Sleep Disorders: Jessica Simpson's Psychophysiological Insomnia

Maybe Renee Zellweger should seek sleep advice from a fellow celebrity: Jessica Simpson has found a way to beat the insomnia that's been plaguing her lately -- by sleeping on the floor.

"It's more of a mental thing. I tell myself, 'I cannot fall asleep, there's no way if I get into bed right now I'm gonna fall asleep.' I end up just laying on the floor and falling asleep," Simpson says.

"That's the advice I've gotten -- don't ever get into bed until you know that it's time to go to sleep, or else you'll lay there and that's when you start tossing and turning... I'll start thinking about what I wanna dream about... It's called lucid dreaming. I'm a little sexually frustrated right now, so if you tell yourself what you're gonna dream about then you can have a really great dream."

In truth when someone cannot fall asleep in their bed but can fall asleep elsewhere, it is called Psychophysiological Insomnia.

This is a situation where there is a large mental component (the Psycho part -- not that she is psycho -- this is VERY common) and a physical component that has to do with the inability to relax certain muscle groups.

Jessica is also correct to not get in bed when you are not tired, because alltrying to sleep when you're not ready does is increase autonomic arousal-- basically, just frustrating yourself. Then you'll never fall asleep.

As for lucid dreaming, this is another very interesting topic. It is the situation where people are aware that they are dreaming and can "order up" whomever or whatever they want in their dreams. So if she is sexually frustrated, it is quite possible to order whomever she wants. In many cases people can reach orgasm in these lucid dreams.

If Jessica is interested in supplementing her floor-sleeping method, I would be happy to send her a copy of my book, Good Night, and my SoundSleep meditation CD. Here's my email.