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Hi Circene!
Welcome to the forum!
When it’s time to wind down and relax about an hour before bedtime, the activities you participate in should be mildly pleasant (watching TV, reading, drawing) and not arousing (to do list for work). Any activity we begin at night to specifically improve our sleep quality usually makes a good night’s sleep harder to achieve.
When I experienced disruptive sleep, I recall beginning a meditation practice prior to bedtime (and sometimes while I laid in bed) in hopes it would help me sleep at night but it wasn’t successful because I conducted the activity to improve my sleep instead of the enjoyment and relaxation benefits of it. I continue to meditate post-insomnia, but they’re short meditations throughout the day and after work to calm and relax me, not to target my sleep for the night.
What are some relaxing activities that you enjoy doing prior to bedtime?
Scott
—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.
Hello everyone, I am also a new paid member. From my understanding, the more measures you take to try to go to sleep or to force yourself to go to sleep when it just isn’t your time to sleep yet or when your sleep drive just isn’t high enough, the more elusive it becomes. Sleep is a completely natural ability of the body and mind in unison. Sleep is almost completely free from any man-made interference, yes you can take pills or supplements, but these only act to throw your body’s sleep cycle off balance and perpetuates the insomnia by making you fall asleep at inconsistent times. The key here is consistency, you need to get asleep reasonably quickly for a long enough length of time for the mind to begin recognizing the cues you are nudging it to, via the “sleep window” which is set to fit your schedule or lifestyle. If your anxiety levels are so high which makes sleep hard, you can eventually overcome that by increasing your sleep drive via “bedtime restriction”. The key is to maintain this sleep drive enough for the next night to fall asleep quickly again, you must establish this pattern consistently, over time, the mind “learns” to fall asleep again confidently, thereby reducing sleep-associated anxiety so that it takes less sleep drive to fall asleep. That is really the essence of the CBT-I program.
Hello Chee Hiung Yong!
Welcome to the forum and sharing this information. It sounds like you’re successfully applying the cognitive and behavioral theory techniques for better sleep. We’d love to hear your success story!
Scott
—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.
As suggested by Chee, there is nothing we can do to make sleep happen (apart from being awake for long enough) — and as mentioned by @scottctj, if we do an activity with the specific intention of making sleep happen, sleep becomes a lot harder!
What we can do, is implement techniques that give sleep the best chance possible by building sleep drive, strengthening the body clock, and lowering arousal — that’s what cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques do, and that’s why they’re so helpful for people with chronic insomnia.
Is this something you’ve tried, @Circene?
—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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