There is a clear relationship between overexertion or physical complaints and sleeplessness. An unhealthy body with nervous or physical problems disrupts sleep. With insomnia, that is, the fourth degree of sleep cannot be achieved, the day’s experiences cannot be processed, causing the body to become increasingly overworked.
Often mental stress dominates the body. Daily functioning then becomes increasingly difficult. Medication is usually not a solution.
To break this vicious cycle, it is necessary to become aware of how this process works. Just being aware of this can lead to fewer nervous diseases. Meditation and nature experiences, such as walking by the sea, calm the body and are healing. The use of drugs can be harmful and interfere with the natural healing process. The excessive use of sleeping medications is also discouraged.
-If the physical body isn’t in a state of normal health, the person is easily aroused from his sleep, as his sleep is disturbed by some illness of the nerves or other organs. One must first possess a healthy body in order to get enough sleep. When the nervous system is tense or when it contracts, normal sleep becomes impossible and the person will then suffer from insomnia. So it’s obvious that under these conditions matter can have a disturbing influence.
A View in the Hereafter p.400 (VI.12957.12960)
-Anyone who is not in the fourth grade of sleep cannot let off steam and the soul therefore holds onto all its burdens of the day, stim- ulating the already exhausted nervous system, which the material disturbances let you know. You will soon visit a neurologist, because your nervous system is broken.
Spiritual Gifts p.398 (SP.9799.9800)
-If people on earth knew this, there would not be so many neurotics. Spiritual life now dominates the ma- terial organism. When this happens, people think they have to sleep; if, instead, they went through all their problems and troubles, in short everything that occupies their mind, by meditation until they had fully considered their problems, an other condition would set in, and they would return to normal life. That is the balance between spiritual and material body, and the nervous system will relax. Then, a stroll in na- ture, especially along the beach yields wonderful strength. But man is not attuned to nature and would rather take medicine, paralyzing the vital organs and constituting the nervous system.
The Origin of the Universe p.187,188 (OR.4976.4981)
-When the nervous system is strained and sedatives are administered in order to sleep, the natural functioning is paralyzed and recovery is excluded. Sedatives only give temporary relief, but later we are con- fronted with the same process; the organs are affected and forced out of action. Therefore, André, it is wrong to take too many sedatives for this disorder.
The Origin of the Universe p.192 (OR.5095.5097)
Source: Quotations from the books of Jozef Rulof