h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have found that insomnia is one of the most frustrating traits (or rather "unchangeable phenomena") of human existence. We only cannot sleep when there really is some sort of dilemma that, well unconsciously, just gets into your brain and is always underlying everything that you do in your life. No matter what you do..until you sort that thing out whatever it is....you will never sleep well again!! As most people don't even know why they can't sleep and think that it's just a 'them' thing...just try some herbal valerian...it calms and relaxes nervous tension and literally just sends you to sleep. I believe that no person is a true insomniac. Everybody is capable of sleeping..it is just whether your mind thinks that it is safe or not.

To quote Fight Club...

"With insomnia you're never fully asleep but also never fully awake."

I agree that insomnia is, as you say, one of the most frustrating traits, but I disagree that there is always an underlying reason. Every night I lie awake, and I know for a fact that there is nothing wrong with me, not physically, emotionally or spiritually. I have tried everything from good old fashioned counting sheep to herbal tablets, everything that I can. My entire body screams out for sleep, every part of me just wants to sink into the bliss that so many people take for granted. I can't explain it to anyone, but it's changing my life. I can no longer concentrate at school on anything and my marks have gone down considerably as a result. I find myself drawing into myself and become more and more quiet in an effort to hide what has happened to me and what I have become. I know that sleep is safe, I know that it's the one thing that will save me, but still nothing happens. I waver on the line between full consciousness and sleep, completely relaxed and yet simultaneously mentally tense, because deep down I'm asking myself how long this must go on for.

And how long has it lasted?