Thank you all for your thoughtful and helpful replies. It is so good to know I'm not alone in this issue.

I had the chance to attend chat last night and although I've given lots of thought to the WHYs of this for some time, I could not really figure out why this was happening NOW. I have exited from my abusive marriage for approximately 2 years and been working through things. Why now?

So, the comment I finally seemed to hear when it was mentioned last night was that sleep = vulnerability and perhaps I was not comfortable or feeling safe enough to allow myself the vulnerability of sleep.

I have probably had that suggested before, but last night for some reason I got that !PING! when I heard it.

I think this started right around the time my ex moved in down the street. He is now so close that I have connected my anxiety peaking in many ways but I didn't realize that it was impacting my feeling of safety in the walls of my own home.

My son has been sleeping with a knife under his pillow lately and I have wondered about that but didn't put the two anxieties together to perhaps connect his recent need for 'protection' and mine when resisting the vulnerablity of sleep.

I think this may be an answer.

Thanks so much to everyone.

Juli