Life Insurance With Insomnia
Poor sleep is close to universal and is not by itself a substantial medical entry.
What makes this area matter is the condition sitting next to it. Sleep apnoea is a recognised condition with cardiovascular and daytime safety implications, and it is diagnosed with a test.
So the useful question is whether anybody ever looked.
The short answer
Insomnia on its own is difficulty falling or staying asleep, and for many people there is nothing in a medical record beyond it. The thing an application is more interested in is obstructive sleep apnoea, which is a different condition with its own health implications, usually diagnosed by a sleep study and treated with a CPAP machine. Whether you were investigated is the useful answer.
What it is
Insomnia is persistent difficulty getting to sleep, staying asleep or waking too early, with daytime consequences. It is often related to stress, shift work, pain, caffeine, alcohol or another condition, and the first-line treatment in the UK is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia rather than medication.
Obstructive sleep apnoea is repeated collapse of the upper airway during sleep, causing snoring, pauses in breathing and fragmented sleep with daytime sleepiness. It is diagnosed with a sleep study, either at home or in a unit, and commonly treated with continuous positive airway pressure, a CPAP machine.
Why it comes up on an application
- Insomnia alone, unmedicated and never investigated, is a short honest answer with little in the record.
- Sleep apnoea is the substantive entry. It is a diagnosed condition, usually with a sleep study behind it and often with ongoing CPAP use.
- A sleep study is a named investigation and belongs in an answer about tests whatever it showed.
- CPAP use, and how consistently you use it, is relevant information about a managed condition.
- Sleeping tablets such as zopiclone or zolpidem are prescriptions and belong in a medication answer, as does long-term use of sedating antihistamines.
- Where poor sleep sits alongside depression, anxiety or shift work, those are the entries with more in them and they have their own pages.
- Daytime sleepiness matters for anybody who drives for a living, and there are licensing considerations with untreated sleep apnoea that are a matter for a doctor rather than for us.
What we would ask you
- How long you have had trouble sleeping, and whether a cause was identified
- Whether you have ever had a sleep study, and what it showed
- Whether you have been diagnosed with sleep apnoea, and whether you use CPAP
- What you take, including any sleeping tablets and for how long
- Whether you work shifts or nights
- Whether sleepiness has ever affected your driving or your work
- Whether you are currently off work or working reduced hours because of an accident, injury or illness
- Whether you are waiting on any medical tests, appointments or treatment
- Whether you have been diagnosed with or treated for cancer in the last five years
- Whether a parent, brother or sister was diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or a stroke before 65
- Any medication you take
- Whether you smoke, and your date of birth
Apnoea Is The Question Behind The Question
This is why poor sleep gets asked about at all, and knowing it makes your answer much more useful.
Insomnia is distressing and is largely about the experience of not sleeping. Obstructive sleep apnoea is a mechanical problem in which the airway closes repeatedly, and it carries recognised associations with blood pressure and cardiovascular health as well as daytime sleepiness. It is diagnosed with a test and treated with a machine.
So if you were ever referred for a sleep study, that is the entry. Say so, say what it showed, and if you were diagnosed and use CPAP, say that too, including how consistently. A treated, well-controlled condition is a very different answer from an undiagnosed one, and those details are the ones worth giving.
Sleeping Tablets Are A Prescription
This gets left off forms more than almost anything else, because people think of it as something they take rather than something they were prescribed.
Zopiclone, zolpidem and similar are prescription medications, usually intended for short-term use, and long-term use appears in your record as exactly that. An application asking about medication is asking about them.
Saying "zopiclone, intermittently, for about two years" is a precise answer and takes one line. If you have had CBT for insomnia instead, say that too, because it is a treatment and it is a rather better thing to be able to report than nothing at all.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point. Sleep apnoea sits in the picture considerably more prominently than insomnia, which is why the distinction matters.
Relevant where sleepiness affects work, and particularly for professional drivers and anybody operating machinery, where it is a safety matter rather than a comfort one.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition, and neither is one. Worth having for the risks it does cover.
Common questions
Do I need to declare insomnia?+
Answer what you are asked. Insomnia alone, never investigated and unmedicated, is a short answer with little in your record. What matters more is whether you had a sleep study and whether sleep apnoea was found.
Why do you ask about sleep apnoea?+
Because it is a different condition from insomnia, with recognised associations with blood pressure and cardiovascular health as well as daytime sleepiness. It is diagnosed with a sleep study and treated with a CPAP machine, and that is a substantial entry.
I use CPAP. What should I say?+
Say you were diagnosed with sleep apnoea, roughly when, that you use CPAP, and how consistently. A treated and well-controlled condition is a very different answer from an untreated one, and those details matter.
I take sleeping tablets. Do they count as medication?+
Yes. Zopiclone, zolpidem and similar are prescriptions, and long-term use appears in your record as such. Saying what you take and roughly for how long is a complete answer and takes a line.
I drive for a living and get sleepy. What should I do?+
Speak to your GP, because there are licensing considerations with untreated sleep apnoea and that is a medical and licensing matter rather than an insurance one. The insurance point is the knock-on for your earnings if you cannot drive.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.