Insomnia: Having better relationship with sleep

I have been struggling with insomnia since I was 18. It started when I was in 2nd year of college and witnessed 2 groups of teenagers get into a fight. I was already asleep at that time when I woke up to voices shouting in the streets. From my peaceful slumber, I got up and saw in horror when a teenager hit another with what appeared to be a big piece of wood and the other kid lay on the ground. I thought he was dead.

I had a hard time sleeping that night and the following nights. Every time I closed my eyes all I could see was the violence I witnessed. It went on for months. I developed a fear of not being able to sleep. Whenever it gets dark, my heart would start racing and I would be afraid it would be another sleepless night.

It’s been so many years since that incident but I am still battling insomnia. I have been taking sleeping pills and all sorts of sleep-inducing vitamins/supplements before that. They helped, but there are still times when I just couldn’t turn my brain off.

Until recently, I have discovered a program/app called Stellar sleep. It is costly, around $180 for 3 mos of access to the app. So $60 per month.

I have learned a lot from this program and it is helping me rewire my thinking/feelings/relationship with sleep. It uses facts to counter the myths and shoulds I’ve had about sleep for all these years.

Some of the things I’ve learned can even be applied to other areas of my life as well, not just sleep. I’m glad I found this program, and  I’m very pleased with it so far. The only thing I wish they would improve is add more sleep stories. 🙂