psychological and Mental Health
To everyone who has overcome prolonged insomnia without pills, how did you do it?
Question : To everyone who has overcome prolonged insomnia without pills, how did you do it?
It’s hard to choose a best answer when there are two good answers, so thank you very much to both of you.
overcoming insomnia
Best answer:
Answer by jenniw333
First – don’t worry about not sleeping. You actually may need less sleep than others. I only need 6-6.5 hours. I know this is hard to do when you are not sleeping. Instead, use the time to think of good things that you have enjoyed in your life. If you use prayer or meditation, do that, using the time well. Take good supplements. NO CAFFEINE within four hours of going to bed. Have a good bedtime routine that you do in the last hour before going to bed. For example, a cup of camomile tea, then read for a while. Contact me if you would like more information. jenniw333 [at] yahoo.com.au
I had insomnia for about four weeks and it was killing me as it just got worse. So, I went to a hypnotherapist. I’d tell her what worries me and she would tell me how to reverse my worries. She also helped me how to meditate. For example, I told her that I worry about not sleeping every night. She said, don’t worry about it because you are in control; you can sleep whenever you want to. You slept before and you will sleep again if you feel like it.
The best thing was that although she charged me a lot of money, she sounded like she really cared about me and my situation.
At this same time, I began to not sleep at all so I was put on a sleep aid to help recover some energy and prevent death. After 2 weeks of the sleep aid (it’s not addictive), I got off of it and I began sleeping a few hours on my own. Eventually, I began sleeping more hours but not continously. I still wake up a few times through the night.
I think the trick for me was not only the hypnotherapist but, I had to just let go of everything and be happy. It was very, very hard to do but it worked. I noticed that the happiness had to come from my brain and not just me thinking happy. The first time it happened was when I was somehow able to convince my brain that I was getting better. It was weird but I said to myself, “I must be getting better because I actually fell a sleep for an hour.” (eventhough, it was the sleep aid doing it. The feeling was like when you won 1st place or when you received your High School Diploma or when you got your first job; I repeated the phrase over and over.) Then, I kept building upon that thought by watching funny videos on youtube and striking conversation with people. I did this everyday for almost 2 weeks. The first week, I only noticed a little change but the second week, the change began to be better. (Also, keep a diary of your progress so that if a few days go by and you think you didn’t make it very far, go back to day 1 and compare. Maybe you made it further than you think)
The whole ordeal lasted over 8 weeks.