Did you know that this is one of the most common wordings we use when we ask what to do when we have trouble sleeping? 

It’s not difficult to see why, because when we suddenly find ourselves anxiously awake at night, we can feel as if we have been struck. 

Now the answer to what to do in this situation, paradoxically, lies in taking a close look at the very question we are posing. 

When we use the word strike, we are implying that something has hit us. Someone or something has landed a blow that kept us awake rather than knocked us out. 

And naturally, when we feel attacked, we want to defend ourselves. We want to strike back. 

But before we do something drastic, it truly helps to look at where exactly the first blow came from?

The first blow

Here’s the thing, when our brain senses that we are in some form of danger, it activates our safety system, our fight and flight system. As part of this system being activated, we become more perceptive,...

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...