Anyone who has ever experienced insomnia will know how hellish it can be. Lying in bed and willing yourself to drift off, while your mind refuses to shut down, is frustrating but also incredibly anxiety-inducing. It’s a catch-22: the more you can’t sleep, the more you worry about it and the worse it gets.

Perhaps there is some comfort, however, in knowing that you are not alone. This week the actor Kim Cattrall told the Radio Times about her chronic insomnia, claiming it forced her to pull out of a London stage play.

Statistics from the Great British Bedtime Report found that a third of the population now get by on five to six hours’ sleep a night compared with just 27% in 2010. The Great British Sleep Survey in 2012 found that 25% of insomnia sufferers had lived with the condition for more than 11 years.

When we asked for your stories about insomnia, we heard from from 147 self-described poor sleepers about how long they had struggled and how they dealt with it.

Some put their sleep issues down to genetics. Annie Doyle, who is 45 and from Lincoln, says it runs in her family. “It’s worse when I’m stressed, and in these circumstances can be accompanied by a parasomnia called sleep paralysis, where your conscious mind wakes up, but your body is still paralysed [as it is in REM sleep, in order to prevent dreams being enacted].”

Doyle says insomnia makes her feel down and sluggish. “I don’t want to be around people. I make poor decisions, treat people badly and worry obsessively about crashing the car.”

She has learned to cope, however, through a guided relaxation practice called yoga nidra, which she says brings her out of the “vicious worry cycle” and puts her “in the right frame of mind for sleep”. She also prioritises living in an unstressed way and uses a seasonal affective disorder light for six months of the year to keep her circadian rhythm in sync.

For others, insomnia is triggered by a big life event such as the death of a loved one or a breakup. Lynn, 48, from Liverpool, struggled with sleep after the death of a close friend. “In January 2005, my friend died. I didn’t get more than a couple of hours’ sleep at a time until September that year while on holiday, and only then because we’d travelled on a night flight and gone straight into our first day’s holiday. The following night I slept about seven hours.”

She says if you cannot sleep, don’t stress out about it. “I used to wake in the night and immediately check the clock then start counting how much sleep I’d had. I now try not to look at the clock. I keep the room as dark as possible, not too warm or too cold. Breathing techniques also help.”

Lin, 44, from London, says her insomnia is closely linked to depression and anxiety, which she’s had her whole life. “My first real memory of insomnia was waking up around 3am on the night my mother was giving birth to my younger sister and lying awake until my father came home the next morning. I was worrying that my mother would die in childbirth. I was four.”

At its worst, Lin’s insomnia was so bad that for three months she only got three hours’ sleep each night. “After a while you don’t even feel sleepy any more, just really, really washed out and then sometimes a bit manic.”

If it’s too bad, Lin resorts to alcohol and antihistamines, but says she has also got good at just lying there and resting. “It’s not as good as sleeping, but it’s better than nothing.” She also notes that her insomnia improved once she was treated for depression. “Now my typical sleep pattern still has me waking at 3am but I usually manage to get back to sleep by around 4.30am, rather than lying awake for the rest of the night.”

For most people whose sleep problems are linked to mental health issues, seeking help can be life-changing. Many also noted the link between body and mind, finding that improved physical health led to better sleep.

David Andrews, 49, who lives in Hampshire, was among many who praised exercise as a means of improving sleep. He says: “Exercising helps, but also breathing exercises can lower my heart rate and make me relax. Changing the room I sleep in is useful to break a bad sleep pattern. At worst I tell myself that it’s eight or nine hours at work that I will get through, and tough it out.”

Diet can also have an impact, according to John Watson, 70, from Valencia, Spain. He says: “I didn’t cope at all [with insomnia] until my wife and I recently changed to the newly fashionable high-fat, zero-carbs diet. Within 10 days I was sleeping seven hours a night easily. And that is continuing. I’m still in a slight state of shock that it’s finally all over after so long.”

As well as lifestyle changes, bedroom practices and sleep hygiene are also key. Amy, 28, from Sheffield, struggled with insomnia from the age of 25 to 27. After talking to friends she realised: “I had to change my lifestyle and learn how to de-stress. I had to learn how to cope in a world where I may never have a secure job and not let the fear of unemployment ruin my life.”

She adds: “Use your bedroom just for sleep, there should be no TVs or laptops, which is not always easy when you flatshare. Be careful with the food and drink you consume. Go for herbal teas after 7pm … Don’t be afraid to say no to people when you just need to stay in and relax after work.”

Seeking long-term solutions, and changing your attitude, is better than turning to drugs, according to Will, 52, from Staffordshire. He used to use sleeping tablets (Zopiclone) when his insomnia was really bad. “They at least allow me to function, but they wear off and are not a long-term solution. But it is comforting to know that I have some. I have now come to accept that it happens from time to time and simply read for a while in the hope that it will pass. A sleep-tracking app [Sleep Cycle] is surprisingly comforting – although it doesn’t help in itself, it is at least possible to see patterns emerging in my cycle.”

It can be reassuring to remember during bouts of sleeplessness that you will sleep again. Frances Desmond, 30, from Brighton, says she can go about three nights in a row getting around three hours of sleep a night.

She adds: “Two consecutive nights is the longest I have gone without sleep. At the worst points of stress-induced insomnia, I have gone for weeks where I have averaged two to three hours of sleep a night. Predictable insomnia is before exams, and difficult periods at work.”

Almost everyone agreed that the best way of coping is to try to embrace it. Desmond adds: “Do not toss and turn and get mad at yourself. Take deep breaths. If my brain is racing too fast for me to catch up with it and tame it, then I’ll listen to a podcast or music to help me clear out all the negative and stressful thoughts, and allow my brain to settle. It’s better to accept the insomnia and allow it to just wash over your, rather than cry, punch your pillow, and fight it.”

• Some names have been changed.