are tapered safely, not judged. Practical plans account for Indian realities: late family dinners, shift work, exam schedules, and joint-family sleeping arrangements. Consultations in Ahmedabad and online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this mental health service and treatment options.
Feeling tired but unable to sleep usually means your mind is still switched on: stress, worry or overthinking keep the brain alert even when the body is exhausted. Habits that confuse the body clock make it worse.
Common causes include stress and anxiety, tea or coffee late in the day, screens in bed, irregular sleep times, long daytime naps, alcohol (which disturbs sleep later in the night), depression, pain, and medical problems such as thyroid disorders or sleep apnoea, which often shows up as loud snoring, gasping at night and daytime sleepiness.
If you sleep poorly at least three nights a week for three months, or it is affecting your days, that is chronic insomnia and worth treating. The first-line treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Sleeping pills are best used only for short periods, under a doctor's guidance.
Most adults need 7–9 hours; teenagers need 8–10; older adults often function well on 6.5–7.5 with lighter sleep. Quality and daytime freshness matter more than a rigid number. If you routinely wake unrefreshed or fight sleepiness during the day despite adequate hours in bed, the sleep itself — not the count — needs evaluation.
Occasional short-term use under supervision is reasonably safe. Long-term nightly use leads to tolerance, dependence, morning grogginess, memory issues, and fall risk in older adults — while actually degrading sleep quality. If you've used pills for years, do not stop abruptly (rebound insomnia is severe); a supervised taper combined with CBT-I lets most people sleep naturally again.
Sleep hygiene (avoid caffeine, dark room) is helpful background advice but rarely cures chronic insomnia alone. CBT-I is a structured 4–8 session program that recalibrates your sleep drive through prescribed sleep windows, breaks the bed-wakefulness association, and dismantles the anxious thoughts that keep you alert. It outperforms medication in long-term studies and is the treatment guidelines recommend first.
That pattern suggests Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder — a body clock shifted later than society's schedule, common in students and IT professionals, and worsened by late-night screens. It is not ordinary insomnia and doesn't respond to sleeping pills. Treatment uses precisely timed morning light, evening light reduction, gradual schedule shifting, and correctly timed melatonin.
Yes, through two mechanisms: screen light suppresses melatonin, delaying your body clock, and engaging content keeps the brain aroused past your natural sleep window. A practical rule — screens off 60 minutes before bed, phone charging outside arm's reach — measurably improves sleep within two weeks for most people. It's the cheapest sleep treatment available.
Snoring with witnessed breathing pauses, gasping awakenings, morning headaches, or heavy daytime sleepiness suggests obstructive sleep apnoea — a condition linked to hypertension, heart disease, and accidents. It needs a sleep study rather than sleeping pills (which can worsen it). We screen for apnoea in every sleep evaluation and coordinate testing and treatment.