Posted by Tom-N-Texas on December 04, 2008 at 19:42:36:

I hear of people talking about how they can't "let go" when trying to go to sleep. And while I certainly understand this -- and used to try to "let go" myself, I'm not so sure this is the right strategy to take when attempting to sleep...and mostly because I don't believe going to sleep is a situation where one has to "let go" at all.

When I close my eyes at night, never do I say to myself, "ok, Tom, I just have to let go now." That's not how it happens. But of course, "letting go" is a by-product of believing mainstream science's belief that being asleep is essentially being unconscious...read what a sleep doctor on the internet claims:

"Despite recent advances in understanding sleep, we still know very little about it—especially REM. The primary reason sleep is elusive to us is because psychologically, by definition, it is an unconscious state."

I absolutely 100% disagree with this. Being asleep is absolutely not being unconscious....it is not a matter of your brain being "on" or "off." And heck, being unconscious sounds dangerous, doesn't it?...it makes you feel vulnerable.

But if I am really unconscious when I'm sleeping, then then how is it that I can hear or feel our dog when she jumps on the bed?...or how do I feel my wife move or get out of bed or say something?...or how do I hear the rain or that train that goes by our house every night?...How am I able to get up in the middle of the night and somehow know what time it is without even looking at the clock? -- it just doesn't make any sense that we are unconscious while we sleep....it doesn't make sense that our brains are "on" while we're awake and "off" while we are asleep...it just doesn't pass the common sense test. Our minds are absolutely active on one level or another...the activity of the mind while we are sleeping is an activity of heavy distraction -- not unconsciousness.

So, if we can get the idea out of our heads that we're unconcious while we sleep, then it only follows that there is no real need to "let go." In fact, I would even suggest the opposite -- I would suggest "hanging on" is a much better tactic than letting go is. Think about your life before your insomnia: if you're like me, you could sit in a recliner or lay on the couch with a book, and before you knew it you were snoozing. Sometimes you'd even try to fight off sleep -- but that's when sleep became totally enevitable. Oddly, it's trying to avoid sleep -- trying to hang on to real life -- that actually promotes going to sleep! Is it any wonder then, that sleep is so confusing to everybody?

So I think the evidence is clear -- in order to sleep you must concentrate on real life....you must stay "on" all the time -- there is no "off" unless you're in surgery or something. So this focus on life must happen during the day (insomniacs have a way of concentrating on sleep during the day) and it must happen at night. We all know that "trying" to go to sleep is rarely productive....and the reason for this is that "trying" to go to sleep usually involves trying to get unconscious, which I believe is simply a flawed premise from the very start. So anyway....that's how I see it. :) Good luck, Tom

Follow Ups:

• Re: Why let go? kikibikini 20:56 12/06/08 (0)
• Re: Why let go? F43 05:31 12/06/08 (2)
  • Re: Why let go? KingofSnake 03:13 12/07/08 (1)
    • Re: Why let go? F43 07:04 12/08/08 (0)

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