‘travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.’ – Seneca
My second blog post aims to provide you with another idea about coping with insomnia that you won’t find anywhere else; to physically leave or change your everyday surroundings for a while. When you have been through traumatic events you live in a perpetual state of tension and worry – unable to fall asleep sometimes even though you are exhausted. These feelings leech into your everyday environment; home can start to feel like a prison; you fear the phone ringing, a knock on the door, the mailman or who you might run into at the mall. Familiar stimuli acquire a negative vibe. One very effective solution is to get away physically. Being somewhere else, preferable somewhere nice, triggers a psychological shift. A chronic PTSD sufferer with terrible insomnia was suddenly able to sleep soundly for hours on end when she went on a cruise. The knowledge that she was far out to sea where no one could get to her, the gentle rolling of the ship, the safety of her cabin, all instilled a sense of safety and peace that enabled her to relax (and fall asleep) in a way she could never at home. A burned-out government employee noticed a dramatic improvement in her sleep when she relocated to the country. The sound of running water from a nearby creek interspersed with birdsong, the sight of wild animals, the smell of the air all acted as a balm to her jangled nerves.
You don’t necessarily have to travel far; Winston Churchill simply slept in a different bed when he had trouble falling asleep. Getting away doesn’t just help with your sleep – by creating distance it can also lead to new perspectives. A traumatized emergency worker found that going camping in a wood not far from his home not only had a positive effect on his nerves – it also stimulated a realization that despite all the bad things he had witnessed, life goes on. So try a change of scenery – it will not only help you sleep better, it might also help you see things differently. ff
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