A week ago, a student shared something with me that comes up regularly. He had come a long way in leaving the insomnia struggle in all regards except one: he wasn’t sleeping more.

He was no longer worried or anxious. He wasn’t taking supplements, listening to meditation tapes, or trying to force sleep in any way. He was no longer limiting his days, and was living a rich, fulfilling life.

The reason his nights were still unsettled? As surprising as it may sound, waiting for sleep to return can become the reason it doesn’t.

It all comes down to intent.

Less worry, living freely, and stepping away from efforts to control what can’t be controlled—these are wonderful shifts on their own. They’re deeply meaningful. But here’s the tricky part:

When we hear stories of someone who learned, practiced courage, let go of struggle, and then naturally found themselves sleeping more, it can accidentally create the impression that we’ve discovered a prescription for sleep:

Worry less. Live mo...

If you’ve been struggling with sleep, you might find yourself lying awake at night, wondering if there’s something wrong with your body or mind. Perhaps you’ve asked yourself if a disorder or an illness is causing your wakefulness. This is a question that can be worrying and overwhelming, especially if sleepless nights have become a pattern. So, let’s unpack this together in a way that hopefully brings some clarity—and peace of mind.

Sleep Disruption vs Insomnia

Let’s start by drawing a distinction between sleep disruption and insomnia. The two are often confused but are actually very different.

Sleep disruption is when something external is causing you to have a rough night’s sleep. Maybe you’re sick with a cold, or you’ve injured yourself, or you’re going through a stressful period. In these cases, your sleep might be choppy or disturbed for a while, but it returns to baseline once the issue is resolved. It’s temporary and secondary, tied directly to something going on ...

If you’ve asked yourself whether insomnia can be cured, you’ve probably been quite worried. Before we even answer the question, a virtual hug is in order. 

Everything will be fine.

Regardless of how long you’ve struggled, how intense the troubles have been or any other circumstances, every human can have peaceful sleep. 

We will see how in a second, but to answer the question of whether insomnia can be cured, the short answer is no. Because here lies the rub: insomnia is not a disorder or a disease. 

Insomnia is a misunderstanding.

Insomnia is a learned mindset where one restless night at some point made us anxious, and made us try to prevent it from happening again. 

And this is the thing, sleep is a passive process. It happens all by itself when we aren’t trying to make it happen. 

By trying to prevent a second restless night, the passivity, the effortlessness goes away and we have a second restless night. 

We try more and more things to sleep, inadvertently teaching ourselve...