Let me sleep

Hi Janet..I had really bad insomnia for four mths..my sleep cycle even changed to being awake 36 hrs and sleeping 12 hrs ...the minute I stopped worrying about not sleeping/getting enough sleep..my sleep started to come back have slept every night the past 16 nights..sometimes getting 11 hrs..I started going for walks even though I was tired drank plenty of water and ate well when insomnia hit..I wrote my worries down as I suffered racing thoughts..I was so scared when my sleep cycle changed..I thought that's it until I realised negative thinking was making it worse..if I didn't sleep.i accepted it and looked after myself the next day instead of catastrophizing coz I knew I would sleep well the next night..I just stopped worrying about it..we are our own worst enemy ..Dr said to me years ago..when we slept in caves we would of had sleepless nights or broken sleep ..light sleep..and the human race survived

Hi Janet you say you "try" to sleep. This is a problem with insomniacs as when you "try" to sleep it can be hard to fall asleep because worrying about not sleeping will stop you sleeping. When you stop worrying about it sleep will come. You will eventually get so physically and mentally tired that it will get to a point where you will fall asleep quickly and all night.

I do sympathize as I have had periods of very poor sleep (awake for almost 2 days on many occasions) which was much worse when I worried about not sleeping. Once I got the sleep anxiety under control I slept much better.