🙅 The Answer is "Do Not Sleep"

WARNING

The content on the website does not constitute medical advice and is for personal experience sharing only. If you have any other medical conditions, particularly cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, please refrain from using the methods presented on this website.

I've read through posts on the Reddit insomnia community and observed the behavior of my friends who claim to have insomnia. I found that most people are not "completely unable to sleep". Their problems were similar to mine:

• They can’t fall asleep at a proper time: Many people say they stay awake until dawn, completely exhausted and then fall asleep. This shows they still have the ability to fall asleep on their own, right?
• They find it hard to stay asleep through the night: This means their sleep is fragmented, which is a different issue to address.

The points above are not meant to question the pain of insomnia sufferers; after all, I was once one of them. On the contrary, we need to look for clues in our behavior patterns to improve our sleep.

Case Studies

My Boss

As mentioned earlier, my boss also suffered from severe insomnia.

One morning, we were on a business trip and rushing to catch a flight. He messaged us to apologize, saying he had been sleepless all night and couldn’t make it. He rescheduled his flight to get some sleep.

At the office, I often saw him falling asleep at his desk due to extreme tiredness, even if it was only for about 30 minutes.

My Art Teacher

My art teacher often complained about his severe insomnia. He frequently couldn’t fall asleep until after 3 a.m. There was a period when he could only sleep after sunrise but had to start work at 10 a.m., which was extremely painful for him. However, I often saw him taking deep naps on the studio couch during lunch breaks.

Once, he had to help with a friend’s wedding, which required him to wake up early. Since he usually didn’t sleep until sunrise, he didn’t sleep at all that night. The wedding was busy from morning until night, leaving him exhausted. He didn’t have a chance to nap during the day and, upon returning home around 10 p.m., he couldn’t stay awake and slept until the next morning. He said he hadn’t slept so well in years.

Myself

For five years, I couldn’t sleep without sleeping pills, and sometimes even with the pills, I struggled to stay asleep through the night. One day last year, I decided to try phasing out the sleeping pills.

The process of quitting was painful. I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep even though I was exhausted. I would finally drift off at dawn and then sleep heavily during the day, making it hard to sleep at night. In this struggle, I noticed something: being able to fall asleep at dawn indicated that I could still sleep on my own, just not at the right time. So, I wondered, if I stayed awake all day, would the exhaustion help me sleep at night?

During the day, I avoided mentally demanding tasks and didn’t engage in strenuous activities. I went outside to get some sunlight, then spent the day watching TV and playing video games to pass the time. By evening, I was so sleep-deprived that I felt cold and numb, my heart pounded, and I felt nauseous, but I forced myself to stay awake until 10 p.m.

After 36 hours without sleep, I finally closed my eyes and slept until the next morning—without taking any sleeping pills.

Insights

Do you see the pattern here?

• First, we aren’t completely unable to sleep. After staying awake for a certain period, our bodies reach a point of exhaustion and we eventually fall asleep deeply.
• Second, the times we finally manage to sleep are often during the day, such as after a sleepless night or during a long nap.
• Lastly, we choose to sleep during the day to maintain normal functioning in our lives, such as being able to catch a flight or teach a class.