A Spiritual Approach to Beating Insomnia and Getting a Good Night's Sleep

a post by Wendy Leeds for the Tiny Buddha blog


“Our spiritual mission is not to ignore the darkness, but to bring light to the darkness.” ~Marianne Williamson

It’s 3:17AM. You’ve been staring at the clock since 1:42AM, mind racing, body tense. In five hours you’re going to have to drag yourself to work, terrified that you’re going to fall asleep at your desk—again.

If you have trouble sleeping, you’re not alone. I know what it feels like to lie awake, reliving mistakes, making lists of things that might go wrong, waiting for sleep that never seems to come.

In fact, almost one-third of the adult population in the US has trouble falling asleep from time to time. Ten percent of us have long-term insomnia, which means we struggle to fall asleep at least three nights a week for over three months.

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OCD and Sleep Timing

a post by Janet Singer for the World of Psychology blog



I’ve been writing about obsessive-compulsive disorder for about ten years now, and my most-read posts, by far, are those that discuss sleep and sleep deprivation. OCD, by its very nature, is unconducive to a good night’s sleep. How can you sleep when you have to continually check to make sure the door is locked or the stove is off? How can you relax when you need to review your entire day in your head to make sure you didn’t do anything wrong? How can you breathe easily when you find yourself ruminating on, of all things, not being able to sleep? Really, as anybody with OCD most likely knows, the possibilities are endless.

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How to Ask for What You Want and Need (No, It’s Not Selfish)

a post by Alexandra Baker for the Tiny Buddha blog

“It's not selfish to put yourself first—it's self-full.” ~Iyanla Vanzant

I’ve always thought of myself as individualistic. When I was a teenager, I often felt the desire to go against the grain, dressing alternatively and shunning bands my peers liked because I felt they were too popular. So it came as a huge surprise to me when my therapist called me a people pleaser the other day.

I recently started cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, and during the first session my therapist identified that I put other people’s needs and wants ahead of my own.

He’d asked me to give an example of a situation that is currently making me anxious (since anxiety is both a cause and symptom of insomnia), and I told him a landscaper made a mistake in my yard and I was feeling bad asking him to fix it.

Continue reading This post made a great deal of sense to me.

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