I remember when I had insomnia. One night I went to bed and started to think about all the things I had to do the next day, and then I suddenly thought, what will I do if I don't get enough sleep? Then the more I worried about getting enough sleep, the more I couldn't sleep.
Well, it got worse, I remember going to my local library and looking up on the web 'How to get to sleep' I had been doing it for 36 years at the time, but suddenly I needed a book to help me know how to get to sleep! I would go to bed worried, anxious and scared of not being able to drop off.
I bought every herbal medicine you could imagine, spent a fortune at Holland and Barrat, but nothing did the trick. The doctors wouldn't give me sleeping tablets, well actually, they did give me about 5, which did work, but then I was stuck again. They gave me some antihistamines which just made me very drowsy the next day.
Eventually I realised, after many sleepless nights, that I should do something with my time, so I started to read! I turned off every clock, hid my watch and my phone was face down. I did not want to know what time it was; I did not want to know how many hours I had left. I even bought an eye mask, so I could block out any early hour's light.
I found that if I distracted my mind with reading, rather than getting upset about how to get to sleep, I would drop off, and I did. I then changed my mind set and thought, 'you know what, if I don't sleep well tonight, I will sleep well another night.' Our bodies all take over eventually. So, I trusted my body and that stopped some of the worrying.
I still get that feeling when I go to bed, will I or won't I sleep, I don't think it will ever go away, but now I try and think, 'Mandy, it's OK, you may not sleep well tonight, but if you don't, you will another night'.
Also, do you know what? It's amazing what we can do on little sleep, our bodies kick in an adrenalin gets us through the day. Someone once told me that Margaret Thatcher only slept four to five hours a night!
Other things which work well for me are exercise including #yoga, no tea and coffee after 5pm, try not being on my screens too much before bed (which is hard because I love #TikTok), #meditation, #reading, #deepbreaths getting excited about all that lovely sleep. Honestly, I am so grateful for sleep and it's one of the best things in the world! I would never have realised how wonderful it is unless I had once had insomnia.
Sleep tight,
Mandy
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