Two Surprising Cures for Insomnia

There's an overwhelming amount of information available on how to cure insomnia. But that's okay because insomniacs have all night to read it, right?

I can't remember how many years I've been dealing with chronic insomnia.

I experience both the I-can't-fall-asleep-when-I-first-go-to-bed kind and the I-wake-up-during-the-night-and-can't-get-back-to-sleep kind.

I've read that most insomniacs have either one or the other. Woo-hoo, I'm special! (sorry, I get cranky when I'm tired)

The usual suggestions

The usual remedies for insomnia include things like:
Don't exercise before bed
Don't ingest caffeine before bed
Keep your room cool
Stick to a set bed-time
etc.

I believe all these things can help. But I've proven for myself they aren't a sure cure.

Two thoughts on insomnia

Actually, I don't suffer from the first kind of insomnia anymore because I've found a cure. Seriously. A cure that works for me every time. But it's only reliable for the first kind of insomnia. If I happen to wake up during the night, this cure may or may not get me back to sleep.

I read somewhere that the mind cannot hold two thoughts at the same time. You can jump back and forth between thoughts quite quickly, but you can't actually think about two things simultaneously. Some amazing person figured out that this quirk of the human brain could be harnessed to deal with insomnia.

The technique is this: Once you're lying in bed (unexercised, caffeine-free, cool, and at your set bed-time) you are to deliberately try to think of two things at the same time. If you do this, you will nod off in a surprisingly short amount of time.

I had good results the very first time I tried it. And it works consistently for me. But I've found a certain combination of thoughts works the fastest.

I choose for one thought the idea that I'm going to get up out of bed and do something, such as check to make sure I turned off the light in the kitchen. The idea that I'm going to get out of bed seems to be key for me.