Sigh.
My credentials? I’ve been dealing with insomnia for about 15 years, it’s worsened as I’ve gotten older. I’ve tried a lot of things that did not work, a couple that have moderately worked, and…yeah, that’s as good as it’s gotten so far. If you read on, keep in mind that my degree is in engineering and no way medical in nature so these might not help you at all.
Suffice to say, many things can cause insomnia, some of which may require medical attention due to underlying health conditions. It might be a good idea to discuss with a doctor if you’ve dealt with this long-term and haven’t asked a professional yet. In my case, it’s a combination of genetic factors – my dad has chronic insomnia so I do too, my own intense anxiety, and perhaps lifestyle factors and general personality type.
Living with regular insomnia causes a host of issues that affect every facet of your life, and is definitely worth trying many possible solutions to find the most suitable.
About a year ago I saw a sleep doctor (sounds cagey) after waiting three months on a waitlist, and paid $180 to be told that since I didn’t have sleep apnea or other breathing issues during the night, it was best if I went the cognitive behavioral route. Unfortunately I had already been trying this for months in therapy to not much avail. Made me want to smash something glass or ceramic, preferably valuable, preferably not mine.
Where it began
My sleep journey is not something I wanted to be on, I’d rather veer off the path and be swallowed up by a lake, but here we are. I’ve always been a very light sleeper. I recall even in elementary school, being awake by 5am and laying my clothes out on the steam radiator in my parents’ 1930’s house to let them slowly warm up while I went about a morning routine waiting for the others to wake up. By highschool, sleep had become a noticeable issue. Back then I only tried Zquil and Benadryl, but didn’t like how groggy they made me feel the next day. I was also very active, which I think helped the issue.
In college, I had many nights where I slept zero hours, not due to schoolwork but rather lying awake in the dark, unable to switch my brain off, and struggling to quiet anxious thoughts. I started trying herbal supplements, most containing melatonin among other things (magnesium, valerian, chamomile, mint, etc). I went through phases of using supplements for awhile or using Zquil for weeks (if not months) at a time. Not a good idea.
After graduation, the sleep issue continued to worsen and I decided to try acupuncture. I did this for about 6 months, it seemed to do a good job of promoting relaxation but the effects wore off within a few hours of leaving the appointment, and ultimately I did not notice any significant improvement.
Around this time I also tried infusing my life with high-adrenaline activities. I went skydiving and slept the best night of my life. I went cycling and flew down huge hills with the wind in my hair. I ran outside and got into better shape, I did a lot of hiking, these things all seemed to help. But it’s not feasible to keep this up long term, and much harder in the winter.
I tried a couple prescription drugs, mirtazapine and Lunesta, but ran into issues with side effects from both. I committed to sleep specific cognitive behavioral therapy for over a year, I can’t say this helped at all. I tried meditation apps such as Aura, which offers guided meditations or just blue/pink/white/etc noise, whatever you’re in the mood for. This was useful some of the time, but once we adopted 2 kittens I had to use earplugs every night and it was no longer an option.
The longest lasting solution that I’ve maintained over the past few years has been THC/CBD sleep edibles along with melatonin supplements, which have pros and cons. I’ve also recently been using sleep teas which have helped.
I was worried about taking weed for sleep (and taking it long term), even adamantly objecting to it. However, it knocks me out like a gorilla tranquilizer and if I take enough it keeps me down for a solid few hours.
Whether it’s safe to do this continually, I don’t know. There’s a very informative podcast on YouTube by Andrew Huberman about this subject, which I highly recommend (just look up “Huberman marijuana”), which discusses the pros and cons, a con being that it negatively affects REM sleep. I definitely don’t feel amazing on a daily basis, usually pretty low energy, but I do often feel like I’ve slept which is better than spending full nights awake.
Insomnia advice
My advice from personal experience (aside from seeing a doctor), is the following:
- Start from a baseline of eating relatively healthy and doing some amount of exercise during the day
- Avoid caffeine if it’s not the morning
- Avoid eating late at night (I know, this one’s the worst)
- Try herbal supplements and teas
- Traditional Medicinals Nighty Night Tea is my current favorite but it kind of tastes like grass
- Try meditation (using an app if you like) periodically throughout the day, and at night
- Try therapy – this is a longer term solution, and did not work for me
- If needed try prescription drugs if they’re determined to be right for you– I did not have any positive experiences with them
- Do your research if you want to try using weed for sleep, and be aware of the potential risks
It might also be worth using a sleep app to track your sleep (I tried various apps and also the Oura ring). These can help you link various factors to how well you slept, for instance if you slept worse after not moving around much during the day, or slept better when the temperature was turned down.
I hope this helps despite how subjective the issue can be. It’s an ongoing trial and error process that may resolve eventually, although I anticipate that’s unlikely for me. The only true positive I’ve garnered from it is as an excuse to wear my RBF on the daily and blame it on sleep if anyone comments (did this frequently at work).
Thanks for reading,
Victoria