All Solutions for Insomnia Sufferers - 1
Background
I have always believed that insomnia requires different solutions for different situations. Some people suffer from purely physiological insomnia, while others have insomnia purely due to psychological reasons. If you consult a doctor or search online for solutions, most advice will include not using your smartphone before bed, maintaining a regular schedule, and exercising during the day. However, these suggestions can seem quite ineffective to someone who has truly experienced severe insomnia.
In this article, I want to share the various experiences I’ve gathered over many years in dealing with insomnia, covering both physiological and psychological aspects, and even a bit of occult. I have suffered from insomnia since childhood, either due to excessive excitement or anxiety at night. Now, I can’t say that I have completely solved the problem, but I have resolved at least 70% of it. I will share as many methods as possible, targeting a variety of issues. If one of these helps you, I believe it will have been worthwhile. The methods are listed in no particular order; I wrote them as I thought of them.
Method One (Physiological): Eat More Vegetables, Less Carbs
I’ve found that simply reducing my carbohydrate intake, especially sugar, greatly improves my sleep. It makes it easier for my body to calm down before bedtime.
I’m not suggesting you completely cut out sugar, as I myself am quite fond of sweets. I understand how painful that can be. My approach is to drink no more than one beverage a day and avoid snacks as much as possible. If I do snack, I make sure it’s before 6 PM. This allows my body enough time to rest at night and prevents sugar from triggering potential inflammatory responses.
For regular meals, imagine everything you want to eat on one plate: at least half should be vegetables, one quarter should be protein, and the other quarter carbohydrates. Try to include vegetables of various colors.
The exact mechanism is complex, but I believe it’s related to insulin resistance and the inflammatory response triggered by sugar.
Method Two (Psychological): Constantly Ask Yourself, ‘So What?’
In university, I once had a quiz early in the morning and had to wake up at 8 AM. From going to bed early to constantly calculating how many hours I could sleep, I believe many have had similar experiences when something important is looming the next morning, making it easy to become anxious and sleepless.
Eventually, I dealt with this by repeatedly asking myself: “So what?”
“What if I don’t do well tomorrow?”
The worst that could happen is a poor grade in that subject.
“And if it’s a poor grade, so what?”
Could it impact job prospects or eligibility for certain projects at school? “So what then?”
At most, it means spending more time on those things later.
This train of thought can extend indefinitely until you realize that even the worst outcome isn’t too bad. Often, we exaggerate problems due to current perceptions, and the situations we imagine don’t actually happen. Furthermore, while sleep does affect exam performance, it’s not as critical as we might think. This method may not always work, but it can at least help reduce some anxiety by extending the timeline and considering the chain of consequences, allowing you to sometimes let go of your current obsessions.
Method Three (Psychological): Imagine Worse Situations to Appreciate the Present
Once in college, I was working on a project until 3 AM. When I returned to my place exhausted and tried to open my door, I suddenly thought, “What if my key broke now, and I also had a terrible stomach ache?” (Both incidents have happened to me before.) That would be 100 times worse. After dwelling on that imagination for a few seconds, I suddenly felt very grateful just to be able to open my door.
This method is especially suitable for those with vivid imaginations who can easily empathize with imagined scenarios. By imagining the pain, when you return to the present, you feel relieved, somewhat like waking from a nightmare and realizing it was just a dream.
I have also visited schools for children with severe intellectual disability, where the highest IQ tested to be around 70 — truly extreme. Hardly any students could communicate normally, and many needed continuous assistance even with eating. I think those teachers and caregivers are truly great. When I got home, I felt my current situation was already very good, so why worry about all the mess?
This method also involves trying to imagine things that have actually happened to you, then blending them together. For example, I’ve indeed experienced a broken key and called a locksmith, and I’ve also experienced severe stomach pain and nearly couldn’t find a toilet.