Having Trouble Sleeping? Are You a Cleanfreak, Lyricist, or Just an Old-Fashioned Insomniac?

Anecdotal evidence aside, I’d venture to guess that the number one cause of insomnia is having racing thoughts at bedtime. You know how it goes: You climb into bed exhausted and looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Then bam! Some little annoying thought or a minor worry about a To-Do tomorrow rushes into your head and steals the moment. Okay, it steals many moments that add up to a lot of time—hours you should be banking in the pleasures of sound sleep. 

I was recently amused by two stories I read online about celebs with serious bedroom issues. One related Kelly Clarkson’s experience with lyrics coming to her as she’s trying to get to sleep. The first winner of the hit show American Idol, Kelly feels the need to write them down or record them on the spot. So guess what: she doesn’t sleep all that much.

The other article revealed Hillary Duff’s clean-freakish behaviors that sacrifice more than a few Zs. She needs to have a spotless room before going to bed, and admits she cannot sleep past 7 a.m. Ms. Duff routinely finds herself cleaning up hotel rooms before checking out, because she just can’t handle a mess of any kind. And she attributes her addiction to cleaning and getting up early to OCD—obsessive compulsive disorder.

What are your issues that translate to poor sleep? You don’t have to have OCD to be an insomniac. You can just be an active participant of modern life to have trouble sleeping as you suffer through the daily stresses of running a business and household or juggling work and personal time in a world that likes to keep you up 24-7. 

Insomnia is the most common sleep complaint among Americans, affecting about 10 to 15 percent of adults chronically. More than half of adults encounter this demon a few nights a week or more. (So the next time you’re tossing and turning, think how many others are doing the same.)

According to an article by The National Academies, insomnia may be cheaper to treat than to ignore. The proof is in the statistics: “Untreated insomnia creates a ‘significant economic burden’ through missed work and medical expenditures…”

I’m not surprised in the least by this finding. Who doesn’t want to slack off at work when you’re tired and sleepy? (No wonder sleep is the new sex.) We’ve seen a plethora of "next generation sleeping pills" emerge on the market lately. No doubt you’ve seen the ads on television. But get this: Studies have shown that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), a form of talk therapy that helps you think differently about your sleep, in fact, beats sleeping pills. This proves just how powerful thoughts can be, and that getting restful sleep is more about how you teach your mind to think than using any external trick such as a drug or other sleep aid.

I cover this topic at length in my latest book Good Night. Many people distort their worries at bedtime, over-exaggerating the magnitude of their woes and the urgency with which they need to remedy them. They also have a tendency to think irrationally as their anxieties rush over them in bed and provoke catastrophic thinking. If this describes you, you might find it helpful to create a Worry Journal and write down your thoughts prior to sleep. Write out your To Do list and be done with it so they won’t gnaw on your sleepy time.

Count backwards from 300 by 3’s (I know this sounds crazy but it really works!). The reason this is helpful is quite simple: What else do you have to think about but your worries right before bed? During the day other activities will likely distract the majority of your worries, so you don’t concentrate on them, which is a good thing! Just don’t plan on being a neatfreak or Grammy-winning singer right before bed. Maybe you can find a lullaby in your bed partner’s snoring, which is what actress Evan Rachel Wood experiences when she’s trying to fall asleep beside rocker Marilyn Manson. She recently told GQ magazine that his nighttime noises have a hypnotic effect on her. Go figure.

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