41. How to Make Friends (And Magic) With Insomnia, with Annabel Abbs-Streets

This episode is a must for my fellow sleep-challenged listeners. Finally, a refreshing take on how to think about insomnia in a more productive way. Instead of beating yourself up and spiraling down, author Annabel Abbs-Streets shares her research on how many insomniacs throughout history have harnessed the magic that lies in the Night Self and given themselves permission to be awake.

The stress of not sleeping can be worse than the actual lack of sleep, and Annabel's book Sleepless: Unleashing the Subversive Power of The Night Self, offers guidance on becoming more comfortable amid the challenges.

WE COVERED:

• The powerful impact of grief and trauma on our sleep cycles, and how to respect and lean into it
• How we change on a chemical, biological and energetic level when we sleep, and how those changes impact us when we wake mid-slumber
• The resilience of women and how we are designed to endure more than we think: "if women couldn’t cope with broken nights, the human race would have ended"
• The Cathedral Effect- the healing benefits of cultivating a sense of wonder in nature and the night sky
• Our unique circadian rhythms and chronotypes -some people are hardwired to be nocturnal, and they can benefit from wakefulness while the rest of the world sleeps

RESOURCES:

Sleepless: Unleashing The Subversive Power of the Night Self

The Mind After Midnight

Annabel Abbs-Streets is the award-winning author of seven books, most recently Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women (voted a Top Ten 2021 Travel book) and 52 Ways to Walk (an Amazon bestseller). Her work has been translated into thirty languages. She is a Fellow of the Brown Foundation, writes regularly for a wide variety of media, and often appears on radio, TV, and podcasts. She lives in London and Sussex with her family.

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Work: www.ericahuss.com