Linnéa Myhre (32) has struggled with serious sleep problems since she was a teenager. There have been many years of sleepless nights and, according to herself: addiction to sleeping pills.
She says that a webinar with a sleep expert turned out to change her life.
– I think it was embarrassing
It’s been two years since she started talking about her struggles with sleep, and it was in a podcast for a friend.
– Then I cried because I think it was difficult to put it into words, and I think it was embarrassing. At the time, I didn’t even say that I was taking sleeping pills, because I thought that was embarrassing anyway, Myhre tells Good Morning Norway.
She says that she felt like a failure because she struggled with this.
– I was so ashamed to just say it. There were also pills involved and I felt like a failure because it was something as basic as sleeping.
SLEEP PROBLEMS: Author and former blogger Linnéa Myhre (32) is open about her sleep problems. Photo: Good morning Norway
Now she feels that it is different to talk about it and she thinks it is because she has practiced talking about it.
– How was it for you at its worst?
– It was worst at night when you lie in bed and hope to sleep. When you can’t sleep, you think that “it won’t last tonight either”. Every minute it gets worse and worse, she says.
– How did you sleep last night?
– I slept well last night, she tells Good Morning Norway.
Felt alone about it
Myhre believes that the problems with sleep started in the teenage years. It was also during this period that she struggled with eating disorders.
– Some periods have been worse than others. I have had sleeping pills available. I have tried it and think it has been a good solution, she says and continues:
– It turns out in the long run that it is not a good solution. I lacked a lot of knowledge about sleep, and I think a lot of people can relate to that, she says.
She says that she can’t sleep when she lies awake in bed with all her thoughts.
– I feel that all misery comes at the same time. I feel alone about this, and that no one understands me, she says.
She lives with her fiance Emil Gukild.
– Next to me Emil is sleeping. It’s a huge contrast, and I think now and then that I’ll never be able to sleep again. All those thoughts come one after the other, she says.
It was Emil who sent her a link to a webinar and thought she should check it out.
– Then I sat in the Christmas room and was sad because I had slept badly that night. There she saw sleep expert Tomas, who talked about sleep. There was a lot that came out that I didn’t know, and that made sense. It was as if he was talking to me, she says.
Stopped with sleeping pills
Tomas Myklebust is a psychologist, specialist in clinical neuropsychology and pedagogue. In collaboration with Linnea, they made a plan for her to follow, to see if it could help her sleep. He and Myhre are currently involved in the TV series “Søvnløs” together.
– In the case of sleep disorders, there are a number of basic mechanisms in the brain that are worked on. When you haven’t slept in a long time, you get pulled so deep into your problems. Then it feels as if only you in the whole world are experiencing this, says Myklebust.
CURRENT WITH TV SERIES ABOUT SLEEP: Linnéa Myhre and Tomas Myklebust have made the TV series “Søvnløs” together. Photo: Knut Erik Skistad/ Good morning Norway.
He believes it feels unique when you sit so buried in your challenges. Especially when it comes to sleep.
– The first thing was to stop taking sleeping pills and try to replace them with something else. I started taking cold showers in the morning. We stopped by to eat a kiwi every night. This was just to start somewhere and to have something to replace the pills I had been taking for so many years, says Linnea Myhre.
It was no coincidence that it was kiwi she was going to eat. The psychologist and sleep expert explains why:
– Kiwi has a documented effect on sleep. The other reason she had to eat a kiwi was to get a non-sleeping tool. When you stop smoking, for example, you start chewing gum or other things, he says.
Learned techniques
New routines became part of Linnéa’s everyday life in order to sleep better.
She should have more daylight and be aware of caffeine. Scrolling on the mobile in the evening was also something she had to become more aware of.
– I got techniques on what to do if I couldn’t sleep. I’m used to lying there and letting the ugly thoughts come.
On the nights she can’t sleep, she uses the techniques she has learned.
– The most important thing I’ve learned there, and which I use on the few nights I can’t sleep, is to break up the pattern, get up and go out into the living room, read a book or watch TV, she says.
– Then I go in and go to bed again. When you break up the pattern, the ugly thoughts don’t come back, she says.
-We put on orange glasses every night to get better sleep
The sleep expert says that there are several reasons why many people struggle with sleep.
– There are probably several elements, but the big ugly wolf is the mobile phone. Especially social media, he says.
Linnéa found putting the mobile away extra difficult.
– It was the most challenging task, and I argued a lot with Tomas. I don’t think I deserved to put my mobile away, she admits.
After a while it worked out and Linnéa was able to put down her mobile phone.
– If you stand in it long enough, it will actually pass. Then the pressure subsides. I put my mobile away a couple of hours before I go to bed at night and it has a very big effect. Then the brain has time to calm down, she tells Good Morning Norway.
