Sleepless? Part 1

My patient said, "Doc, I'm having trouble sleeping."

I almost always begin with saying, "First of all, it is true, insomnia may improve if we adopt sleep hygiene strategies."  i.e., practices that help the mind be ready for sleep such as:

• Do the same things every night before bed. Develop a routine. 
• Don't exercise too late in the day.
• Keep the computer off in the late evening.  
• Less stimulation aids relaxation. 
• Keep the room completely dark. Things like that.
• For more see this link: http://bit.ly/1gcjxI3

I've found that people with insomnia are quite often aware of these ideas.  Maybe they are up at night surfing the web, looking for help.  

 

So I'm not surprised when my patients seem unimpressed by sleep hygiene.  I get the feeling that folks want more than tips and techniques when they feel exasperated, and discouraged about the fact that everybody else in the world is probably sleeping fine while they are lying there awake.  It's a lonely feeling. 

And patients don't always want medications for sleep because they feel they will be taking them forever once they start.  The conversation often goes toward how to revoke the power of worrying.  What if people could tap into some sort of Peace, some sort of being Okay, maybe even because of their faith that God is near.  

 

So beyond sleep hygiene, might we get some help from our faith?  

After all, God is always there and ready to answer certain kinds of questions such as, "What would trusting You look like right now, Father?" I believe He likes that one. 

So, for this blog post, I decided to share what I do personally for one type of "front-end" insomnia, and later I'll write about the other type. Front-end insomnia happens because something is bothering us.  The two varieties are that we either know what is bothering us or we do not know what it is that is bothering us.  I have had both.

So let's look at the first type of front-end insomnia, where there is a known stressor. 

 

Unlike a more chronic insomnia from no known current issue, I believe that insomnia from specific stress is easier to deal with. Almost anything can become a stressor.  How about watching one of my sons hurt from girl-trouble. Or bearing an inordinate financial pressure,  i.e., big bills associated with a ministry we support. Or anticipating a speaking event or retreat as it draws near. 

 

Any one of those types of things could do it.  Yes, they'd bring sufficient stress that I'd  need God to help me.  From times such as these, I developed a way of connecting with God for help.

I've learned to play like I am Peter: I cast my cares like a big fisherman might cast a net.

How do you cast cares? How do you stop your brain when stressed? How do you address your nagging fears when you do know what is bothering you?

Casting looks like this: imagine you are bigger and stronger than you are, and that you can throw a ball ten times as far as you can.  Imagine you can throw a ball so far that it is literally out of sight. Now envision that you, like Peter, might step up to the edge of the ocean and hurl your burden as far out as you possibly can ... and pray something like this,  "Father if this burden is not for me to carry, let it sink to the bottom of the sea and be gone from me." 

 

"And if it is one you want me to carry eventually but not now, and if, as for now I've done all I can, then ... take it from me now.  May it sink below the surface and sometime later on, let Your current bring it back so I find it at the right time. Somewhere up the beach aways. Carry it to that spot where You want me to pick it up again. And let me trust You with it until then. 

 

And forgive me now for almost demanding that You do more than You are doing to fix this issue, Amen. And amen."

Is worrying sin possibly because there is a demanding energy to our worrying? Ask God for our tendency to worry to be sucked under in the undertow of that great ocean we can only see the surface of.  He will do that if we will let Him.

 

I Peter 5:6-11