I'm posting this in the forum that a) seems most appropriate, and b) likely to get the fewest number of views. But I'm trying to play by the rules, so I'll take my chances.
Here's the thing: in a seemingly endless search to assist my better half with her insomnia problem, we came across the concept of grounding (the word Earthing is a trademarked term, meant for commerce, so I'm going to stick with the word indicating what is actually happening).
Hi David (or Thom?), I don't really have any experience with "grounding" exactly (other than running barefoot, I guess) but I would like to attempt to give some advice on dealing with insomnia, as I do have quite a bit of experience with that (my good friend also has a lot of experience with it and shares pretty much the same view on it.)
First of all, how long has she been having trouble sleeping? I'm sure insomnia can occur for a variety of reasons and I am just curious how applicable my advice will be.
Anyway, I started having to deal with insomnia as a result of multiple "concussions" (the term is much too widely used and very poorly understood, but I am using it just meaning 'extreme blow to the head'). Actually, not entirely, I think a lot of it had to do with the depression and anxiety that resulted from these multiple concussions.
For various separate periods of time, some lasting as long as two years, I couldn't think about anything other than my head, whether the fuzziness was ever going to go away, or if I was going to have permanent damage, or if I would ever be able to exercise normally again...a lot of different things.
Much of this time I was having a lot of trouble sleeping, and although I feel very good at this point in time, I still have terrible nights of sleep reminiscent of those terrible times. The one thing that seems to be the common component whenever sleeplessness occurs is "depression."
Before, it was depression about my head injuries, but lately it has been anxiety about going to my new job. I hate this job so much that I am literally dreading going back at all times that I am not there (luckily its over in a few weeks). Basically, I sit at a computer for 7-8 hours straight and I just can't do that.
I don't know what your wife's life is like, whether or not she likes her job, or if there is something else she gets anxiety or depressed about. But if everything in her life is good, other than the sleeping, then I would guess that her own mind is what is causing the continued sleeping problems.
Our minds are VERY POWERFUL things, never underestimate them. If your body doesn't like something that is going on, it can literally start to shut down, which is basically what depression is, it "depresses" your bodily functions. I am GUESSING that your wife is continually worrying about not being able to sleep the next night, which is giving her anxiety/depression and the inability to relax the mind and allow her bodily systems to function correctly in order to sleep.
In both me and my friends experience, the best way to get over these insomnia episodes (I know it sounds corny) is to just say "f*** it". You just have to tell yourself "I don't even care, I don't get any sleep at night anyway, so why worry about one more night of no sleep?" You just have to reach that point where it sucks so bad that you don't even care anymore. After realizing this the first time, it gets easier to deal with in the future because you've been there before.
But yeah, we have the ability to worry ourselves greatly. That's the only way I can get over it, I just say "whatever, I don't even care if I never get to sleep" but the thing is, you really have to not care, because you have been dealing with it for so long. You almost just have to laugh at yourself for taking it so seriously, and then after doing this, your mind/body can relax (or whatever exactly is happening) and you can hopefully just fall asleep.
Just my experiences with insomnia. Again, I don't know what put her in this state or how long it has been affecting her, but hopefully my advice helps...just say "f*** it".