[Dreyo86]

I have had insomnia for 6 months now, getting between 0-3 hours each night. I have counted 6 times in the last 6 months of which I got a healthy 5+ hours in a night. I have tried all the usual stuff and then some for it, but failed every time. It is only worsening my mental health to very dangerous levels. In order to get through the busy next few weeks of the summer holidays at work I have to control it. I am running upon the fumes of fumes right now, and figure I will collapse soon or do something I don’t want to do. I am currently doing CBT at the moment, only had 2 sessions, hasn’t helped as yet. Can someone help me figure a program. Do I go for 11:30pm to 5am? I was told 5.5 hours in bed time is minimum. 85% of that is 4.7 hours, which I do once a month. My sleep efficiency at the moment is probably 20% at best. When I get up and do something else because I can’t sleep tossing and turning, then I can’t get back to sleep, what am I to do in the night?

Appreciate the feedback

Dreyo

[Martin Reed]

Hello Dreyo and sorry to hear about your difficulties with sleep. I would suggest discussing an initial sleep window with your therapist or coach. They should have given you clear direction in this area.

For the purposes of creating a sleep window, I’d suggest taking your average nightly sleep duration taken over at least one week (ideally two), and adding half-an-hour to this (with the minimum sleep window being five-and-a-half hours). This way, the very bad nights (and any very good nights) aren’t skewing things too much and we get a better overall picture of your sleep to work with.

Again, your therapist or coach should have given you some clear direction on when to get out of bed during the night and things you can do when out of bed. It doesn’t matter too much what you do when out of bed at night, as long as you find the activities to be relaxing and enjoyable.

Are you going through a course of cognitive behavioral therapy specifically for insomnia (CBT-I)?

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