Why a Gentler Approach to Insomnia Might Be Just What You Need

Arie, a 38-year-old father of two, never thought he’d struggle with insomnia. But after a demanding six months of sleepless nights, his search for answers led him to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). At first, he was hopeful. CBT-I promised a structured path to better sleep. Yet, when he tried stimulus control and sleep restriction—the cornerstone techniques of CBT-I—things didn’t improve. In fact, they felt worse.

“It was so rigid and controlling,” Arie shared. “Instead of helping me relax, it made me even more anxious about sleep. I started to dread bedtime.”

Arie’s experience is not uncommon. If you’ve struggled with sleep, you might have wondered, “How is insomnia treated?” While CBT-I is often the first recommendation, it isn’t the only path to finding rest. Let’s break down what CBT-I involves and explore why a gentler, less controlling approach may be just what you need.

CBT-I:...

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...