Why Is Sleep So Hard After a Cancer Diagnosis?

Sleep and Cancer | Resting During Cancer Treatment

Sleep can be difficult at the best of times, but following a cancer diagnosis, it often becomes even harder to get the rest you need. Sleep problems, like difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, are incredibly common for people living with cancer with as many as 69% of patients impacted .  Sleep challenges can affect every part of life—especially during treatment and recovery.

If you’re finding it hard to sleep, know that you’re not alone, and it’s not your fault. Cancer and its treatments can disrupt your rest in many ways. Let’s explore why this happens and how to combat poor sleep.

Why Cancer Disrupts Sleep

Cancer and its treatment bring both physical and emotional challenges that make good sleep difficult. Here are some common reasons why rest becomes so hard:

• Treatment Side Effects: Chemotherapy, radiation, and medications can cause nausea, pain, or hot flashes that make it hard to relax at night. Some treatments even disrupt your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle.

• Pain and Fatigue: Pain can keep you awake, and feeling exhausted during the day doesn’t always lead to better sleep at night .

• Stress and Worry: A cancer diagnosis often brings anxiety and uncertainty. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed, but these feelings can leave your mind racing when you’re trying to unwind.

• Hospital Stays: Noisy environments, bright lights, and frequent interruptions can make it hard to rest during in-patient treatment.

These factors often feed into each other, creating a frustrating cycle that’s tough to break. But with the right tools and support, you can take steps toward better sleep.

Simple Steps to Improve Sleep

While cancer and its treatments can make sleep more challenging, small changes can help you rest better. Here are some tips to get started:

• Sleep Hygiene: Start with simple changes to your daily routine. Reduce caffeine, avoid alcohol, make your bedroom dark and quiet, get regular exercise and stick to the same bedtime and wake-up time each day. 

• Create a Relaxing Evening Ritual: Activities like breathwork, gentle stretching, or listening to calming music can help signal to your body that it’s time to wind down. Fancy giving it a whirl? Checkout our YouTube page for some calming bedtime meditations. 

• Address Pain or Symptoms: If pain, nausea, or other side effects are keeping you awake, talk to your care team about ways to manage these symptoms.

• Get Help from a Professional: If you are not sleeping well seek help. There are treatments that are highly effective at improving sleep, even if cancer if part of the picture. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT-I) has been shown to be highly effective in treating insomnia, even when cancer is part of the picture. 

Take the First Step Today

You don’t have to tackle sleep challenges alone. At The Sleep Project we offer a range of FREE resources to improve sleep. Check out our free download, Bedtime Planning for a Great Night’s Sleep, read our blog on ‘Why Sleep Matters for Cancer Recovery’ or follow us on YouTube for tons of tools to help you switch off. By improving your sleep, you can feel more energised, more in control, and better equipped to take on each day.

Sleep isn’t just a luxury—it’s an important part of your healing journey. And we’re here to help you every step of the way. 

References

Prevalence of Sleep Disturbance in Patients With Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. April 28, 2022

 ‘CBT-I in Cancer: We Know It Works, so Why Are are We Waiting?’

The relationship between fatigue and sleep in cancer patients: a review. 11 January 2002

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) in cancer survivors

Can improving quality of sleep reduce the symptoms of cancer-related fatigue in adults?: A systematic review

Combined effects of nutrition, inflammatory status, and sleep quality on mortality in cancer survivors. BMC Cancer 2024 Nov

Melatonin in the treatment of cancer: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and meta-analysis. Mills et al. July 2005

Sleep wake disturbances in people with cancer and their caregivers: state of the science. Nov 2005

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) in cancer survivors

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Reduces Depression in Cancer Survivors. 2019