How to accept Insomnia and live with it

In the night, I sometimes can’t sleep and get mad at myself for lying in bed, wasting time, knowing I need rest for the next day. What to do? Embrace and accept it. If the body doesn’t let you sleep, then don’t force it.

If you search online for ways to deal with sleeplessness, you’ll find countless tips—mostly about sleep hygiene and avoiding long-term use of sleep medication. I can definitely vouch for the latter. There was a time in my life when I had to take sleep medication daily, increasing the dosage until I hit the maximum, and even then, it wasn’t enough. Back then, I was running from my thoughts, overloading myself with studying and work just to avoid them. Sleep hygiene is, of course, important, but it didn’t help me. I don’t think it really addresses insomnia, which forces wakefulness on an entirely different level.

For me, it almost always comes down to thoughts—running rampant at night when the mind is weak. I’ve learned that not everything in life can be fixed by yourself, and that’s okay. Sometimes, it’s fine to accept things that seem impossible to control. We don’t always have to fix every flaw in ourselves, including health issues. We are not perfect, and I am certainly not. Sometimes, there just isn’t the energy to fight, and there never will be. Life is inherently unfair—from the family you’re born into to your genetics, social standing, and starting capital. We have to endure it as fragile beings and make the best of it.

During my first few semesters of university, I averaged four hours of sleep per night for an entire year. During the day, I tried to catch up when I could. But back then, it didn’t feel like a problem. I used my sleepless hours productively—studying or doing chores like ironing. That’s also why I have a strict no-YouTube policy—because I know I’m weak to it and not perfect. Funny enough, my grades were the best they ever were during that time. It only became a problem when I started seeing it as one. Everywhere you look, people say adults must sleep at least seven uninterrupted hours per night for good health. But is that really true for everyone?

In medieval times, people actually slept in two shifts (Source: Zaria Gorvett, 10 January 2022, "The forgotten medieval habit of 'two sleeps'," URL: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep, last accessed 08.03.2025). The idea of one long sleep only came with the Industrial Revolution. Is one better than the other? There’s no conclusive evidence, and honestly, it doesn’t really matter.

So, how should sleep really be? My advice: if you can’t sleep, accept it. Don’t fight it. Don’t throw in the towel and start watching YouTube or scrolling social media. Make the best out of it. Get a tea, start reading that book, or finally write that blog post you’ve been thinking about for so long.

Disclaimer: ChatGPT 4o Model has been used to refine the initial draft. The prompt was "Improve the blog post while keeping my style. Here is the text:".