[LucyC]

Hello all, I’ve been experiencing poor sleep for a couple of months now, having only struggled the odd night in the past. I’ve been mainly putting that down to the pandemic: anxiety, less physical activity and noise from neighbours that wasn’t there before. More often than not I’m relying on diazepam (Valium) to eventually get to sleep, but I hold off for as long as possible before taking it as I don’t want to become reliant on it.
I’m currently reading ‘Goodnight Mind’ which uses principles of CBT-i. I’m nearing the end of keeping my first week’s sleep diary, and trying to put into practice all of the sleep hygiene recommended.
I’ve kept a set wake-up time which I’d really rather forget after 3 or 4hrs of Valium-facilitated sleep. I just know on days like today, after a poor sleep, I can’t think of anything but my sleep problem, and the world seems pretty bleak. And I know I’ll struggle to get through the day, with irritableness and teariness.
I’m glad I’ve found CBTi as I think it will work if I give it time. I just have a few questions:
-How do you keep a sleep diary if you shouldn’t be looking at clocks?
-Is it wrong to do a sleep meditation in bed? I can often drift off to one, but not if I do it in a separate room and then get into bed.
-How do you know if your bed time is too late? Im sticking with my usual time of midnight, but tempted to try to sleep earlier. Not sure what to do here.

Apologies for the long email. I feel less alone having had a look at some of the forum posts. I find friends and family not the most understanding as they haven’t experienced anything like this, and sleep is not a problem for them. I can get angry thinking about them during the night, and feel incredibly alone and distressed as the night goes on. I also get very angry with myself and think of all the things I could have done differently that day, and tell myself I have no right to struggle with my sleep. Not a great place to be, and I find myself wishing the days away so I can try and sleep again at night. I do get up if I’m not sleeping, although I probably leave it longer than 20mins as I just keep trying to sleep and don’t particularly like being out of bed during the night- I feel a lot of shame around it, thinking that the world is fast asleep and I should be too.

Sorry for the essay!

Lucy

[Martin Reed]

Hello Lucy and welcome to the forum.

It sounds as though at the current time you go to bed without taking medication but if you struggle, you end up taking medication. Do you find this strategy helpful, or do you find that it means your mind has to stay more alert as it monitors for sleep and tries to figure out if and when to take medication? If it’s the latter, you might find it helpful to decide in advance if each night will be a medication night or not — but, as a reminder, I am not a doctor so be sure to discuss this with your prescribing physician.

As you’ve pointed out, it’s not unusual for sleep to be disrupted because of the pandemic — our sleep is sensitive to our overall sense of well-being. It would be unusual to be sleeping without disruption at a time of uncertainty!

When it comes to keeping a sleep diary, everything other than the time you go to bed and the time you get out of bed to start your day should just be an estimate!

There’s nothing wrong with meditating in bed as long as your goal is relaxation, rather than sleep. Any time you make sleep the goal of something, you activate the arousal system and this can make sleep more difficult.

The start time of your sleep window isn’t very important. What matters more is that you allot an appropriate amount of time for sleep, get out of bed at a consistent time each day, and try to avoid going to bed before the start of your chosen sleep window.

When we struggle with sleep, it’s completely normal for us to end up spending a lot of time during the day thinking (and likely worrying) about sleep. This doesn’t feel good and actually perpetuates insomnia. So, with this in mind, you might find it helpful to distract your mind while improving the quality of your days but adding some enriching, enjoyable activities to your days whenever possible.

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.

[Author]

Posts