[Hanah]

I have had insomnia for around five years but over the past year and a half it has really gotten worse. I have tried a long list of things in the hope of finding a remedy, to no avail. I stumbled across this site and am hopeful again, maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. Would be interested to hear other people’s experience with CBT I .

[hiker]

Hi Hanah, I have not taken the course, but I went through a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy prior to finding this site. I have looked at Martin’s materials and he is really on topic.

In terms of mental/emotional health, CBT is a relatively new concept, at least in the West. I wish I had heard of it earlier.

Anyway, it is an alternative to years of therapy, which not everyone needs, and as opposed to relying solely on sleep meds., which offer short term relief at best. What the community has discovered more and more is that our thoughts can really drive us, so much so that we can believe that we are our thoughts. That might sound weird, but it is easy to go down a rabbit hole and think there is no hope, and that this means there is no hope. Not so.

You wonder if maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is—-not perfection, but definitely better.

I am glad you found this site, a good source.

[Chee2308]

Hello Hanah!
LOL…yours is a typical insomnia story that I find it amusing when people said “Oh I’m so worried I will sleep badly for the rest of my life, I will never be able to function in life and society again.” Really ask yourself “Is this realistic?” Because it would like saying “Oh dear, I’ve forgotten how to breathe or eat, I’m so worried I’ll always be out of breath or always go hungry because I can’t breathe or eat properly”. How ridiculous does this sound?? Very indeed! Your body regulates all these functions by itself, eating, breathing, urinating, defecating and sleeping. So worrying about them is really like watching a kitten chasing its own tail, very amusing and funny indeed but completely pointless, unnecessary and even outright dumb. So why does your insomnia never go away? Because you were chasing sleep, modifying your bedtime schedule to allow more time in bed and therefore possibly sleeping way more than you realise or need. You won’t sleep well if you are too well-rested! To sleep really well, you need to spend less time sleeping and therefore in bed, just like eating feels so damn good when you’re starving. It is as simple as that. Don’t treat sleep like a skill you need to acquire by doing a ton of things, because it isn’t a skill, it’s something that’s innate and natural to everyone and absolutely no skill is needed to make happen at all.

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