[Chez]

I took Martin’s free course a couple years ago and it didn’t work for me. I had been to a few different sleep doctors and a sleep psychologist who used CBT-I. The sleep psychologist told me “I can’t help you since you’re doing everything I would recommend.” I thought I would try Martin’s course, but it did not help. My problem has always been waking up in the middle of night and not being to get back to sleep for a 2-3 hours which by then is time to get up and start the day. Currently I just do the best I can with everything I have learned when this started a few years ago.

[Chee2308]

Hello Chez,

Sleep is always difficult if you keep trying to troubleshoot and solve it, like going to different doctors, constantly asking for advice, cures, tips and etc. Insomnia isn’t really the problem, seeing it as a problem becomes the problem. Keep it simple, always! Doing nothing is best, which is your best chance for a cure. The only simple things you need to sleep well are only two:
1. Get into and out of bed only at regular times, and not sleeping in or taking naps at other times even at weekends. This is 75-80% of the work already. Just figure out how much sleep you need (I recommend starting at 6.5 hours and then slowly extending that out in 15 min intervals by going to bed earlier while keeping out of bed time the same as your sleep duration improves)
2. Be patient and stop trying so hard so sleep. This is key and why so many people fail. It is often the impatience and frustration with how long it takes that make insomnia stickier. If you find yourself waking up too early, as most people do, even normal sleepers, just go back to bed, even to rest if you can’t sleep. Eventually you find you can sleep, even for just 5 mins and this becomes the initial proof that you can sleep. That 5 mins then develops into 10, 15, 30, 45 mins, 1 hour even 2 hours over time as your sleep confidence improves. Eventually you become so confident about sleeping that insomnia doesn’t bother you anymore and that’s when you are fully recovered. Best wishes and good luck to you.

[Chez]

Those are good suggestions. I find I cannot get past an average of about 6 hours trying your methods and many, many others I’ve also tried. One fact I have found that therapists do not discuss is how sleeplessness and aging is related. There are physiological factors directly relating to insomnia. Pineal gland calcification and the resulting down regulation of melatonin production start to be a factor as we age. I always slept well until I reached my mid-50’s. I had much more stress and much worse sleep hygiene when I was younger, but slept far better than I do now.

[Chee2308]

Hello Chez,
If you can’t sleep past 6 hours, have you ever entertained the possibility that you actually do not need to sleep more than 6 hours per night? Well if you have eliminated some of the possible causes, those left behind become much more likely and if only one is left, then that must be one. Our sleep changes as we age and older people do need less sleep. Perhaps stop comparing how you sleep now to before when you were much younger? Ironically, one of the most effectively cures for insomnia is to stop seeking answers and becoming more accepting of your own body. Try it. Stop researching sleep, stop seeing the professionals and not caring how much or how you sleep from now on. Just have a regular bedtime schedule. Sometimes that can be the final piece of the puzzle, to give up completely. Best wishes to you.

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