He has to get help. This is very serious.
I know from experience.
He needs sleep, desperately.
Short-term: Drugs like Ambien do work. I would consider that very seriously.
Long-term: My experience is that a truly good doctor will prescribe something like Ambien short-term, then suggest starting CBT (Cognitive behavioral therapy).
CBT involves meeting with someone (like a psychologist) who specializes in CBT for sleep issues. He/She will have a few sessions with your husband, and he or she will have to teach your husband how to help himself prepare for sleep and fall asleep (and get back to sleep when he wakes up at night) (the key is conscious, deep breathing).
Of course, the CBT specialist should also tell him things like this:
- No tv in the bedroom, ever
- Make the bedroom pitch dark for better sleep
- remove the clock radio so that he cannot see the time when he wakes up at night - that will only cause frustration
- when he gets up at night to use the bathroom, use a flashlight with a red light (which is much less wakeful to the brain that white light)
- Use a white noise machine (www dot marpac dot com/soundscreen.asp)
- No coffee anywhere near bedtime
- Stop watching tv at least 2 hours before bed
- no heavy meal near bedtime
- stay cool at night - too much warmth at night produces lower-quality sleep
Insomnia does many terrible things, aside from turning someone into a mean person.
It actually damages the brain and makes it more prone to disease down the road.
I can recommend a good CBT person, right here in Portland.
Paul