Human Window: What to Do When you Can’t Sleep (Tips from 7 Experts)

Written by Martin Caparrotta, I include the excerpt of my advice from this article here.

When you can’t fall asleep, it’s normal to worry about your insomnia.

This fear and anxiety about what will happen if you can’t sleep keeps you up. This becomes a vicious cycle.

Thinking things like, “I’m going to sleep through my alarm,” “I’m going to be tired all day tomorrow and blow my presentation,” or “I’m never going to get over this insomnia,” creates anxiety.

This anxiety activates our ‘fight or flight’ response, the ancient biological response to a perceived threat.

Of course, you can’t sleep when your body is responding as if you’re getting ready to fight off, or run from, a Saber-toothed tiger! It is hardly relaxing.

Although not being able to sleep is unpleasant and can create tiredness the next day, we know that these effects are much less than what you tend to believe in those worse-case-scenario moments.

If you can’t sleep tonight, will it really ruin your entire life? Or even your entire next day?

Try practicing an acceptance exercise, saying to yourself, “Yes, I can’t sleep, but this will have minimal effects on my life. I will still be able to function tomorrow. This is unpleasant, but it is OK.”

You can then interrupt your rumination by focusing on your breath. Every time a thought about your insomnia comes into your head, you can say something to yourself like, “there’s the ‘my life is ruined’ story again” and keep focusing on your breath.

You will find you will be asleep in no time, because acceptance activates your soothing system, which counteracts your stress system.

To read the full article, click this link:

Human Window: What to Do When you Can’t Sleep (Tips from 7 Experts)