[sleepyone]

Five decades on this planet so far. Introvert with anxiety and insomnia even as a 1970’s child. Sleepy in school. I became very natural health oriented (many conventional and non-conventional health tests and eat well), ten years ago while finally treating the affects of lyme disease, as this total body illness also makes insomnia and anxiety itself or at least just magnifies any health thing previously wrong with you. 1-4 hrs sleep was the norm for me during that time even with Benadryl. Tried many other natural and Rx sleep meds, no others worked.

Went thru a lyme recovery phase where I was still using Benadryl but would sleep sometimes 10 hrs, and would still be tired the next day. I still have to use this, tried to wean off and then cant sleep. They says its linked to Alzhiemers so I need to stop using it.

One other thing that helps is pourpously inducing sleep deprivation- going to bed late. I found a flex start time job that fits with this. Just want to have normal sleep patterns and not have daytime sleepyness. I stayed up to late last night- I think past the cortisol cycle so I never really slept at all. I actually had increased pulse at 10AM and slightly warm sweaty before getting out of bed with hardly no sleep. Blood press was still normal though. Pulse is better now. Now that I feel better and calm, going to have a late morning couch nap that I know will help before I do Sunday house chores.

Naps are what keep me alive LOL. Im fit , work out , was very athletic in early/mid adulthood. My energy was on or off back then in life and in sports performance. Im sure I had stressed adrenals too (which is controversial in medicine).

• This topic was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by sleepyone.

[sleepyone]

I get anxiety /worry over everyday life speed bumps. When this happens, I cant shut off my brain at nights. Example: The tire shop did some lower body damage jacking up my car yesterday. Not the end of the world, but certainly aggravating, this added to my insomnia last night. Tried Rx anziety meds- not for me, did not help and made me a emotionless zombie.

So I try my best to live a simple, lower stress life. Easier said than done. When you put off projects (less on your plate), they obviously then add up……and create anxiety and insomnia later on. Good thing my life is not complicated!

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by sleepyone.

[Martin Reed]

You fit the model for insomnia pretty much perfectly, @sleepyone — and this is encouraging because it shows that your insomnia isn’t unique or unusual, and so it can be addressed!

Some of us are more predisposed to temporary sleep disruption — we might, for example, be more predisposed to stress, worry, or anxiety, or be very health-conscious/health focussed. When a specific event happens (for example, an illness) it might then trigger some sleep disruption.

So far, so normal!

Usually, sleep gets right back on track all by itself once the initial trigger has been resolved (for example, when we recover from an illness).

If it doesn’t, it’s almost always because the way we think about sleep changes — we might now pay a lot more attention to sleep, spend a lot of time thinking about sleep, start worrying about sleep).

We might also start to implement behaviors to improve our sleep (experimenting with different supplements and medications, spending more time in bed, napping, monitoring for sleep/the effects of sleep, modifying our days, etc).

Unfortunately, all these quite understandable thoughts and behaviors we implement in a bid to improve our sleep actually have the opposite effect and perpetuate the sleep disruption, turning it into a longer-term problem. This happens because these thoughts and behaviors can weaken our biological sleep drive, disrupt the body clock, and increase arousal.

So, you will almost certainly find it helpful to identify and tackle these thoughts and behaviors — and perhaps the best way to do that is through the implementation of evidence-based cognitive and behavioral techniques.

I hope this helps!

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