“Nightmares and hypervigilance make for light, frequently interrupted sleep – and dark, quiet rooms are blank screens for intrusive trauma symptoms.” – Glenn Patrick Doyle
And some abusers will wake a sleeping victim with abuse/assault/hitting/screaming. It is incredibly disorienting and terrifying to be awoken that way…so you learn to sleep ‘light’, but you’re not getting restorative sleep either. Which makes decision-making so much harder with respect to yourself, your life, the abuser. There’s a reason that’s a form of torture/breaking down the ego or psyche.
…and finding the light