There is a joke that a young man living in the attic on the top floor, always go back very late every night, and not particularly conscious of the time to go back to make a lot of noise, noisy downstairs an old man sleep poorly. The next day, the old man had to make a big fuss with the youth. One day, the youth went back very late again, and the noise was still not small, and one shoe was thrown loudly from the bed to the floor. The next day, the old man came up again to find the youth, saying: “You have caused a sleepless night again, you threw a shoe, where is that shoe? I tell you, if you don’t throw down that shoe, I can’t sleep soundly.” This is a joke, though. In the opinion of Song Chongsheng, a psychologist at Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, it reveals the psychological truth of some people’s insomnia. According to Song Chongsheng, some insomnia patients are very sensitive to insomnia, and they feel that insomnia makes them feel distracted. More critically, these insomniacs internally set up an assumption that if they do not have insomnia, they will be energetic and clear-headed. In this setting, insomniacs will do everything they can to fight insomnia, but in fact it is this psychological fight against insomnia that is one of the real causes of their insomnia. Insomnia should not be a scapegoat for other problems There was a bus driver who claimed to have been having trouble sleeping and had severe insomnia. He was worried about traffic accidents due to his lack of energy during the day, and the man asked for leave. The driver’s symptoms of insomnia improved significantly during his annual leave. Through understanding that the driver to work a difficult, such as by the exclusion of colleagues very angry, and do not dare to make a sound when the insomnia will rapidly aggravate. Song Chongsheng analysis, the common characteristics of such patients is that insomnia before encountering some psychological dilemma or conflict; and lack of courage to face, or the ability to cope; this time the general population may have insomnia because of the presence of anxiety. But most people do not pay much attention to insomnia. There are some people, however, who have a very sensitive reaction to insomnia. Insomnia can make them feel distracted. And they set up an assumption internally that if I don’t have insomnia, I’ll be energetic and I’ll be clear-headed. But now I can’t work better or I can’t study better because I have insomnia. With such an assumption, the patient will fight with insomnia, keep going to the hospital and try all kinds of treatments for insomnia, and the sleep may improve in the first few days, but it soon fails. In this way, in the struggle with insomnia, the original psychological difficulties encountered are covered up, put aside or delayed. And there is a reason that can be accepted by myself and others: I suffer from insomnia. In fact, the reason why insomnia becomes a problem, or even a disease, in this population is related to the patient’s initial conscious or unconscious use of insomnia as a coping measure for a difficult situation. However, it is clear that this is a negative and immature defense strategy. This type of defense is more common in youth. This phenomenon occurs in some high school seniors. They often lose sleep during the year of the college entrance exams and are very distressed about it. Once they get into college, the insomnia will be relieved quickly. Song Chongsheng reminds us that if insomnia occurs, do not rush to treat it as a problem, because our sleep system itself has the function of self-regulation. If you have insomnia for a long time, reflect on whether I need insomnia. Is insomnia acting as a scapegoat for other problems. If so, see a psychiatrist; if not, it’s not too late to seek medical attention. Common sense misconceptions about sleep need to be clarified People habitually believe that they need 8 hours a day to get enough sleep. In fact, when this data was first generated, 8 hours was just an average, fluctuating 2 hours up and down from 8 hours, i.e. 6-10 hours is the normal range. The key to measuring this is not simply to apply the standard and see if you are close to this range, but to compare it with the amount of sleep you have had in the past. As long as there are no significant fluctuations, there is no need to worry. Some older people, due to physiological aging, are naturally shortening their sleep time. However, they take sleep time as an indicator of their health, and if they have a few days of poor sleep, they get anxious and worried about whether they will continue to lose sleep the next night. During the day, they also think of ways to get a good night’s sleep, such as taking a walk before bed, listening to music, soaking their feet, or even thinking about taking medication as a matter of course. These methods may seem to promote sleep, but they all disrupt previous habits or routines, and doing them without a calm mind is a reminder to myself that I may have to lose sleep, so I need to fight it. This anticipatory anxiety about sleep can put a person in a state of alertness and excitement, which of course runs counter to sleep. Song Chongsheng believes that one of the reasons for this state of mind is not so much the fear of sleep, but rather the deep-seated fear of aging and death. This is because there is an implicit assumption in the minds of these patients that a good night’s sleep approximately equals good health, and that they will lose their health if they lose sleep. Insomnia can also occur due to excessive attention to sleep Song Chongsheng said that there are some people who also suffer from insomnia due to excessive attention to sleep. They may have insomnia due to accidental reasons, but they will pay much attention to this, insomnia in their attention not only did not get better, but was fixed. They will repeatedly seek medical attention, or change their pillows, curtains, etc. According to Song Chongsheng, there are many factors that cause insomnia, in addition to the psychological causes discussed above, there are also biological and sociological factors at play. Therefore, when looking at insomnia, we need to see it more as a result of multiple factors working together, rather than as the cause of a particular problem or disease.