Nature Has a Lullaby: Passing Through the Sleepless Nights

I have carried insomnia with me for as long as I can remember. Some nights it is the struggle to fall asleep, other nights it is the waking—again and again—until morning.

I am a vivid dreamer and have always found sleep to be a very difficult part of my overall health to conquer. Sleep studies have confirmed what I already knew - my sleep cycles are restless and fractured. I am not a fan of taking prescription medication unless it's absolutely necessary. I never really liked sleep aides; mostly because I've always feared taking the medication and then sleeping through a fire or an intruder. I cannot surrender that kind of control and besides that, the strongest sleep aids have failed to put me to sleep.

A couple of years back, I found myself lying in bed for hours-as usual but not strolling as I normally would. I recall looking up scenery on YouTube-because I am random, and I found thunderstorms. Apparently, sometime during listening to the storm, I had dozed off and woke up the next morning to the sounds still playing. I didn't use the sounds the next few nights and at the time I hadn't correlated that the sleep I had gotten was related to the sounds that had relaxed me that night.

Shortly after, I began using the natural sounds to initiate my sleep cycles. I incorporated them into my sleep routine regularly and can say that when I use natural sounds to sleep, I tend to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep all night. My preferred sounds are thunder and lightning, heavy rain, and the ocean to fall and stay asleep.

I have added one here that I use if you'd like to try it. Happy dreams!