Natural Sleep Can Help 
the Pain Go Away

by Mary I. O'Sullivan, M.S.

Nothing prepared us for the terrifying events of September 11, 2001.  We watched in disbelief as innocent people were being used as human bombs.  We watched important buildings--great symbols of our society --crumble before our eyes.

Family members who lost loved ones in New York and Washington will struggle to have their lives return to some kind of normalcy, but they are dealing with heartbreaking loss.  They have experienced intense shock and healing from this pain will take a long time.

Grief counselors summoned by the Red Cross and other sponsoring organizations will be helpful, but they know wounds are slow to heal from this kind of emotional injury.

So how can we help these families through this difficult time?  A surprisingly simple and important step is to encourage them to get quality sleep.  One of the first symptoms of grief is difficulty sleeping.  A family member said on TV recently, “This event was so devastating, it’s even hard to sleep since it happened.”

Recent sleep research indicates a major purpose of REM sleep, which occurs periodically throughout sleep, is to give our brains the ability to resolve negative emotions while dreaming.  Optimum sleep of 7-8 hours with appropriate REM periods allows us to be able to awaken feeling calm and refreshed.  Instead, many of these family members will experience insomnia and nightmares.  Their natural sleep process, designed to help them feel better, will not be working effectively.

Why will they have trouble sleeping?  Often after an intense emotional upset, we relive the awful sights, sounds and smells we encountered causing anxiety and fear while we’re trying to sleep.  The brain senses this intense fear and anxiety and activates the stress response.  Adrenaline and other stress hormones are released into our system keeping us keyed up and awake rather than calm and receptive to sleep.

Many of us will try to resolve this kind of sleep problem by using drugs.  Non prescription drugs are frequently used but they often contain antihistamines and cause next day drowsiness.  Many newer prescription drugs aid sleep by actually slowing down the central nervous system.  These can be helpful for a short time; however, they produce side effects, are habit forming and should be taken no longer than a month. 

Another alternative to help family members sleep and feel better is our Gift of Sleep CD program.  It’s designed to work with stress-related sleep problems to encourage healing, natural sleep. The program contains 2 CDs and an informational booklet.  The CDs, with their music, heartbeat and guided imagery narrative, should be played while we sleep to help resolve emotional distress during REM.

The CDs provide many benefits. They compliment the counseling process, they may be used in combination with medications with no harmful side effects, and they can reduce the intensity of pain in the body.

But most importantly, this program will assist family members to sleep well, allowing them to experience the grief process naturally and eventually bringing a sense of resolution and peace to their shattered lives.