What Navy SEALs Can Teach Us About Insomnia and Sleep Anxiety

If you struggle with insomnia or sleep anxiety, this might change the way you think about trying to fall asleep at night.

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Navy SEALs have a training drill called drownproofing.

Their hands are tied.

Their feet are tied.

And they’re dropped into deep water.

There is no control.

No escape plan.

No quick fix.

Just water closing over your head.

For a second, everything in the body goes into pure survival mode.

The lungs tighten.

The chest locks.

The mind screams.

Panic takes over every system.

Fight.

Kick.

Thrash.

Do something.

Anything.

Get up. Get air.

NOW.

But the problem is… the water doesn’t respond to panic.

The more they fight it, the more it wins.

Energy drains fast.

Movements get messy.

Breathing gets harder.

And very quickly, panic becomes exhaustion.

This is the moment most people break.

Not because they can’t swim.

But because they cannot tolerate the feeling of going under.

And then comes the part that almost feels impossible to watch.

They stop.

Not because they gave up.

But because something deeper takes over.

They let themselves sink.

Fully.

All the way down.

And in that descent, something unexpected happens.

The panic starts to quiet.

The body is no longer fighting the water — it is in it.

Supported by it.

Working with it instead of against it.

And only then, at the bottom, do they push off.

Not wildly.

In panic.

Just a controlled push upward.

Enough to reach air.

Enough to breathe.

And then… they sink again.

A rhythm.

A cycle.

A survival strategy that looks almost like surrender… but is actually control.

And that’s the moment it changes.

The realization that the way out is not fighting harder…

It’s going down first.

Fully.

Deliberately.

Calmly.

Only then can you push up for air.

And honestly?

I sometimes think insomnia works the exact same way.

At 2:17 a.m., your brain suddenly decides you’re in danger.

You check the clock.

Your heart speeds up.

You start calculating how many hours are left before morning.

And then the mental thrashing begins.

Force sleep.

Try harder.

Fix this immediately.

Why am I still awake?

Tomorrow is going to be horrible.

But the struggle itself often becomes the thing keeping people awake.

The nervous system was never designed to fall asleep while feeling under attack.

So many women come to mind when I think about this. But one in particular is Debbie.

For two years, she was completely consumed by trying to fix sleep.

One program after another.

This tool.

That strategy.

This potion.

This pill.

This doctor.

Maybe another blood test.

Maybe hormonal testing… even though she was 30 years old and deep down knew her sleep struggles were being driven by fear, pressure, racing thoughts at night, and the constant mental battle happening before bed.

But it wasn’t just insomnia anymore.

It became identity.

Every night felt like a test she was failing.

Every morning felt like proof she was still stuck.

Every new program felt like hope… followed quickly by disappointment.

She wasn’t just trying to sleep.

She was trying to fix herself.

And ironically, the more she chased sleep, the further it ran.

The more she added, the more alert she became.

The more she checked, the more she woke up.

The more she tried to control it, the less her body trusted her.

At some point, she stopped trying to do 47 different things.

She chose one path. One direction. And stopped emotionally thrashing against the night.

Sometimes you need to sink.

Deep.

Not into hopelessness.

Into surrender.

Into trusting your body again instead of constantly trying to outsmart it.

Into no longer scanning every minute of the night like it holds the answer.

Into no longer measuring yourself against the clock.

Into no longer treating wakefulness like failure.

Because the moment you start fighting sleep…you are no longer in sleep. You are in battle.

And the body does not fall asleep in battle.

It falls asleep in safety.

And then… push upward gently for air.

Not rushing.

Not forcing.

Not proving anything.

Just a quiet return.

A small rise.

Enough to breathe again without panic sitting on your chest.

That’s often where healing begins.

Not when you figure it out.

Not when you finally get it right.

Not when you collect enough strategies or answers or explanations.

But when something inside you stops bracing for impact.

When the night is no longer something to win against.

Not when you figure it out. Not when you finally get it right.

But when you stop fighting the water.

And realize… you were never meant to survive the night by force.

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