It’s so normal for the brain to go berserk when you can’t sleep. It is, after all, a survival machine, and it likes to send out alerts that insomnia is a threat. This often shows up in all kinds of stories the mind creates about the experience of insomnia. Some common ones I experienced include: ‘This is never going to end, ‘Am I going crazy? ‘, ‘Am I going to die?’ or ‘Will I be stuck in this misery forever? You get the idea. While these stories may seem dramatic, they feel very real in the moment. 

When you're struggling with insomnia, your nervous system is often in a state of hyperarousal, affecting the functioning of your prefrontal cortex. We need the prefrontal cortex to think more clearly, exercise good judgment and learn from experience. So, it’s very understandable and common to get caught up in the fears, and believe that they are true.

Insomnia is a paradox. The more you try to fix it, either the worse it gets, or the more you feel dependent on the supplement, medication, gadget, ritual, or routine that seems to be temporarily helping in that moment. This insight - that the attempts to fix are often perpetuating the problem - was a big turning point in my healing process. The information was empowering: it was only in giving up control and accepting my reality as it was that I could regain my sleep back. Rather than react from a place of fear, I learned to address the fear layer by layer, until the worries about sleep no longer existed.

I have learned from my own experience and supporting others, that there are tangible steps one can take on the road to acceptance-based insomnia recovery. It often is not a dramatic, single moment of healing, but rather, involves shedding the layers of fear gradually.