Hey, it’s Devin Burke, your coaching guide to a peaceful night’s rest. And in this video I’m going to be answering a very common question, is insomnia genetic? So let’s go ahead and dive right in.
First and foremost, the answer is a little bit hard to say. Now, let me say this, there is something we come into the world with that is inherited by our parents and our grandparents and our great-great parents, and it’s called our chronotype, our unique chronobiology, meaning there’s certain people that are genetically predisposed to actually want to stay up later or get up earlier. This could be the classic night owl or the morning lark. Dr. Michael Bruce has his own animals that he has identified, the lion, the wolf, the bear, and the dolphin. The dolphin being the trouble sleepers. So we do have a genetic chronobiology that presets our unique circadian rhythm as far as what would be ideal to go to bed and when would it would be ideal to wake up. That is inherited.
Now, what most people don’t realize is the thing that is inherited that creates insomnia isn’t necessarily genetic. It’s actually a belief system and a set of behaviors. Now, let me explain. If your mom and your grandma and your great-great-grandmother all had issues with their sleep, there’s certain things that they were doing or not doing that they may have passed on to you. And they may have passed the belief onto you that you are a bad sleeper, that you’ll never sleep because they didn’t sleep. They may have passed on trauma, so they may have passed on things, poor management of stress. They may have passed on a lot of things as far as thoughts and beliefs that then has you believe the same exact thing that they believed.
Now, it’s really important to understand this because so many of our clients and the people that I’ve worked with, one of the most common beliefs that they have is that their sleep challenge is genetic. Now, this is a very dangerous belief. And the reason why it’s a dangerous belief, number one, because it’s not true. But number two, if you believe it to be true, it actually puts you in a state of helplessness. And in that state, no change is really possible. You are in a place of resignation, and this adds more stress and anxiety, which then paradoxically keeps you up.
So again, just to recap, we do inherit our chronobiology. We each come into the world with different chronotype. But what creates the insomnia, if people in your family have insomnia, is actually the belief systems and the behaviors.
So if this video was valuable and you’re not subscriber get in, click, subscribe. If you’re suffering from insomnia and you like to explore how we might be able to help you, there’s a link in the description to get a complimentary consultation. And if you like the video, like it. If you know somebody that needs to hear this, share it with them, and I will see you in the next video.