How I cured my insomnia – in only 5 minutes a day!

There’s nothing better than a good night’s sleep.

Insomnia is not normal. Ideally, you fall asleep easily, in only a few minutes. You sleep deep and long, waking only when you’ve had at least 8 hours of solid rest. You start the day feeling refreshed and clear headed.
Ready to take on the world!

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? But for many of us this is an unachievable daily goal. Studies show that up to 1 in every 3 Australian adults suffer from some form of regular sleep disturbance, either presenting as difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep (1). This may be diagnosed as insomnia when combined with trouble functioning in day to day life as a result of the sleep disturbance. Insomnia is surprisingly common and can have dire co-morbid health consequences such as depression and high blood pressure.

Many people that come to see me state that “4-6 hours of sleep is normal for me”, or “It’s normal for me to wake between 1-3am. That’s just how I work”, or “it normally takes me a few hours to get to sleep. I just watch tv until I can’t keep my eyes open, then go to bed around midnight. I’ve always been a night owl”.
But this is simply not the case.

Just because we have settled for less than ideal, doesn’t make it normal.

Research shows that a good night’s sleep is the basis of so many health benefits. From maintaining a healthy weight range with ease, to lowering blood pressure, improving mental clarity and focus, and decreasing the incidence of depression and anxiety. With a good night’s sleep under our belt we cope with the stresses of daily life better, digest food better, feel better, look younger and age slower.

So why is it so darn hard for most of us to achieve?
There are a million reasons why we might not be sleeping well. Poor bedtime routines, excessive caffeine or alcohol, a stressful life or job, family pressures, nutritional deficiencies, dehydration, hormone disruption etc. all contribute to a broken night’s sleep.

I used to be one of the 1 in 3.

A lifelong sufferer of insomnia, I spent decades of my life wandering around in a sleep-deprived haze, relying on several strong coffees a day just to function. I found it hard to fall asleep at night, would wake around 1am and lay awake for hours in the middle of each night. Sometimes I didn’t even go back to sleep. It was “normal” for me. Starting in my teens, and peaking after I had my first child, I even found that when my baby finally slept I would still lay awake and stare at the ceiling, no matter how tired I was. That’s when I finally went to the doctor to get help. I tried everything, from herbs to medication to hypnosis. Nothing made a lasting difference. And worse still, many of the treatments had terrible side effects that I had to struggle with as well.

Until one day I stumbled across the solution to my problem.

Around 9 years ago I signed up for a class to help me cope with stress, as I was going through a particularly stressful time in my life. It was a 6 week meditation course for beginners, aimed at reducing stress and improving mental wellbeing. I gradually learned the gentle art of meditation and started to practice daily, despite my busy and stressful life. I felt better and coped better with life’s stressors. But after only a few weeks I noticed another change that I hadn’t expected.

I was sleeping deeper, longer and better.

Now, as a scientist, I wasn’t convinced this was due to the meditation. So I stopped. And soon after I went back to my old insomnia patterns. I started daily meditation again, and sure enough, I was sleeping well again.

I had found the cure for my insomnia!

And it was drug-free, incredibly affordable and so easy, anyone could do it.

I later discovered that it didn’t have to be a specific length or type of meditation, or at a certain time of day, as long as I was practicing it regularly – even for as little as five minutes a day – my sleep stays long and rejuvenating. I was so excited by this discovery, as well as all the other profound improvements in my life as a result of my meditation practice, that I decided to become a certified meditation teacher, in addition to all my other skills.

I want to bring this ancient art to everyday people in an easy and accessible way.

This is one of my core reasons for starting a new community meditation class, which begins next week. I’m always telling my clients that meditation can benefit them in so many incredible ways. But the most common reactions I get are “I tried it once, but it was too hard” or “I don’t think I did it right”, or absolutely the most common response: “I don’t have time to meditate”. Now, I’m a business owner and a busy health practitioner. I’m also a mother of three (from toddlers to teenagers), a stay-at-home mum to my youngest and my partner often works away.
So I totally get what not enough time feels like! I found my own way to meditate. I tried many different styles of meditation and borrowed parts from different traditions until I found the style that worked for me.

Now I can fit it in several times a day, despite my busy life.  And it gives me so much joy!

It never feels like a chore or work. It’s always a blissful moment in my day.
If you’d like to experience the same benefits, then I totally recommend trying to fit meditation into your life.

I’m sorry to say, but reading about meditation does not in any way bring you closer to all the wonderful benefits that are within your reach if you meditate daily.  You actually have to practice it.

Don’t settle for less sleep than you deserve.  Start today!

Can you relate to my story of insomnia? Would you like your sleep to be deeper, more satisfying?

What can you do TODAY to improve your sleep TONIGHT?

For more scientific reasons why we should all meditate daily, check out this article!

1) David Cunnington, Moira F Junge and Antonio T Fernando. Insomnia: prevalence, consequences and effective treatment. Med J Aust 2013; 199 (8): 36-40.

Copyright Emma Turton 2016.