Hi all,

I thought I would share with everyone my theories for curing insomnia. Disregarding drugs, I will focus entirely on the psychological point of insomnia. These suggestions are completely uncited and spawned from my very own brain at the moment of typing - I am also no doctor... yet

Firstly, I speculate that most cases of insomnia are caused by a significant amount of stress or a recent traumatic event. Usually the person can not find a way to deal with this event and stays up all night as they struggle with a means to find a solution. However, it seems to me that the problem usually becomes buried and many other trivial issues replace the stress and act as a transfer of stress from the original problem. In this case, you really have to focus on the key issue - what is really bothering you. This is where you need to seek help (depending on the context of the problem) in order to rectify the issue. On a message board, one can not offer a universal algorithm to solve this issue. However, if you are reading this and would like help, please feel free to PM/email me.

Most importantly about the above - focus on the real issue and do not transfer your stress or thoughts onto other issues. For example: many people who have family issues lash out at work, with each other, friends, etc. I think a key theory to the cause of dysfunctional families is that emotions are properly attended to after divorces or other traumatic events.

Methods to induce sleep:

Keep in mind that these are temporary solutions as most cases of insomnia are either biological or traumatic psychological issues that need attention.

Ideal algorithm to get you to fall asleep:
- About an hour before bed, try working out. Personally, I do a tae bo video that is about 15 min long.
- Once done, lay in bed and read a book/study/write/do something idle to relax your body from the work out.
- Also, have something little to snack on. At least have some water.
When going to sleep, the trick here is to focus your mind. Here are somethings you can do:
- Think of the problems in life right now - try to imagine that they are not problems or that they have been solved - imagine how happy that would be. Focus on it. Depending on the issue, this could really help in itself.
- Simply fantasize. Pick something you would like to fantasize about. I like to imagine that I have all these amazing "powers" that make life easier. I imagine the day I just had but if I had these "powers" and ohh.. it makes me laugh at how fast dishes could be done.

I find that the fantasizing technique works very well for a lot of people. While I would never expect it to work for everyone, I think it is a definite method that is often overlooked.

I am sure there are many other methods, so I am curious what other people come up with.

Thoughts..?

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