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by sourceless 2484 days ago
I know it sounds rather ‘Wow thanks! I’m cured!’, but that’s the point — if you’ve stopped worrying about it, then you’ve dealt with one of the root problems. Anxiety is dumb like that and being able to chill out and realise that even though it is important, you shouldn’t spend too much mental energy on it.

It’s not an easy thing to do by any means, but it is the end goal, and a lot of people are unfamiliar with how to just let go.

2 comments

That's only true if anxiety is the underlying problem. I'll grant that anxiety is probably the most common cause but it's far from the only one. Chronic pain and mental illness can easily stop one from sleeping, no matter what you do.

For me, I have back pain that can get severe enough that I can't sleep. And if that wasn't enough, whatever regulates dopamine and norepinephrine levels in my brain doesn't work properly. When I'm depressed, my brain can't sleep until it hits absolute exhaustion. Not won't, can't.

I need all of these strategies, in addition to medication, get any deep sleep with enough regularity to stay healthy and sane.

To me it seems about as useless/condescending as "Just stop drinking!" as a way to deal with one of the root problems of alcoholism.