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We tend to blame our insomnia on stress - the product of our modern society, but the problem stretches back to the beginning of time. Edward Young (1683-1765) wrote in a collection of poems called "Night Thoughts":

Tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep!
He, like the world, his ready visit pays
Where fortune smiles; the wretched he forsakes.

The very title of this collection indicates that he too was a sufferer. We all have difficulty sleeping at one time or another, but the worst aspect of insomnia is worrying about not getting enough quality sleep. This can make us moody and irritable with those around us. We become obsessed by rituals and bedtime routines in order to ensure true repose; the "Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleep of care," that so eluded Macbeth. There are probably as many cures as there are insomniacs, because what appears to work for one person never seems to work for another.

Churchill, Dickens and Benjamin Franklin all blamed their beds for their nocturnal wakefulness. Winston Churchill had twin beds, and when he couldn't fall asleep in one he changed to the other one.

This may have worked for Churchill but for Charles Dickens the position of his bed was a vital factor in reaching the dormant state. He could only sleep in a bed that had its head pointing due north, and then only if he was lying exactly in the middle of the mattress. Dickens used to check this by extending both his arms out sideways and then wriggling until he was exactly in the centre, only after this ritual could he begin to enjoy his slumber.

Benjamin Franklin was more concerned with the temperature of his bed. He would get out of bed when unable to sleep and let it air and cool down, and then, when the sheets were cold, he would get back in to try again.

Many sufferers resort to drugs to help them relax before they can sleep. Marcel Proust was convinced that veronal was the answer and Evelyn Waugh used bromides - although they tended to make him hallucinate which prevented him from sleeping.

Some people are driven to maintain a perpetual drug induced haze in order to calm their nerves and secure a peaceful night's sleep. Marilyn Monroe is said to have been taking up to 20 Phenobarbital a day by the end of her life; and we all know what happened to her - or do we? Of course, there are those that prefer not to take drugs and emphasise the use of herbs and other healthful alternatives, but even these can be taken to extremes. Vincent van Gogh could only descend into that blessed unconsciousness if he smothered his mattress and pillow with camphor - presumably to clear his head of all his strange thoughts.

Sometimes we become so obsessed by lack of sleep that we allow it to govern our lives. The Earl of Rosebery (Prime Minister of England from 1894 - 1895) is said to have been driven to resign because of his chronic insomnia. He wrote, "I cannot forget 1895. To lie, night after night, staring wide awake, hopeless of sleep, tormented in nerves.... is an experience which no sane man with a conscience would repeat," a sentiment which all too many of us share.

The best way to deal with sleeplessness is to dismiss it from your mind and get on with life. Many famous people have used their additional hours to good advantage. Napoleon Bonaparte learned to live with the fact that he was only existing on three or four hours sleep a night and got on with his grand schemes, while Thomas Edison used to make up for his lack of night-time repose by catnapping during the day. One of the most creative insomniacs was Alexandre Dumas, pre. He produced enough words to fill 1,200 volumes and claimed to have fathered 500 children, certainly something to think about in those unasked for extra hours!

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth Coughlan.
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