Elusive Sleep? Welcoming Night's Twin Energies
- Laura A. Weber
- 18 hours ago
- 4 min read
In the Springtime, as daylight begins to encroach on Night's reign, and the relentless pace and demands of a posthuman context threaten even the remote possibility of a restful slumber, many are turning over in their beds with frustration and despair. The results? Bloodshot eyes, achy limbs, restlessness, irritability and exhaustion throughout the day. We feel depleted.
Why can't we sleep? Or maybe a better question, why can't we rest?
It could be a complex combination of factors: the gravity of geopolitical instability, ecological collapse, personal, vocational, or health concerns, financial burdens, or even our lack of connection to Nature. It could be that we suffer from "Hurry Sickness," and just can't slow down to rest. It could be partly that we're actually afraid to fall asleep, perhaps associating "Sleep" with "Death."
According to Hesiod's Theogony, the goddess Nyx = Night, gave birth to twin sons with no father in the picture, thus excluding them from the Olympian hierarchy. The twins, Hypnos = Sleep, and Thanatos = Death, resided in the underworld, and characterized two facets of one Energy: Rest. Depicted as brothers who work together to bring Rest to mortals, one signified temporary, healing rest for the body - Hypnos; the other, eternal rest for the soul - Thanatos. The terms "sleep" and "death" often appear together in ancient Greek literature, an archetypal association that makes some fear sleep as a kind of death. It's called "somniphobia" or "hypnophobia," extreme fear of sleep.
We spend much of our lives, about one-third, either sleeping or trying to sleep. Many dismiss our need of sleep for holistic health and well-being. We forget that deep, restful REM sleep is necessary for physical and mental thriving.
What aids us in restful sleep? Resetting our circadian rhythm and being able to flow into night from daylight hours by regular Nature immersion is essential. It works by switching off - gradually - the executive functioning of our brain. Nature immersion lowers stress cortisol, helps us focus our attention beyond the nattering banalities of productivity and problem-solving, and contributes to balance, the natural defense capacity of our immune system, respiratory, circulatory, and ambulatory health. We can also ensure that our nighttime rituals honor darkness, helping us to settle into slumber, and embrace relaxation as a practice. These all contribute to a reliably restful sleep.
So what do we do?
Attune ourselves to an "always-on," hyperactive state of mind
Introduce a work mindset by cluttering the bedroom
Watch t.v. for late-night entertainment or news
Check texts and other message apps
Play video games
Catch up on email
Scroll endlessly on social media, assaulting our cognition and imagination in the process
Consume junk food or alcohol before bed
Overlay the sleep space with harsh lighting, stinky odors, and rampant noise pollution
The twin brothers' Energy for Rest might not be welcome under these circumstances.
Growing into a healthy sleeper - and a better "rester" - requires prioritizing the experience as endemic to overall health and resilience. We need to practice healthy sleep rituals as we would regular exercise, healthy diets, enjoyment of gentle hobbies, and life-giving relationships. The environment we sleep in matters, and the environment we surround ourselves with and immerse ourselves in each day matters.
For the environment we sleep in, we can design a sleep sanctuary, a bedroom Soulscape that welcomes elements of the natural world to soothe and invite restfulness. Just removing clutter and adjusting the light, temperature, and noise can help. My go-to is soft, natural color, subdued lighting, blackout curtains, grounding sheets, and popping the window to hear birdsong, rainsong, and gentle breezes. One chapter of my favorite book, and I'm out.
What about daytime prep? Just like prepping fresh ingredients for a healthy meal, we need re-creation time outside during the day to prepare for nighttime rest. Spending time outside every day can mean the difference between a miserable night's sleep, and waking up wanting to embrace the new day!
Then there's that other prep for Thanatos. It's the one that teaches us daily through baby steps - Hypnos - to relax, let go, and yield control to whatever comes next, to Mystery, the unknown. Sleeping is death-prep, using the creative element of dreamscape. Hypnos allows us to dream, so vital to our health, to connect worlds of the unknown, our deepest fears and our insuperable passion for life, with our sub-conscious imagination, and to address our waking enigmas with wisdom and confidence. Dreaming allows us to re-create stultified paradigms and imagine whole new worlds. Sleep is the medium for the art of dreaming. Sleeping and dreaming are non-negotiables, not throw-aways sacrificed on the altar of productivity and hyper-activity.
We are being prepared daily for the kind of rest that Thanatos provides, that deep, abiding rest that awaits us at the end of our journey. We can resist death, paralyzed with terror, and avoid it until the very last moment. Or we can practice every day, sleep-prepping, learning from Nature who knows that dying is living anew, that life is dying constantly, and death is living again. We can make friends with death's twin, Hypnos, right now - and feel welcomed into the family when it's time to journey to the other shore. We may find that their combined Twin Energy is really one, sweet, salubrious Rest. And we may love the feeling of peace it brings. Two brothers; one Energy for Life - Rest.