The one change that worked: I had terrible insomnia – until I hit upon a gory solution

I had tried elaborate mind games, herbal teas and even a military method. Nothing worked. So I gave in, tuned into some macabre podcasts and had a very surprising reaction

For years I had accepted that sleep, just like the Rubik’s cube and a receding hairline, was one of those things that I personally was not equipped to beat. No matter how much I tried to disarm my mind with an assortment of pills, elaborate mind games and expensive sleep teas, nothing seemed to work. In fact, many of these “solutions” only made my insomnia worse. On the rare occasion that I did catch myself drifting off, a bout of relief and excitement would quickly overtake me, leaving me wide awake and more exasperated than ever. The more pressure I put on myself, the more impossible sleep became.

One night I was in bed trying to replicate a strategy used by the SAS to instantaneously fall asleep by relaxing my body, starting with my facial muscles, and breathing slowly and deeply, when I finally decided I’d had enough. Clearly, trying to sleep was just not something I was cut out for. I had read all the books, done all the research and, still, nothing ever improved. If my brain refused to accept any sort of attempt to shut it down, then why waste so many hours of my day even trying?