Reply #44: Stop TRYING to fall asleep.....and don't go to bed. Go to couch! [View All]

I can't say I suffer with insomnia like you do, but the times I've had trouble falling asleep are the times when I've felt the most pressured to get some sleep. It's then that I have trouble.

Maybe stop trying so hard to sleep. Something that always causes me to sleep is lying on the couch late at night with lights on and the TV on, not really watching the tube, and I pick up a good book and start to read. It never fails; before I get through four or five pages, I find myself just about dozing. Now here's the key...don't get up and go to bed. Don't even put the book back on the coffee table. Simply hold the book on your abdomen and drift off without even trying. Give it a try, but don't start reading too early and don't be thinking about falling asleep when you pick up the book. Just let it all happen.