[SallyB]

I am in my late sixties and have had sleep problems on and off for most of my life. However the last 6 months have been particularly bad. Problems started in December last year. I mostly have difficulty falling asleep. Take sleeping tablets occasionally but sometimes they dont even work!!
Am following the usual sleep hygiene rules and have given up caffeine completely ( very sad!). Any help – ideas useful.

[Chee2308]

Hello Sally! Well you’ve come to the right forum and we all here can relate with the problem that you are having. I would highly recommend that you try Martin’s sleep aid course which is evidenced-based and proven to be highly effective for treatment of acute and chronic insomnia, based on principles of CBT-I. I have read stories and seen podcasts of people who suffered insomnia for decades and were finally able to overcome their sleep problems after following Martin’s guidance. Try it, you won’t regret it. I wish I could tell you more but don’t want to overload you with too much information but the basic concepts are that: Sleep is a completely natural and innate ability. You will never lose it and it is failsafe. You just need the right guidance to help you find it again. Harnessing this knowledge, you will be implementing strategies such as restricting sleep time to drive up your sleep pressure which in turn, overcomes all other concerns or anxieties to help you gain confidence in consistently falling asleep again. If you have seen Martin’s videos in Youtube, you will find he ends each video with “You CAN sleep”, but to me it’s more “You WILL sleep”. I personally have tried them and they work 100%! I started seeing results on my first week itself and am now well on my way to putting my insomnia episodes behind. I am lucky I didn’t have insomnia for too long, just 2 months suffering from it, so I am very relieved to finally see light at the end of the tunnel. You can too! Good luck!

[Scott]

Hi Sally – welcome to the forum! You mentioned that your sleep worsened in December, so has there been an external circumstance in your life such as, retirement, new job, moved to a new city, etc that you feel led to a change in your sleep quality that month? Sleep hygiene practices are necessary for quality sleep to occur but are rarely sufficient. What time are you going to bed at night and when are you getting out of bed to start your day? How many hours of sleep would you say you get on an average night?

As Chee eluded to, cognitive and behavioral therapy for insomnia can be very beneficial to those who are seeking improved sleep.

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, Sally!

It’s not surprising to learn that you haven’t found sleeping tablets helpful — since no medication can generate sleep! Furthermore, as Scott suggested, sleep hygiene alone is not going to be helpful for chronic insomnia — so, again, no surprise you haven’t found that helpful, either!

The thing with sleep hygiene is it can actually lead to us implementing a whole host of rituals that increase sleep-related worry and arousal and it can reduce our quality of life by encouraging us to remove things we enjoy from our lives (such as caffeine) — all while not even helping us improve our sleep!

So, I would encourage you to enjoy that morning coffee again — and to look into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques!

CBT-I techniques are helpful because they address the thoughts and behaviors that perpetuate sleep disruption — something that no pill can do, and something that sleep hygiene certainly does not do by itself!

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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