Meditation & Qi Gong More Helpful for Insomnia Than Benzo's

These have all helped me with insomnia a lot - both relaxing and calming at night to help you fall asleep better and more quickly, and energizing during the day if you slept badly.  There are even specific exercises that help when you've had a bad night!  (My story, below, with more info on how benzo's harm sleep.)

 

Jason Stephenson has a wide variety of meditations for many problems we experience:

 

This is for pain, but you can "rewrite" that portion of it, and The Honest Guys have dozens of great meditations for everything from anxiety to stress. 

 

Nice short 10-minute one on lovingkindness:

 

If you won't be distracted by a hot, half-naked Xi Gong teacher, this is splendid. (Ah, the things I do to heal!)

 

Yoqi also has a variety of Xi Gong meditations, from mood issues to brain ones:

 

I've had near-lifelong insomnia since getting mono at 16 and developing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. This was the reason I was prescribed benzo's in the first place, of virtually every sort.  Yes, at first it feels like you're finally getting some real sleep!  But the tiny unmentioned side effects like death and disability finally got me off them - and I recovered 80% of my health (after mostly housebound and bedridden for 2 decades).  They hadn't worked in ages, and caused dozens of horrible side effects often misdiagnosed as new diseases.  After 20 years of regular use, with irregular use before that, I've found that guided meditations and visualizations during the worst of the rebound insomnia helped far more than taking the meds.  In fact, studies show any benefits are largely mythical -  the AMA Guide to Better Sleep writes that they actually WORSEN sleep as they destroy REM sleep, and studies show you perform worse on tasks with a full night of drugged sleep than even 2 hours of regular sleep! 

 

During the worst of the rebound insomnia, I found doing lots of short meditations made me feel better than the meds did, as they give you a kind of rest similar to sleep.  (Some yogi's claim not to need sleep at all.)  I'm not that good - but it helped me survive hellish insomnia and still have enough energy to exercise, which also helps sleep.  I've linked some of my favourite guided meditations and visualizations below.  Xi Gong (a moving meditation) has been the most helpful for me for ALL the horrible symptoms from the Terrible Trio: akathisia, depersonalization/derealization, and clinical depression, and is great for calming you at night if you're having of those "infinite loop of fear" moments (or hours).  Yes, insomnia sucks, but these techniques have helped me have the energy to create more, write a play, perform, exercise, and socialize - all virtually impossible when on the meds!

 

I can't say I'm a perfect sleeper by any stretch of the imagination, but I've had up-to 9 days of 7-8 hours sleep in a row, and survive the return of insomnia by doing more meditation and exercise (I take long walks in nature, dance, and do yoga and stretch and strength exercises).  After 20 years of being mostly disabled, I'm pretty damn proud of how fit I've become!  That took months (2 years to be able to dance again), but bit by bit we heal.

 

 

For those who still think benzo's are helpful and not harmful - the statistics that got me to quit.  (This is about Z drugs, but it's true of all of them):

 

"Although most patients believe they accrue an extra 50 minutes of sleep by taking them, the American Journal of Public Health reported that Z drugs increase our sleep by a mere 12 minutes. There are other concerns, too. In February, BMJ Open published perhaps the most alarming argument against the use of sleeping tablets. An American study compared 10,500 patients taking prescribed sleeping pills with 23,000 patients not on sleep medication. Although the absolute risk of death remained quite low, it was four times higher in those taking sleeping tablets.

 

"What was new in our paper was information about association with mortality and cancer of specific drugs, including the agonists zolpidem, zopiclone, the older benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and dipheniramine," says Dr Daniel Kripke of the Scripps clinic in California, and the report's lead author. "They all appeared associated with seriously increased mortality. All appeared associated with cancer also. One of the disturbing things about our data was that even taking fewer than 18 doses per year appeared associated with excess mortality."

 

Thanks!

 

I try to do Qi Gong but the muscle tightness in back and shoulders means it is very painful even doing those simple exercises.

 

I am trying to meditate several  times a day but very hard to sit and find it doesn’t work unless can sit.

 

I used to do an hour of Vipassana a day prior to WD and that and Dr Wahl diet (also ruined due to WD) had largely resolved ME and all pain but still had muscle contractures that no exercise, yoga etc has ever helped. Just really hoping getting off the benzo is the answer to that one. Certainly doesn’t feel like it atm.

 

Will definitely check out links

Yes, fasciculations (the painful muscle contractions that never let your muscles fully relax) are brutal, aren't they?  I had them severely, misdiagnosed as fibro when I was taking benzo's.  Some months after quitting them, that pain virtually disappeared.  It was wonderful - heaven is absence of pain! Hang in there, that gets better.  Can you walk? I found walking in nature very helpful too for falling asleep more quickly.

Hey! Where's the "hot, half-naked Xi Gong teacher"?  That link took me to a Jason Stephenson meditation.

Hi and thanks for the post!

 

I have just started using guided mediations that I found on YouTube to help me get through the night. I find that I really enjoy Michael Sealey and Jason Stephenson, too. These meditations really are amazing and I can't wait to try more of them for other aspects of my life besides the insomnia, such as anxiety, weight loss, self-esteem. I wonder if they can motivate me to clean out my closets, too? 

 

I will have to check out Qi Jong. And I want to learn more about breathing techniques because I find that I am breathing very shallow. I take Pilates and struggle with deep exhales.

 

Anyway, very helpful info! Thanks!