Insomnia and the Writer’s Mind: Nurturing Creativity Amid Sleepless Nights

How to Embrace Restless Hours Without Losing Your Creative Spark

Insomnia in some form has plagued me for years. I’ve never been a consistent sleeper. I always thought of it as a necessary evil. Little did I know it would afford me extra opportunities to create, albeit at the expense of sleep. Despite the concerns associated with it, there is a strange beauty in lying awake in the waning hours of the night.

As a writer, I’ve viewed these sleepless nights in a couple of different ways. On one hand, these battles with insomnia can be physically draining; if too many come in rapid succession, there can also be some cognitive effects. For writers and creative types, insomnia can often fuel bursts of creativity, but that creativity comes at the cost of much-needed rest. In this article, I will explore the oddly fascinating relationship between insomnia and the writing process and ways to manage fatigue while maintaining creativity.

The Correlation Between Insomnia and Creativity

Writers and insomnia can be frequent companions, whether or not it’s wanted. When the rest of the world, those who consider themselves “normal” by comparison, have succumbed to the Sandman’s nightly rounds, we remain awake, inundated with an idea that hangs around like the raven above the chamber door.

Why might this be, you ask? One might say there is something about the calm of night. While the rest of the world sleeps, those of us with creative minds may think, to wonder, and imagine without the distractions of the daytime. During these hours, when the rest of the world sleeps, our subconscious minds step into the spotlight, offering insight and inspiration that may have slipped through the cracks during daylight.

I am reminded as I write this of one particular evening during which the Sandman seemed to have skipped me on his rounds. I looked at my watch after about three hours of futile attempts at sleep. There wasn’t a particular idea then, at least not consciously. It was more of a general need to put something on paper. After tossing and turning, trying to resist the urge to get out of bed at 3 AM, I finally went to my office and started writing.

This session produced one of my favorite story ideas, something I’m working on that I’m not going to spoil just yet. Stay tuned! I had one of my more productive sessions since I started pursuing writing seriously, and at a time when I least wanted to do it. Such an irony is not lost on me, and it has led to many other such sessions, and this trend will likely continue. There are dangers associated with such creative sessions, but sometimes it’s all worth it.

The Hidden Dangers of Sleepless Creativity

As fun and exciting as sudden bursts of creativity in the middle of the night may seem on the surface, it doesn’t negate the importance of proper sleep habits. As much as you might want to get that last idea down at the expense of a little sleep, doing so too often can have the opposite effect on creativity in the long term. Chronic insomnia dulls focus, reduces problem-solving abilities, and if we’re not careful, it can diminish the very creative advantage we think we might get by skipping out on some sleep.

The effect of sleep deprivation in favor of creative inspiration is something I’ve experienced firsthand. I’ll lie down at night with every intention of getting a good night’s sleep only to have some random thought or idea run through my head and start poking at me. After finally tiring of tossing and turning, I’ll go to the office or grab my laptop, only to have the idea vanish as if it hadn’t been there at all, leaving me with little sleep and nothing to show for it.

Other nights, however, the idea or thought will take hold, leaving me with pages of words and scarce hours of sleep. On the latter nights, my late-night writing sprints, which later turned into marathons, left me excited for the progress but physically drained. It was as though the exhilarated clarity I’d been experiencing had been replaced by a dense fog that clouded my thoughts, like I’d been transported to a Wisconsin country road after a rainstorm. As my thoughts cleared on one particular day, I came to the realization that there had to be a way to honor the creative muse without sacrificing my health. The solution was out there, and I was determined to find it.

Tips for Managing Insomnia While Nurturing Creativity

I can’t say my methods are foolproof, nor will they work for everyone. But I’ve come up with six—I tried to condense it to five, but couldn’t think of one to leave out or lump into one of the others—ways to manage insomnia and the sleepy headspace that results while preserving and even enhancing the writing process:

Create a Sleep-Conducive Environment

The world outside can be cruel and stressful. Make your bedroom a sanctuary, an oasis for you to escape that craziness. Some of you may find it helpful to invest in blackout curtains, particularly if your bedroom has an east-facing window. For me, the most important thing is to keep the room cool. I am naturally warm and sleep hot. If my room is hot, sleeping is all but impossible for me. I used to laugh at the people who sleep with a fan year-round. Boy, do I regret that now. Now I get it.

Noise is a factor too, at least for some. My bedroom is toward the rear of my house, and as such is isolated from most noise. But for those who have bedrooms closer to noise sources, it might be a good idea to invest in some noise cancellation. While doing these things may not stave off insomnia completely, it’s definitely a step in the right direction toward creating a restful sleep environment.

Keep a Notebook by the Bed

No matter how hard you try, sometimes the creative mind doesn’t want to sleep. Instead of enduring the torturous silence and anxiety that comes with the sudden onset of a creative burst, scratch the itch before going back to sleep. Keep a notebook by the bed. I keep my Kindle Scribe close by for this purpose. I recommend getting one if you don’t have one already. I’ll leave a link in this article for you to check them out if you wish. Whether you choose a classic or modern approach, keeping something close by to jot down fleeting thoughts can help you quiet the chatter in your brain while also assuring you that your inspiration won’t go to waste. You can also do this before bed in a freewriting exercise.

Embrace a Freewriting or “Brain Dump” Routine

One of the best ways I’ve found to keep sudden creative inspiration from interfering with sleep is something we call a brain dump. Before you go to bed, spend about 10 or 15 minutes just writing whatever comes to mind. No thinking, no filters. This is another pragmatic use for the Kindle Scribe for those who enjoy handwriting but also enjoy modern tech. I do these brain dumps in the morning, more commonly referred to in that sense as “morning pages,” but a similar stream of consciousness writing session before bed can allow you to sleep soundly without worrying about that one idea slipping away from you as the Sandman makes his rounds. It also can be a simple unloading of your mind, taking the thoughts, worries, and ideas and putting them on paper without fear of critique or judgment, allowing you to drift off to sleep with a clear head. One of the many techniques I recommend for relaxing before sleep.

Practice Relaxation Techniques

Fighting insomnia, whether or not it’s creatively induced, is not as simple as just lying down and forcing yourself to sleep. Trust me, I’ve tried. But it doesn’t have to be a losing fight. There are many ways to relax, both mind and body, to encourage a restful night’s sleep.

Deep breathing exercises—I know, cliché, but stay with me—are a great way to relax and prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep. Trust me, I dismissed them for being cliché nonsense at first too, but they are anything but that. The key is to focus on your breathing to calm both your mind and body. I always start with a slow inhale through the nose, and a slow exhale through the mouth. Seems standard, I know, but it works. It only works, however, if you can get your mind in the right place.

Meditation is another practice I dismissed for a long time. I thought it was just some over-hyped hogwash from people who forgot the '60s ended fifty years ago. But like the deep breathing mentioned before, it works. I just try to focus on one thought, object in the room, or activity and clear my mind of everything else. I haven’t been as diligent as I’d like to be with this practice, but when I am, it works.

All the mental relaxation in the world won’t help you, however, if your body isn’t relaxed. This is the easiest part for me. Most of my insomnia triggers, whether or not creativity is involved, are mental. But if your body isn’t relaxed, a relaxed mind doesn’t really matter. Tensing and relaxing each muscle group in a practice commonly referred to as Progressive Muscle Relaxation is useful for those who experience any kind of physical discomfort that may prevent sleep. None of this is directly related to the writing process, but it ties into finding a balance between writing patterns.

Find a Balance in Nighttime Writing

The creative muse can be impulsive and unpredictable. If creativity strikes you during normal sleep hours, answer the call, but do so with boundaries. Set a timer for a specific duration every time you have the creative urge at night. Depending on what time it is and when or if I have to work the following day, I usually set my timer for anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour. That is usually plenty of time to harness inspiration without letting a seemingly harmless late-night inspiration session spiral into a sleepless night that may or may not cause productive writing and ultimately less productivity during the day.

Prioritize Daytime Writing

In order to maximize overall production as a writer and also maintain a healthy sleep schedule, it makes sense to do as much of your writing as possible during the day. This was difficult at first for me. I work second shift at my everyday job, so mornings were hard when I first started pursuing this. I’m a coffee drinker, however, and that has helped me get up earlier. I’ve gotten into a good habit of pairing my morning writing with my coffee. I started this article during a morning coffee session. That may not work for everyone, but it works for me.

I also write better when it’s nice outside (by Wisconsin standards, anyway) and I’m able to sit on my patio. There’s something about being outside, especially when you live in the country like I do. The smells of the different seasons, the sound of a passing plane or farm implement, the natural heat from the sun—all things that can provide inspiration. All the more reason to write during the day. I find the best writing I’ve done has been in my kitchen with a cup of coffee or on my patio with something cold.

Though being a night owl provides a sense of privacy and seclusion while writing, there’s something about writing while the sun is out that makes it feel different for me, more real. I’ve discovered that, over time, maintaining a consistent daytime writing routine has reduced the insomnia with which I have long suffered. If ideas are out in the open before bed, sleep is easier. Eventually, you get into a rhythm, and it becomes second nature. Soon enough, you’re sleeping better and your writing will improve gradually. As the circle completes, your sleep will continue to improve exponentially.

In Insomnia, Opportunity

Though it can be frustrating, insomnia and creativity don’t have to be enemies. There’s a delicate balance we can achieve with a combination of self-awareness and compassion toward ourselves. If we can manage our sleeplessness intelligently, what were once restless nights and foggy mornings can transform into reflection and inspiration, all without the burnout.

When I find myself in the grips of insomnia, whether it’s caused by a creative surge or restlessness from a day of little or no creation, I think of what Sylvia Plath said. “The worst enemy of creativity is self-doubt.” When the hours grow long and your eyes grow weary, frustrated by the inability to calm your mind despite the glaring silence, remember that your waking mind is a vast, fertile landscape for ideas and inspiration. Nurture it like a farmer would his field, but don’t let it replace the rest that sustains you in the long term.

Do you have trouble sleeping? Does it affect your creative process? Let’s have a conversation. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.