Stop Trying to Sleep: Reason #2

Are you like so many of my clients when they first contact me? They…

If you’ve subscribed to the Restful Insomnia newsletter for a while, you might have realized that chasing sleep…well, it can make your nights hell.

But to help those with this struggle (um, most insomniacs), I’m writing a new e-book, 7 Reasons to Stop Trying to Sleep. Here’s a preview:

Reason #2: Chasing after sleep keeps your mind awake

When you hunt for sleep, you’re stimulating the mind…your mind-that-won’t-shut-up and drives you crazy. And a big part of why it drives you crazy is that you’re trying to sleep.

Trying to sleep keeps you awake because it activates your mind

When you try to sleep, you’re giving your mind a goal: Find sleep and bring it here! Kinda like trying to find the bucket of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Now when your mind has a goal, well, watch out. You’ve told your mind it’s in charge of making things happen. Forget any other needs, it says —I have work to do!

The active mind is useful during the day, or else we’d just lie around on the couch and not do too much. But at night, if you put the mind in charge, there’s collateral damage: hellish insomnia.

It’s not just bad enough that your mind has the goal of sleep. Oh, no. Once your mind is in charge, it runs off and gets more goals — finding things to think about and problems to solve. That could include monitoring if you’re asleep yet, envisioning a remodeled kitchen, or thinking what will taste good for dinner.

You’re not doing anything else, says your mind. I can just get busy!

Culture of achievement

Listen, we live in a culture of achievement. Trying harder is the national pastime. I bet you’ve heard phrases like, “Don’t Stop Trying” or maybe seen a sweatshirt that says “Second Place is for Losers.”

But believe me, your mind cannot achieve sleep. No matter how much it tries.

And here’s icing on the cake of hellish nights: When your mind can’t solve the problems it was given (like it can’t make you sleep), worry arises. About everything.

Do you chase after sleep?

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