Ironically, I fixed my moderate chronic insomnia succesfully by going to a doctor with a completely unrelated(citation needed) set of symptoms. My CBT therapist wanted me to fall asleep during the appointment to perform another technique, but obviously I could not. He said to not worry and explained a routine which I’m happy to share to those who didn’t try yet:
- lay, relax, comfort^
- do not move further
- do not put your arms into a position where your breath could disturb them
- focus on what you feel in your body
- scan slowly from head to neck to arms to belly to legs
- name every minor feeling, pain, pressure, etc in your mind
- for(;;) the above three steps, fading your inner voice to just a conception of thought
- breathe in normal, breath out slowly
- continue to scan your body
- count integers on each breath if you slip into thinking
- do not f…ing move ever
^ you may experiment with room temperatures and covering your body parts for a while; also reduce street sounds to not react to these
At the first time using this technique I spent a couple of hours semi-dreaming and turning in the bed, but in a couple of days, after waking up I could only remember the first two steps. Falling asleep in just 5-10 minutes seemed completely unreal to me, but that’s what I’m doing every day now. As a bonus, I recalled the thing my doctor wanted me to recall right at the first at-home experiment.
The theory behind that is that if your insomnia is related to an unstoppable thinking process (a form of an anxiety psychosis, I guess), then there is a hack: you cannot think when you’re focusing on what you feel in your body. You either scan yourself or think (even subconsciously), like a single core multitasking. By burning 100% cpu on sensations, you basically extinguish the fires in your mind, deoxygenating them.
Hope this helps at least some of you, guys! (And sorry if you already tried)
At the first time using this technique I spent a couple of hours semi-dreaming and turning in the bed, but in a couple of days, after waking up I could only remember the first two steps. Falling asleep in just 5-10 minutes seemed completely unreal to me, but that’s what I’m doing every day now. As a bonus, I recalled the thing my doctor wanted me to recall right at the first at-home experiment.
The theory behind that is that if your insomnia is related to an unstoppable thinking process (a form of an anxiety psychosis, I guess), then there is a hack: you cannot think when you’re focusing on what you feel in your body. You either scan yourself or think (even subconsciously), like a single core multitasking. By burning 100% cpu on sensations, you basically extinguish the fires in your mind, deoxygenating them.
Hope this helps at least some of you, guys! (And sorry if you already tried)