[RonA]

I have developed sleep maintenance insomnia since I started sleep restriction last month.  I fall to sleep almost immediately when I go to bed and usually sleep 2-3 hours before I wake up,  I then have a hard time falling back to sleep and usually have to get up and do SC several times before I can fall back to sleep.  Many times, I cannot even fall back to sleep and 2-3 hours is all I get.

I am questioning whether I even need to do SC at all since I fall asleep right away the first time.   Doesn’t this mean I have a good association with the bed???   I think I may have better luck  just staying in bed to get back to sleep if SC is not effective for Sleep maintenance issues.

On a side note, I have been doing breathing exercises to try and fall back to sleep but ever since I started doing them, I am now stuck on focusing on my breath.  That may another reason I am having a hard time sleeping because my mind will no longer move off of listening to my breath.  Has that happened to anyone else and if so, how did you get past it?

 

[gsdmom]

RonA – the breathing exercises, for a while I too was focusing on my breath too much. One reason was the exercises themselves, the other was that when wearing certain earplugs that in itself made my breathing more noticeable. In bed I might do 3-5 of the inhale 4seconds, hold 7 seconds, exhale 8 seconds and then tell myself I’m done, back to regular breath. Or don’t do them in bed, maybe on the sofa while waiting to go to bed. Another thing I recently tried was just noticing my breath at random moments, like just before I sit up from my desk, a moment before I put on my make-up. No special exercise, just notice, be in the moment for a few seconds and then continue with what I have to do. So this practice has helped me the last couple nights when going to bed my mind says that I am only going to notice my breath for a few moments, or I just acknowledge briefly that “I am hearing the sensations of my breath”.

Lately, I’ve been in the habit of waking up about 3:30am. Sometimes I can’t go back to sleep, but other times if I just get up briefly I may be able to go back to sleep. So I will get out of bed, go downstairs and drink some water, use the bathroom, sit in the dark for a few moments maybe massage my legs or feet. I also have issues with getting too hot, most likely hormones something you probably don’t deal with, but anyway I also sit until I cool down and hope my sheets cool down too while I’m out of bed. or may just change pjs. Sometimes I take an Advil, I might be just achy enough to prevent sleep. The Advil may be a placebo. I’m out of bed for about 5-10 minutes, then go back to bed. I’d say this helps about 50% of the time. If this doesn’t work I then just relax in bed and not stress about it.

 

[Martin Reed]

It’s likely that you are falling asleep quickly at the start of the night due to sufficient sleep drive being accumulated during the day. If sleep-related worry or self-monitoring for sleep is a factor behind your insomnia, then you might wake during the night (which is normal) but then find it hard to fall back to sleep.

Staying in bed feeling frustrated and anxious is unpleasant and reinforces the idea that the bed is a place to experience frustration and anxiety rather than sleep. So, it’s usually more pleasant (and more constructive) to get out of bed until you feel calm, relaxed, and sleepy again.

If you feel calm and relaxed when you wake during the night, there’s no need to get out of bed since conditions are right for sleep. However, as soon as you notice that you are struggling or that you are feeling worried, anxious, or frustrated, this is your cue to get out of bed.

It’s also important to bear in mind that breathing exercises do not generate sleep! Breathing exercises are intended to help you relax. As soon as you make sleep the goal of relaxation, you make sleep more difficult and you negate any positive effects of relaxation!

Relaxation techniques are also a skill that require a lot of practice — it can be helpful to restrict relaxation techniques to the daytime for a few weeks until you become more skilled in them. This can also help remind you that sleep is not the intended goal of relaxation.

You might find this video helpful: The best relaxation techniques for sleep when you have chronic insomnia​.

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