The Will To Sleep and Insomnia

by: Joseph Collins, MD

The Will to Sleep- It is to those who feel shadow of this apparently needless affliction settling down upon them and who have no yet despaired that this message is addressed. For those who can still think clearly and not only search with some measure of keenness for causes by also take up patiently and perseveringly the cultivation of the right attitude toward life, it can be said that there is such a thing as a will to sleep. When this is but an instinct, which has not grown into conscious will as the other instincts have, but which has come to an early death through neglect, then such a will must be built up. If there was such a will in early days of development and it has been lost, then it must be revived and cultivated.

It must be borne in mind that no one comes off victorious in any battle that does no enter the lists with determination to succeed. This is said not only as an incentive by as a warning, for just now, some of the newest foes of the insomniac are found in the home of his friends. As the victim tried in desperation of mind to reason out why he, a strong man with a will effective in many undertakings, cannot lay compelling hands on sleep, too often he will find his initial vexation increased by the lack of logic of those who advocate this or that remedy. Particularly is this true when hypnotism is pointed out to him as a means to obtain sleep.

When asked, as a preliminary to acquiring the disposition to sleep, to abandon his fully consciousness and put his mind at the disposal of another, he may well hesitate if he realizes that he is already the victim of a negative condition and that what he is seeking is a capacity for affirmation. When, on the other hand, is told that what he must endeavor to do is to acquire the power of discarding demoralizing thought and fancies that haunt him and keep him from fulfilling his physiological resting, he realizes that he is being urged to affirmation.

Especially that this is true if he is told that not only must he compel himself to discard these terrors of the night but that must replace them with purer, higher and restraining thoughts. Such procedure is the fabric of all moral progress and it is the basis of cure of many functional nervous affections. The power of the will over thoughts varies with the individual as everyone knows. There are many thoughts which we would banish from the mind forever were it possible to do so. But they come in stealthily and oftentimes concealed with a flood of others like an unwelcome guest who gets in the house to which he has been forbidden when the doors are thrown wide open for a public reception. The oftener such a guest is forcibly ejected, the less often way with unwelcome demoralizing thoughts. The mind that is constantly dwelling upon past faults or considering with fear what the future holds in store must be disciplined. Discipline does not imply punishment. It may mean society, travel, diversion, play, religion. But before any of these, save the last, can do any good, the individual must realize that he was not created to punish himself, but simply to be useful and happy and to make others useful and happy. Most of us have an underlying throughout its history that happiness, the sort of happiness that makes life worth living, is bound up with effective effort.

The real test of any cure for insomnia is the degree and kind of happiness it leaves behind it. Happiness is an indefinite sort is not enough for the man who discriminates; he must have happiness of a kind that will wear which is quid pro quo in the marketplace where he trades endeavor for satisfaction. It is the toughness of the fiber of his happiness, its power to endure a shock and stand before the blazing light of reality, which will determine whether it has been worth which to fight the battle against sleeplessness. Today fewer men than ever believe of any man who has not added to his power to believe, the power to will the effective accomplishment of independent tasks. The man how knows that he wants and why he wants it, the man who believes in the legitimacy is his desire to possess a will to sleep, who wants that not simply because he longs to be set free for more effective work, may take heart. His suffering can be cured.

The real test of any cure for insomnia is the degree and kind of happiness it leaves behind it. Happiness is an indefinite sort is not enough for the man who discriminates; he must have happiness of a kind that will wear which is quid pro quo in the marketplace where he trades endeavor for satisfaction. It is the toughness of the fiber of his happiness, its power to endure a shock and stand before the blazing light of reality, which will determine whether it has been worth which to fight the battle against sleeplessness. Today fewer men than ever believe of any man who has not added to his power to believe, the power to will the effective accomplishment of independent tasks. The man how knows that he wants and why he wants it, the man who believes in the legitimacy is his desire to possess a will to sleep, who wants that not simply because he longs to be set free for more effective work, may take heart. His suffering can be cured.

About the Author

Joseph Collins, MD