I don't know about "everybody" but I know it's very, very common to have sleeping problems.

I know that for me, I haven't slept well unless extremely medicated since I was about four. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be well rested for many days in a row.

ohh i need sleep so bad.............i sleep about 4 hours a night.............most nights are nightmares, body memories and flashbacks...........i have the tools to help, thats how i get 4 hours....
I have been in counselling for 3 years and i still cannot get sleep.
You are not alone...........
(((((((((hugs)))))))))

yet our abuser sleep, thanks for the reassurance that i am not alone, i think that sexual abuse is a danger to us, not only mentally , but physically.sleeplessness, can bring on illnesses, like fibro.

yes i agree with you there..............i have costochondritis from the stress/no sleep and have had other illnesses too................
i need sleep but no ones listening.

I spent most of my life so tired that I didn't feel it anymore. I never, since childhood, slept more than 6 hours in any given night, and usually the number was under 4. I also had at least one night a week when I would not sleep at all, and sometimes it was three or four nights a week. I used to count the hours of sleep by the week, trying to get a minimum of 25 hours a week. I seriously thought I didn't need more than that.
I started taking seroquel for bipolar a year ago and since then I have slept almost every night. (I also take unisom and relaccore pm every night.)Now, if I don't sleep at least 7 hours, I feel tired the next day. It took about 4 months for me to distinguish this tired feeling from the constant racing-thoughts-overtiredness of the past. I think it took that long for me to be rested.

In therapy I have been working through the old stuff and quite recently the nightmares stopped. I thought I might be able to cut back on the seroquel, but I still can't sleep without it.

I think we learned as children that it wasn't safe to sleep. I think it's very hard to unlearn it.

thanks, i know i am not alone now, thank you, for your replies

I don't think that was the cause of it, but I suppose anything could be. I know I never have been able to sleep very well for different reasons at different times in my life. As a child it was due to fear, then it grew into motherhood and then alcoholism then asthma and then anxiety/depression. I don't currently take meds to help me sleep, I just find something for my mind to find something frivilous to think about and watch tv to fall asleep or just wear myself out. It generally takes about 1-4 hours to actually get to sleep. I now sleep almost too sound.