10 Former Insomniacs Share the Trick That Finally Worked for Them

Listen to your inner cave man

Former attorney and current health coach, Jeff Hughes, had insomnia for most of his life. It started when he was a child, and lasted well into his 30s—that was 25 years, and a lot of trial-and-error insomnia fixes ago. “How did I move beyond it? Unfortunately, there was no quick fix. I tried and tested lots of things, until I developed a routine, that worked for me. The main elements included not drinking alcohol right before bed, not having caffeine in the evening, meditating regularly, and using blue-light filters on my electronic devices, since blue light suppresses melatonin production,” he says. All those habits are highly effective bedtime hygiene techniques, but for Hughes, the most important change was learning to respect his circadian rhythms. “Humans evolved to wake up when its light outside, and to fall asleep when it gets dark. In modern times, we create our own schedules, often staying on our electronics 24-7. The body is more comfortable with the Stone Age pattern, which I now follow, on both weekdays and weekends,” he explains.