Catherine Auman, LMFT

I’ve been trying to sleep for eight years. Oh, I sleep all right, but I’ll wake up at 4 a.m. raring to go with no question of going back to bed. Or I’ll stay up late even though I’m exhausted. For a while I enjoyed it — there’s a high that comes from extended periods of no sleep, but every high is followed by its evil twin the low, right? Before this, I used to sleep perfectly every night, no matter what. Here’s what I found when I went in search of a cure:

1) Herbs and Supplements: Herbal formulas like Calms Forte, soothing teas before bed, melatonin, GABA, inositol, Vitamin B6 — none of these herbal/supplements treatments worked for me. Maybe they’d work for you.

2) Drugs:  Ambien worked for a time. This is the perfect drug, I thought: it does what it says it will do with no hangover. But then the horror set in – ‘rebound insomnia’ — when it suddenly stops working and in fact makes your condition worse. Sonata didn’t make a dent; Trazadone keeps you asleep for only 4 hours because of its half-life; and Ativan puts you to sleep but leaves horrible enervation and depression the next day. Hardly worth it.

3) Hypnosis: The sleep CD, “Just Relax-Relaxing to Sleep” by Gail Seymour, worked great for quite awhile — it knocked me out every time. But when it got so I could repeat every word, it wasn’t authoritative any more. I tried others but they all had a funny accent or an irritating voice. This is a good place to start if you’ve never tried them.

4) Pleasures: Bad news in this department– both coffee and alcohol seem to be big problems, even if early in the day. I’m still trying to figure out how to make this work short of quitting altogether. Eating before bed only works if it’s heavy carbs. The new thinking is that the old standby warm milk actually makes it worse because of the protein.

5) Computer insomnia: This is actually a new diagnosis.  People get so amped up being on the computer late at night that it affects their sleep. Guilty.

6) Scheduling: It seems to make a big difference to go to bed and get up at the same time. I’ve talked to people who had to start putting their sleep first, above anything else, even going out to hear music. Hmmm.

7) Exercise: Seems to help with everything. Sometimes the body is not tired enough to go to sleep.
Creating a ‘sleep palace:’ Many times we need to redo the bedroom – get light blocking curtains, white noise machines, a better mattress. Make the physical space an “invitation for sleep.”

9) Hyperarousal:  Mentally active people tend to exist in this state all the time and are consequently more prone to insomnia.  One has to start consciously relaxing hours before bedtime.  A lifestyle makeover is often required.

10) Finally, I read Dr. Barry Krakow who said that if you have insomnia, it’s because you don’t want to sleep.  (‘Sound Sleep, Sound Mind, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2007) You haven’t told yourself that the day is over and it’s time to go to sleep.

I realized this was true. I don’t want to sleep — life is just too exciting. I enjoy thinking about things, running the good parts over and over in my mind. At times the bad ones too, although that’s another story. Who has time to sleep? It’s a shame it’s so essential to good heath. If you find the magic key, please let me know.

© 2009 Catherine Auman