Overcoming Sleep Problems by Benson Schaeffer, Ph.D. Sleep is a hope, not a habit over which the individual has conscious control. Falling asleep quickly, remaining asleep throughout the night, and awakening to the alarm in the morning, not earlier, are hopes realized, not products of the exercise of will.
Extreme stress can easily destroy the hope of sleep.
For these reasons, many who lose a loved one through homicide have sleep problems. The stress of violent death throws their central nervous systems into a state of disequilibrium and disorganizes both restful sleep at night and alert wakefulness during the day. Below are outlined methods for overcoming stress-related sleep problems, methods collectively termed sleep hygiene. The only aspect of sleep under our deliberate control is awakening, a loud enough alarm will awaken any hearing person. The requirement to awaken to an alarm at the same time every weekday helps re-establish firm sleep patterns by regularizing the cyclic movements from shallow to deep and dreaming sleep that occurs throughout the night when sleep is not disturbed.