Chapter 3: Dealing with Insomnia

...subsection menu...   Discovering Sleep-Related Fears   Coming to Terms with Sleep-Related Fears   Preparing for a Good Night's Sleep   Dealing with Memory Floods   Creating Compatible Bed Partners   Dealing with Environmental Noise   Making a Bed Worth Lying In   Less Obvious Environmental Factors   In(tro)ducing the Relaxation Response   Seven Techniques for Achieving the Relaxation Response   Drugs and Sleep   Nutrition and Sleep   Blood Sugar, Hunger and Sleep   Sex, Sebum and Sleep   Body Clocks and Sleep   Napping   Behavior Modification   When Insomnia Isn't Insomnia   Common(?) Sense

here has probably been as much commercial research into insomnia over the years as there has with male pattern baldness and chronic obesity. And as with the diet books and miracle hair restoration discoveries, it's hard to separate the truly valuable information from harmless-but-useless tripe or downright quackery. There is an enormous mass of information available both on the Internet and in public libraries relating to insomnia and its treatment, and perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that most of the available information really is good and really is useful, but only for specific types of insomnia, only for temporary relief, and only for certain types of people.

Fifteen years ago, I found the greatest lack in insomnia-related information was an integrated approach to the problem which takes into account all of the physical, chemical and emotional factors which play roles in human sleep. Today that lack has been largely corrected, and the available information can and does help a lot more people...but it still doesn't promise any significant breakthrough or set of principles which offer hope for the vast majority of sufferers. Another lack must now be addressed to further expand the range of individuals who can benefit from the available information: context.

The problem with most current help for insomnia is that it works very well for short periods an for a certain percentage of the population, and what's not commonly known is that this is just as true with approaches that involve discipline and mind-related techniques as it is with pharmaceutical sleep aids. Placing non-chemical, non-device-related approaches in proper context with drugs and manufactured sleep aids is, I believe, the next necessary step in the evolution of insomnia treatment. And it appears that while this will widen even further the scope of who can benefit - and increase the chances of benefit as well - it will still not be anywhere close to a final answer. Students of medical history can practically pinpoint the next steps in the evolution of our knowledge, and make educated guesses in regard to how much farther ahead we'll be in twenty years. But these same students also know that any attempt to step too far forward is doomed to failure and misfortune.

Insomnia is almost 100 percent curable, and partial or complete permanent cure is possible for vast numbers of people. The tools and techniques exist today to make that a reality. But the principles underlying those tools and techniques are still seen as voodoo to most clinicians today, and until at least some mainstream acceptance is possible for a new approach to a problem, it is actually less stressful for all concerned to make the most of old approaches than it is to try to get state-of-the-art treatment or ramrod that kind of treatment into clinical practice. Nature prefers that we evolve slowly, and sadly, that means we all suffer from the lack of resources that our world isn't yet ready to provide.

What I offer here is a set of techniques and a host of ideas, with no promises and only one suggestion: use as many as you like, use them sparingly if you can, rotate them if you need to, but never believe that any of these techniques are cures or that they can provide you with truly permanent relief.

Occasional insomnia is relatively easy to treat. It simply requires figuring out the most sensible cause and applying the most compatible available solution. Chronic insomnia is no easier to treat than most incurable conditions. Cures can be found for some specific causes of insomnia, but most causes still remain misunderstood and unidentified.

In the absence of a cure, I firmly believe that it is most compassionate to treat the symptoms, and it is essential that the sufferer know that symptoms may be all that is treatable. The effects of most forms of insomnia are still so subjective and difficult to quantify and eliminate in clinical practice, it is up to the sufferer to be their own best counsel, and to insure that the treatment isn't worse than the condition itself.

Finally, as I am not a licensed professional, I also make the following obligatory statement:

Insomnia is often a symptom of more serious underlying medical problems.
If symptoms persist, see your doctor.