Sleep, stress & burnout · Cairns & Australia-wide
Insomnia, stress and burnout in Cairns.
Exhausted by evening, then wide awake at bedtime. Or awake at 3 am most nights. Your first appointment looks at sleep, stress and the body together. In the clinic in Manunda, or Australia-wide by telehealth.
Free, 10–15 minutes by phone, for anyone new to Sohma. It helps you choose an appointment; it isn’t a clinical assessment.
How they connect
How stress and poor sleep keep each other going.
A stress response that stays switched on makes it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep, and lost sleep is itself a strain on the body, so each makes the other worse.
For insomnia that has lasted months, Australian and international guidelines name cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) as the first approach: a structured program that changes the habits and thoughts that keep poor sleep going. Its benefits tend to last after it ends, which is rarely true of sleeping tablets.
In your first appointment we look at your sleep alongside your load, hormonal change, blood sugar, mood, the gut, and what you take, including alcohol and caffeine.
Telling them apart
Stress, burnout, insomnia and sleep apnoea.
- Stress
- Rises with pressure and eases when it passes. You recover.
- Burnout
- Long-running stress that rest no longer fixes. The World Health Organization describes it as exhaustion, mental distance from work and reduced effectiveness, after chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been managed.
- Chronic insomnia
- Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early, at least three nights a week for three months or more, and affecting your days.
- Waking in the night
- Waking at the same hour, often in the early morning, and struggling to get back to sleep.
- Sleep apnoea
- The airway narrows or closes during sleep, causing loud snoring, pauses in breathing and daytime sleepiness. It’s diagnosed with a sleep study, at home or in a sleep lab.
- Shift-work sleep
- Sleep that suffers when your hours work against your body clock, common in hospital, hospitality, tourism and fly-in fly-out work.
Your first appointment
What we go through in your first appointment.
Your load and your days
Work, family, the hours you keep and what has changed recently.
The body alongside
Hormonal change, blood sugar, mood and the gut, read together with your sleep rather than apart from it.
Tests only when they’re useful
Bring the results you already have. Any further test is explained and priced before it’s ordered, and only suggested when it could change your plan.
Worth knowing
When sleep needs a doctor first.
Some sleep problems need medical investigation in their own right. We’ll look more closely, or refer, where there’s any of these.
- Loud snoring with pauses in breathing
- Daytime sleepiness that could point to sleep apnoea
- Severe insomnia that persists despite the basics
- Low mood or anxiety that needs care in its own right
If you’re in crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 000 in an emergency.
Your first appointment
The 60-minute initial consultation.
Time to see how the pieces fit. Your history, your results and the life around them, brought together into a prioritised plan. In person is preferred; phone and video are available too.
- $379 60 minutes, initial consultation
- $349 60 minutes, results and care plan, once results are in
Before you book
Cost, Medicare and telehealth.
- Cost
- The initial consultation is $379 for 60 minutes. If tests are ordered, the results and care plan follows once they’re in: $349 for 60 minutes. Any test is explained and priced before it’s ordered.
- Medicare
- Medicare rebates may apply, and they’re generally better face to face. Cameron’s consultations don’t attract a Medicare rebate. Reception can confirm your expected rebate and out-of-pocket cost before you book.
- Telehealth
- Anywhere in Australia, by phone or video, at the same fee. Medicare telehealth rebates usually need one face-to-face visit with us in the past 12 months.
- Referral
- You don’t need one. Book yourself, or start with the free nurse call.
- Where
- 17 Anderson St, Manunda QLD 4870. Open Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–1pm. Free, secure parking on site, with accessible bays.
Questions
Sleep and stress questions.
- Why am I exhausted but can’t fall asleep?
- When the stress response stays switched on, the body struggles to wind down at night even when you’re depleted. It’s common, and it’s worth looking at properly.
- Why do I keep waking at 3 am?
- Sleep is naturally lighter in the second half of the night, and stress hormones begin rising towards morning. Alcohol, stress, low mood, sleep apnoea and the night sweats of perimenopause all make waking then more likely. We look at which apply to you rather than assuming one cause.
- Do sleeping tablets help?
- They can help for a short time, but most aren’t recommended for long-term use: their benefit tends to fade while the side effects remain. For insomnia that has lasted months, CBT-I is the first approach. If you take a prescribed sleep medicine, don’t stop it suddenly; talk to whoever prescribed it first.
- Can perimenopause cause insomnia?
- Yes. Night sweats, hot flushes and shifting hormone levels commonly disturb sleep in the years around menopause, and insomnia often starts or worsens then.
- Do I need a sleep study?
- If you snore loudly, someone has noticed pauses in your breathing, or you’re sleepy in the day despite enough time in bed, a sleep study can check for sleep apnoea. Sleep studies are arranged by referral, and Medicare covers them when its criteria are met.
The next step
Book your first appointment.
Face to face in Cairns, or Australia‑wide by telehealth, and no referral needed.
Book a free nurse call Free, 10–15 minutes by phone, for anyone new to Sohma. It helps you choose an appointment; it isn’t a clinical assessment.