A year ago, I was going through a tumultuous period of my life which resulted in me having issues with my sleep. I would wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to sleep afterwards. Knowing how important sleep actually ironically made my sleep worse because I got increasingly anxious about sleep which made it harder for me to sleep. Not only was I anxious about the events happening in my life, but I became anxious about the anxiety itself because it would stop me from sleeping. This became a vicious cycle of sorts.
I did my best not to think about it but that barely did anything and might have made it worse. Even sleep aids almost made it worse because when they didn't work, my anxiety and hopelessness about sleep skyrocketed.
I started researching ways to deal with anxiety and stumbled upon something called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT is a unique in that unlike other models, it doesn't get a person to try to get rid of difficult thoughts and emotions. It doesn't even get you to distract yourself. According to ACT, the best way to deal with difficult emotions is to accept them and allow them to pass.
I was honestly was quite skeptical of it and didn't even try it at first. After all, I knew my anxiety was the cause of my insomnia and if I didn't reduce it, it would just get worse. However, one night I tried out one of the ACT meditations and I shockingly was able to get to sleep.
Insomnia is interesting in that it can get worse the more effort you put into trying to cure it. Anxiety might initially cause you to have a few bad nights but then you get anxious about being anxious which exponentially increases your anxiety. Combine this with the fact that sleep deprivation itself can make you anxious and you get a nefarious feedback loop where one bad night can lead to weeks or even months of insomnia.
The only way to break this loop is to interrupt it and the acceptance of anxiety is something that accomplishes this. Of course, it takes practice and I still struggle from time to time despite practicing ACT for over a year now. However, the more I practice, the better I get at it.
Here's a link to ACT meditations
I also recommend the book The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris for more information on ACT.
