[Jess OZ]

Hi Guys.
I am new to this group but I tried the 2 weeks free program a year ago, which helped at the time but the sleep struggles are creeping back and I need a refresher 🙂
My main problem is waking up to early and not being able to fall back a sleep.
I constantly analyse my sleep, all I am thinking all day is sleep, will I sleep, will I wake up early again, should I change my routine, should I try this or that ect…
See, the problem is I feel pressured to go to bed very early, like 9pm. Knowing I will be waking up at 5am the latest, that gives me enough time to reach my 8 hour sleep goal in order to feel refreshed the next day. If for some reason I go to bed a little later I start freaking out because I won’t get 8 hours anymore, so what happens is I don’t fall asleep.
I would love to go to bed later and sleep until 7am but I am too anxious that I won’t get enough sleep because I will wake up at 4 or 5 am again.
I tried almost everything with CBT-I except from the very important part of sleep restriction.
I am not sure how to implement it and if this helps my early wakings?
I even thought that my early wakings could be an advanced circadian rhythm disorder, so I tried light therapy glasses 🙂
Some advise on how to tackle this would be huge for me.
Ps. I like to add that I also like to go to bed earlier because my partner snores 🙂 so I feel the added pressure to be in bed before him so I can fall a sleep without the snoring noise 🙂
Jess xx

[Scott]

Hey Jess – glad to have you on the forum and great to hear that you’ve experimented with CBT-I techniques in the past. Since you’re already familiar with CBT-I, but haven’t implemented the sleep window in the past, you might find it beneficial in this scenario.

Everybody needs 8 hours of sleep is like saying everyone wears the same shoe size…but we don’t. The average shoe size for a man is 10.5 inches so should we get concerned if we fall short of that average? I’m not convinced that we should associate poor sleep with you’re going to have a terrible day the following day. Have you ever had a bad day after a good night’s sleep? What if you weren’t able to get any sleep the night before you won a $10 million lottery? My guess is that the following day might not be too bad, huh?

I understand the desire to analyze your sleep since I overanalyze everything but trying to find solutions, trying to fix your sleep places unnecessary pressure on yourself to sleep and that can certainly perpetuate your sleep issue. What if you took the same approach when you were a great sleeper – don’t analyze your sleep, just let it happen. The more effort you make to try to sleep, the more elusive sleep is.

Hope that helps,
Scott J

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