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Hello all, I’m 4 weeks into CBTi and wanted to share some progress and ask a couple of questions.
Background: I started suffering intermittent insomnia (a day or 2 every now and then) around the start of the year and it became chronic 2-to 3 months ago and peaked a little over a month ago when I went several days with little to no sleep. I tried all the things and none helped (which I won’t go into detail here) and found Insomnia Coach on YouTube and started CBTi.
The first week on SR I didn’t notice much improvement, but then when I combined it with some of Martin’s suggested mindset shifts (i.e. letting go) it started working and since then my sleep has been more consistent. I’ve gone from taking hours to get to sleep to generally falling to sleep in less than an hour and sometimes minutes. Though I’m still waking up most nights, often I’m able to get back to sleep relatively quickly and on a couple of glorious nights, I slept through the night, finally felt great again in the morning, and thanked the Gods.
But It hasn’t been a straight line of consistent success so far. It’s sort of like a few nights of decent-to-good sleep followed by a night or two of poor-okay sleep. This leads me to my first question:
1) Now that I’m halfway to the eight-week mark, what should my expectations be? In other words – is this inconsistency normal and if it doesn’t resolve itself after eight weeks, should I extend CBTi and make any changes?
2) The one aspect of CBTI that’s been most challenging is SC. Basically when I wake up in this half-awake state but it’s taking a long time to go to sleep. I sort of waffle on whether to try to stay in bed and hope to fall back asleep or just get up (which sounds dreadful in those moments, especially considering I’m aware that my short sleep window is disappearing.) Any advice on how to deal with this indecision?
Thanks in advance for your advice. If Martin reads this: I can’t thank you enough for all of the great resources you’ve provided. It’s been the one thing that’s helped so far. I provided a tip for your time (which I encourage everyone to do if you haven’t purchased his course) and will do so again soon.
Chris
Thanks for the update, Chris!
It’s not unusual to experience some ups and downs — just as each day is a bit different to the last day, it’s normal for each night to be a bit different to the last night, too!
To answer your questions:
1) Now that I’m halfway to the eight-week mark, what should my expectations be? In other words – is this inconsistency normal and if it doesn’t resolve itself after eight weeks, should I extend CBTi and make any changes?
The best expectations to have are ones that are actionable and that you have control over. In other words, if you have any expectations about how you will sleep (or how you will think or feel) you might continue to get tangled up in a struggle.
If your expectation is that you will continue to implement behaviors that create/maintain good conditions for sleep and help keep you moving toward the kind of life you want to live, then you are setting yourself up for a positive transformation!
2) The one aspect of CBTI that’s been most challenging is SC. Basically when I wake up in this half-awake state but it’s taking a long time to go to sleep. I sort of waffle on whether to try to stay in bed and hope to fall back asleep or just get up (which sounds dreadful in those moments, especially considering I’m aware that my short sleep window is disappearing.) Any advice on how to deal with this indecision?
I typically suggest allowing yourself to remain awake in bed for as long as you feel comfortable. If wakefulness feels really unpleasant, then you have the opportunity to do something that will make that wakefulness more pleasant instead.
If you have an activity in mind (for example, let’s say watching TV or reading) you might ask yourself which option feels more appealing at the current time — not doing anything, or watching TV instead.
Another option would be to put a limit on the questioning — I had a client who told herself that if she repeatedly questions whether or not to get out of bed, by the time that question comes around for a third time she does something else!
Thanks in advance for your advice. If Martin reads this: I can’t thank you enough for all of the great resources you’ve provided. It’s been the one thing that’s helped so far. I provided a tip for your time (which I encourage everyone to do if you haven’t purchased his course) and will do so again soon.
I appreciate your kind words, and the tip! Thank you!
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