Subconscious causes of insomnia might sound mysterious, but they really aren't.
Simply put, there could be a reason for insomnia that you aren't consciously aware of. We all have suppressed and repressed feelings and thoughts. It is no surprise that sometimes they'll keep us awake at night.
Keep in mind that even your subconscious thoughts and feelings (those that you are unaware of) do NOT have to interfere with a good night's sleep. I will show you how to ease the tension and restlessness that is causing you to toss and turn at night.
The first step is very simple. All you have to do in the beginning is UNDERSTAND what is happening.
How Subconscious Causes of Insomnia Show Up
- Do you toss and turn at night with restless thoughts about seemingly unrelated or unimportant things?
- Do you sometimes see images in your head repeated again and again, in an endless loop?
- Do you ever feel stuck in that twilight zone between sleeping and waking and can't seem to "cross over" into real sleep?
- Do you feel that there's "something" on your mind making you restless and irritated and confused but you just can't figure out what it is?
If so, the first thing to do is to open your mind to the possibility that you may be experiencing subconscious causes of insomnia.
Recognizing, understanding and acknowledging that it is possible is the first step. You just have to know it's there and that it has this power to interfere with your sleeping patterns, even though you might not be able to pinpoint EXACTLY what it's doing or how the mechanism works.
Some Possible Subconscious Causes of Insomnia
It may help to understand why some of our feelings are pushed into the realm of unconscious awareness to begin with.
It usually happens like this: as young children we learn very early to repress our true feelings. An important part of growing up in our culture is giving up the natural expression of our true feelings. That means no more crying, screaming, having tantrums and so on... maybe even laughter.
However, as youngsters, we tend to equate the expression of our feelings with the content of our feelings.
So along with suppressing our desire to cry and carry on, we also swallow the feeling that causes that desire.
We push it "down" - hence the idea that our unconscious mind sits "below" our conscious mind. We don't want those feelings to erupt and turn us into outcasts or crazy people, rejected and shunned by family and friends... so we put a pretty heavy lid over them. And they rarely see the light of day again.
This is, of course, a vastly simplified version of psychological theory from a definite non-expert. But it will have to do for now!
The problem is, these subconscious causes of insomnia don't go away on their own. They're still slowly simmering "underneath," so we often get feelings of restlessness, discomfort, anxiety or just a generalized feeling of "things going wrong" or "something isn't right."
Sleep, relaxation and calmness seem always out of reach. Almost there, but then no... back to tossing and turning.
When you think your feelings are "wrong" and "bad" or "weak" then it's no wonder you repress them. But many times we have exaggerated the "wrong-ness" and "bad-ness" and "weakness" of our own feelings.
It's easy to do this when you're young and naive, just starting out in life and using your parents and other adult authorities as cues for your self image and self identity.
But since we've developed this habit at such an impressionable age, it's deeply ingrained and very habitual. So we keep repressing feelings even as we get old and should have the maturity to handle them in a different and more productive way.
Now this is getting a little deep, I know, so let's get back to the topic: dealing with subconscious causes of insomnia.
We've covered the first step: Understanding and accepting that a reason for insomnia could be unconscious emotions.
After you develop this understanding, you can then gently begin to figure out what they might be.
Step One: Start by making a list of everything that could possibly be bothering you.
It helps to have paper and pen and write quickly without giving it a lot of thought. This is called "freewriting" and can be very therapeutic. (It's also a good technique I recommend in my cure-for-worry article.)
Try to make this list as long as possible. If you don't know for sure, guessing is fine. You may have to come up with a lot of potential trouble spots before you get to one that your gut tells you is the most important. This is a sort of "aha" moment, where you get a little jolt of recognition. It can be very subtle, so watch out for it. It will be the key to revealing subconscious causes of insomnia.
Step Two: Pay attention to your gut reaction.
Once you have written the possible events or situations that are affecting you emotionally, you can then choose one or several that your gut tells you might be the most troublesome.
Then you freewrite some more - just pour out your thoughts and feelings about this event quickly, in a stream of words that flow uncensored.
Do not let anything stop you, as this is a great way to release emotions quietly. You can shred everything you have written if you need to. It is the act of writing that is helpful. You do not need to keep what you write. Of course, you don't worry about writing well or using good grammar, spelling or complete sentences - please!
Step Three: Work on the problem.
If there is a problem hidden inside your stream of consciousness writing that you can take steps to work on, do so. Use the same appointment-setting method in the cure-for-worry article here.
Step Four: Let yourself feel good about doing this exercise.
Most of all, look upon it as a positive growth experience.
If we suppress and repress our emotions for too long, we get out of touch with our true selves and it can be hard to know what's really going on inside. So here are some other things to consider:
The most commonly suppressed emotions are fear, anger and grief.
These are natural feelings. Obviously they're not pleasant to carry around, so we'd rather push them down so we don't have to deal with them. But negative emotions CAN lead to positive changes in our lives IF we choose to use them in that way.
But in order to grow from negative feelings, we must recognize, acknowledge and value them. They are trying to tell us something important, but we'll never learn from them if we don't listen. They can't do their job if we're always trying to fight them off, chase them away or beat them down to a pulp.
So if subconscious causes of insomnia are the real culprit, take some time to do some internal searching using freewriting and introspection. These exercises will help you sleep better - and who knows - maybe help you feel better while you're awake, too!
Return to this page to learn more about mental, emotional and subconscious causes of insomnia.