[DannoM]

I struggle with insomnia. It’s new-ish to me. It started in January out of the blue. I used to sleep great. I’d brag that I could sleep anywhere. Hell, I could drink a Red Bull and go to sleep. That one night turned into three bad nights. Since then, I’ve been battling my mind and anxious feelings. I’m on anxiety meds (venlafaxine, mirtazapine and trazodone). I was starting to get good sleep but it didn’t last long, about a month. Now it seems I’ve built a tolerance to them. My biggest struggle has been my mind. I can’t relax. I feel stressed all the time. Idk what to do. I’m grasping for anything to help. How do I stop my mind? I literally try to not think about it. Then my mind reminds me that I’m doing it to make it go away, it’s not going to work. So then I try to “let the feelings be” and my mind reminds me of the same thing. I’m lost. Please help.

[Scott]

Hi @dannom – sorry to hear about your sleep issues. Our mind thinks it’s doing the right thing by sending more frequent unhelpful thoughts about our insomnia when we try to avoid or fight with them. We try to avoid these thoughts because they don’t feel good, but the more we fight with them, the more intense they can become. Since we can’t control what pops into our head, we can control whether or not we believe it. Instead of escape or control strategies, try labeling the thought and returning to what you were doing when the thought arrived. For example, when you have a negative sleep-related thought arrive, simply say, “oh, there’s that sleep thought again” and return to the activity you were doing when it popped up. This technique allows you to create space and allow the thought to exist rather than fighting with it. It may not work the first few times but keep practicing it and you’ll begin to see benefit in allowing it to come and go as it pleases versus getting caught up in a struggle.

Hope that helps,
Scott J

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