Anecdotal evidence aside, I'd venture to guess that the number one cause of insomnia is having racing thoughts at bedtime. You know how it goes: You climb into bed exhausted and looking forward to a good night's sleep. Then bam! Some little annoying thought or a minor worry about a To-Do tomorrow rushes into your head and steals the moment. Okay, it steals many moments that add up to a lot of time--hours you should be banking in the pleasures of sound sleep.
I was recently amused by two stories I read online about celebs with serious bedroom issues. One related Kelly Clarkson's experience with lyrics coming to her as she's trying to get to sleep. The first winner of the hit show American Idol, Kelly feels the need to write them down or record them on the spot. So guess what: she doesn't sleep all that much.
The other article
revealed Hillary Duff's clean-freakish behaviors that sacrifice more
than a few Zs. She needs to have a spotless room before going to bed,
and admits she cannot sleep past 7 a.m. Ms. Duff routinely finds
herself cleaning up hotel rooms before checking out, because she just
can't handle a mess of any kind. And she attributes her addiction to
cleaning and getting up early to OCD--obsessive compulsive disorder.
What are your issues that translate to poor sleep? You don't have to
have OCD to be an insomniac. You can just be an active participant of
modern life to have trouble sleeping as you suffer through the daily
stresses of running a business and household or juggling work and
personal time in a world that likes to keep you up 24-7.
Insomnia is the most common sleep complaint among Americans, affecting about 10 to 15 percent of adults chronically. More
than half of adults encounter this demon a few nights a week or more.
(So the next time you're tossing and turning, think how many others are
doing the same.)
According to an article by The National Academies,
insomnia may be cheaper to treat than to ignore. The proof is in the
statistics: "Untreated insomnia creates a 'significant economic burden'
through missed work and medical expenditures..."
I'm not surprised in the least by this finding. Who doesn't want to
slack off at work when you're tired and sleepy? (No wonder sleep is the
new sex.) We've seen a plethora of "next generation sleeping pills" emerge on the market lately. No doubt you've seen the ads on television. But get this: Studies have shown
that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), a form of talk therapy that
helps you think differently about your sleep, in fact, beats sleeping
pills. This proves just how powerful thoughts can be, and that getting
restful sleep is more about how you teach your mind to think than using
any external trick such as a drug or other sleep aid.
I cover this topic at length in my latest book Good Night.
Many people distort their worries at bedtime, over-exaggerating the
magnitude of their woes and the urgency with which they need to remedy
them. They also have a tendency to think irrationally as their
anxieties rush over them in bed and provoke catastrophic thinking. If
this describes you, you might find it helpful to create a Worry Journal
and write down your thoughts prior to sleep. Write out your To Do list
and be done with it so they won't gnaw on your sleepy time.
Count backwards from 300 by 3's (I know this sounds crazy but it really
works!). The reason this is helpful is quite simple: What else do you
have to think about but your worries right before bed? During the day
other activities will likely distract the majority of your worries, so
you don't concentrate on them, which is a good thing! Just don't plan
on being a neatfreak or Grammy-winning singer right before bed. Maybe
you can find a lullaby in your bed partner's snoring, which is what
actress Evan Rachel Wood experiences when she's trying to fall asleep
beside rocker Marilyn Manson. She recently told GQ magazine that his nighttime noises have a hypnotic effect on her. Go figure.