Hello Darkness, My Old Friend: How I Won the Battle with Insomnia

Circa 1970. I’m on the cusp of adolescence* and quite nervous about peer dynamics. My body has begun to develop, but barely. Much more womanly girls strut through my junior high, and I worry about being teased for my curvelessness. I’d survived bullying and loneliness; would they return? Were my clothes okay? Did anyone like me? I was a bundle of nerves.

It started with tossing and turning rather than falling asleep. For hours. I’d show up at my parents’ bedroom door, asking to crawl into bed with them. Weirded out by a near-adolescent’s childish night terror but too tired to protest, they’d grog, “Well, okay” and I’d slide between them for a few hours.

Eventually mom said, “I’m taking you to the doctor for your sleep problems.” He prescribed some pretty hefty downers which chemically sledge-hammered my GABA inhibitory neurotransmitter system into action, sedating me past my fears.

And that’s where it all started. My insomnia journey has since stretched over a lifetime, but I somewhat-shakily testify that I’m cured, and I want to share what has worked for me.

Mid-Insomnia

Only rarely have I had trouble falling asleep, but staying asleep has presented a real challenge. Predictably, the sleep medicine community acknowledges the same thing. Mid-Insomnia, as they call it, afflicts more insomniacs than initial insomnia, which is the inability to fall asleep.

So here we mid-insomniacs are, 3am, eyes pinned open, thoughts racing like horses. Falling back asleep seems like a distant dream. What now? Medication taken this late will make us groggy tomorrow. Counting sheep gets boring. Prayer is great but doesn’t sedate. We’re too tired to think or even read, but too awake to . . . sleep. The aggravation can overwhelm. For me, a person with good basic sleep hygiene, it felt unfair. I didn’t use caffeine or watch stimulating media. I prayed and kept a clear conscience. God gives His beloved sleep—why not me?

But recently things changed. Because I tried several things, I’m not positive what made the difference, but I’ve listed the factors here in order of impact. I’ve also included a “Sleep Reset” protocol based on cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

Here are the hacks that have me sawing logs all night long:

NOTE: I am not a physician. CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE MAKING MAJOR CHANGES IN YOUR LIFESTYLE.

I eat twice a day. As soon as I heard about the “two meal a day plan” based on the counsel of Ellen White, I put it to practice. But over the last couple decades, because of scheduling issues, and because I often worked till 9pm, I changed it to three. I always ate light in the evening and waited a couple hours before going to bed, but I believe my still-elevated blood sugar worked against sound sleep. As I noticed that science was validating intermittent fasting, I decided to try it again. Now my bedtime is at least five hours after my last meal, and I fast daily for 17-18 hours, between about 5pm and about 10am.

I get up and face the day. Upon waking, I get out of bed. Most mornings I go outside immediately to read my Bible and pray on the dock by my lake. Bright light first thing in the morning boosts serotonin which later turns into the natural sleep medicine, melatonin.

I power nap. Should I have a red eye flight or other sleep disruption that has me nodding out the next day, I take a SHORT nap. The research suggests 10-15 minute naps restore wakefulness without impinging on sleep that night.

Eight is not great—for me. I do better with an average of seven hours, which is within the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s suggested range of seven to nine hours. If I sleep eight hours or more for too many nights, my brain will say “enough” and wake me up at the wrong time.

I hydrate. Restless leg syndrome (RLS) can keep me up at night. Nothing is more vexing than wanting to collapse into oblivion while one’s leg tries to stay up and party. If you know, you know. Dehydration triggers RLS, so get lots of water, but most of it during the day.

I cold plunge. Right around the time I went back to intermittent fasting I started jumping in my pool every night. It was mid-winter in Florida, so the pool was about 50 degrees but not frozen. Since then, I’ve bought a Polar Dive plunge and am trying to use it nightly. Does it help? I think so. Because . . .

I keep cool. Our body naturally cools during sleep and warms as we awaken, so being too warm can make us think it’s time to wake up. I dial the AC down to 74 each night, and that does the trick. Cooling the body is part of why cold plunging seems to work.

I accept. If I happen to wake up, I simply accept that fact that I’m awake. Nothing makes life worse than secondary disturbance, where we hover over our own emotional or physical state, catastrophizing every problem. Plus, wakeful nights can be productive—I recently wrote the bulk of a 3200+ word blog while awake at night.

I use chronotherapy. Look it up, it’s a thing. So is “wake therapy.” In the event that I have a really bad night, I get up the next morning anyway, power through the day, and sleep like a baby that night. Sleeping in is a mistake. Days and nights can become reversed. One or two days of insufficient sleep will not generally hurt us, and there is some research indicating that short-term sleep deprivation can actually benefit us psychologically. Obviously, we must exercise balance and care. (AND CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR!)

I trust in God. I remember that God cares more about me than I care about myself. Because He carries the world on His massive shoulders, I can tuck my face into his neck and forget all the turmoil. I hope you can, too. I hope you can say with me, “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).

Sleep Reset

Here’s a circadian rhythm reset that may help you regain good sleep patterns if the sleep strategies are not sufficient. Make sure to adhere to the sleep strategies while doing the reset.

1. Go to bed at 11 PM each night. Wake up at 6 AM. This is slightly less sleep than most people need, but it will help reset your clock and you will be able to increase your hours up to nine hours.

2. In bed, do not do anything but sleep. No reading, no phone.

3. Do ten deep breaths as soon as you lie down. Breathe in to the count of six, hold for two, and breathe out to the count of eight.

4. Get in a comfortable position and do not change that position. Tossing and turning increases wakefulness.

5. If after 20 minutes you are still awake, get out of bed and sit in a chair. Do not read or do anything in the chair except sit. When you start feeling tired, go back into bed. Keep doing this. The first night may be very difficult, but the second night it should get easier.

6. If you have not slept well, power through the next day. Try not to operate motor vehicles or heavy machinery. Give yourself a break from things that require you to be well-rested. Take walks and do light tasks. You will feel tired, but stay awake all day.

Repeat the process. You should start falling asleep at 11 PM and sleeping till 6 AM. You can then increase your number of sleeping hours gradually up to your preferred amount, but not more than nine hours.

*I just told you my age; do the math.

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