[Bob77]

Retired male. Age 62. Biggest sleep challenge. Getting back to sleep. This is caused by thinking too much, worrying about things that are not of immediate importance. I have tried distraction techniques but they rarely work. I found Insomnia Coach by doing a web search on solving insomnia. My main worry and concern is being able to function at full capacity with such broken sleep habits. Many times I have skipped or postponed daily events due to fatigue.

[Scott]

Hi Bob77! Thanks for sharing!

There are (3) factors that cause arousal and influence insomnia – 1) predisposing factors; 2) precipitating factors; and 3) perpetuating factors. In your case, I’d like to explore the idea that the stress you’re experiencing is predominately precipitating. Precipitating stress can be due to career changes (possibly retirement?), health issues, etc and can cause us to become more aroused and disrupt our sleep, which is completely normal during these circumstances. Most of the time, once the life event has passed, so do the sleepless nights. Sometimes though, the quality of sleep doesn’t immediately improve with the passing of the life event which can lead to perpetuating worry (how do I improve my sleep worry).

As you’ve experienced, those with insomnia sometimes adjust (or cancel) their social activities in order to compensate for feeling fatigued. When I had insomnia, I’d cancel my social events in the evenings but found I was filling that time with worrisome thoughts about how I’m going to sleep that night, which was counterproductive. Are you finding that strategy helpful with sleep?

Since retirement, are you getting out of bed at a consistent time each morning?

Scott

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If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum @Bob77!

As suggested by @scottctj, sometimes sleep might not get back on track after whatever triggered it is no longer an issue because of how we react to the initial sleep disruption. In other words, it is our reaction to the sleep disruption that can perpetuate the sleep disruption.

A common thought that perpetuates sleep disruption is the belief that we will be unable to function after difficult nights. This thought can perpetuate sleep disruption because it increases arousal.

A common behavior that perpetuates sleep disruption is skipping or postponing daily events in response to difficult nights. This behavior can perpetuate sleep disruption because it guarantees that difficult nights have a bad outcome (we don’t give ourselves the opportunity to experience any other outcome) and this can lead to us putting more effort into sleep and worrying more about sleep — and this increases arousal, which makes sleep more difficult.

So, I think that by doing things that create really good conditions for sleep (such as building sleep drive by allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep and strengthening the body clock by getting out of bed at the same time each day) you might also find it really helpful to go about your days as planned, regardless of how you sleep.

Doing that will give you the opportunity to experience positive (or at least just some OK) moments even after difficult nights. If you start to notice that you can get through the day, that you can still perform, and that you have more control over the quality of your days than how you sleep, you might start to worry a lot less about sleep — and this often leads to better sleep!

I hope this helps.

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

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