Tips on how to cure chronic insomnia

Usually most tips for curing temporal insomnia do not work for treating chronic insomnia. By this I mean the well know list of recommendations that people usually repeat whenever they hear that you have problems to sleep (either talking too long to fall asleep, or walking up too often during the night). The list of usual suggestions we receive are:


- Take pills
- Try orange tea before sleep
- Try lettuce tea before sleep
- Drink milk-lime-blossom tea before sleep
- Drink hot milk before sleep
- Try reading before you go to bed
- Avoid coffee, tea (mainly green tea), and Coca-Cola. Especially long after lunch.
- Don't stay at the computer until late
- Count sheep to fall asleep
- Try not to move while you try to fall asleep
- Have sex before falling asleep
- Watch TV before going to sleep
- Don't watch TV before going to sleep
- Do exercise at night
- Do not do exercise at night
- Swim at night
- Swim in the morning
- Take a shower before going to bed
- Don't take a shower before going to bed
- Take a hot bath before going to bed
- Don't
- Try mediation
- Try Reiki
- Practice Yoga
- Practice TaiChi
- Don't have a late dinner, or at least have a very light one
- Don't go to bed with a full stomach
- Don't go to bed with an empty stomach
- Drink alcohol before going to sleep
- Smoke marihuana before going to sleep
- Don't go to bed until you feel you are really sleepy
- Go to bed at the right time, and wait until sleep comes
- Have a regular routine and go to sleep always at the same time (preferably early)

These are only some of the many recommendations that most people repeat whenever they hear that you have problems to fall asleep. The thing is that, if your insomnia is chronic, I mean, if it is the kind of insomnia that you've had for all your life or most of it, then this will probably not work. Right? Or perhaps some may help a bit, but not resolve the problem. Or perhaps even worsen it. Like drinking alcohol: you may fall asleep faster, but your sleep will not recover you so well. And you may also get another problem. Same with with smoking marihuana. And about pills, I personally think it's also cheating yourself.

Of these, I must say that the only ones that may have had some positive effect (although not really cured me) have been:

- Never take a nap!
- Avoid coffee, green tea and Coca-Cola, mainly in the afternoon, evening and at night.
- Avoid staying at the computer until too late
- Not watching films too late that may overexcite my mind (like action films or Sci-Fi, for example).
- Practice meditation during the day (if possible also at night)
- Yoga may help as well
- Avoid going to sleep too late
- If it's too hot, make sure you turn-on the air conditioning

However, most cases of chronic insomnia are due to a kind of restlessness on the part of the person. So, I believe it is more a spiritual illness (or psychological) rather than physical. That's why, some contemplation and meditation may help. Not in the sense of becoming enlightened, because I'm not pretending to give it a New Age approach. But I say it in the sense of becoming at peace with oneself. Suddenly stopping to think how one feels, what one hears... listen to the sounds, to the silence. Listen to ones thoughts. Focus on ones sensations. This way one's mind becomes calmer.

Chronic insomnia is also quite related with a sense of unsatisfactoriness, because it is all about a sense of restlessness. Not letting our mind become disconnected. And a lack of self-confidence may also be at the source of the problem. Or even a sense of dissatisfaction with oneself. This requires a lot of meditation, acceptance, quieting of the mind, and self reassuring. These things must be practiced on a regular basis, every day and as often as possible during the day. This way the sense of restlessness starts vanishing away, and our mind can regain the peace it deserves and needs to disconnect itself at night.

Being at peace with others is also fundamental, so we must also try to practice let go of feelings or resentment, hatred, offense, hurt, shame, regret, and the like. Try practice how to let go of these, but not just block them or hide them. Instead try find reasons to forgive, to love, to feel reassured and optimistic. All this in the long run will change the way your mind works and this is the best and perhaps the only way to really cure chronic insomnia.