[Jake240904]

Hi all,
just want some reassurance for tonight. I had a pretty poor nights sleep last night. I’d been on the beers before hand and fell asleep very quickly but woke up after 2 hours, feeling very sick. I was then on and off all night. I have experienced insomnia for months but I just want a change in perspective as I feel like I’m destined for another sleepless night as my anxiety builds. Words of encouragement, personal anecdotes and success stories all welcome ?. Thank you all.

[Scott]

You got this Jake!

Just because you have a tough night of sleep, don’t beat yourself up. Just because last night wasn’t great, doesn’t mean tonight will repeat itself. Continue to engage in positive moments throughout your day and only go to bed when sleepy (head nodding, dozing, etc). The more you think of your sleep issue, the more pressure you put on yourself to sleep that night and the more effort you put into getting a good night’s sleep, the harder sleep becomes. It’s kind of like a school yard bully – the more attention you give him, the more he seeks you out. Just ignore him and he’ll eventually leave you alone.

Hope that helps,
Scott J

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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.

[SleepWorry]

Even way before I had insomnia, I would always awaken after 2 – 3 hours when I drank. Its pretty normal for alcohol to do that. In fact I used to get up and drink a gatorade I had saved for this exact reason, watch youtube videos for an hour or so then go back to bed. This would happen pretty much every time I drank.

[Jake240904]

Thank you this is very helpful Scott. I recently watched your video on the insomnia coach YouTube channel. Definitely helped in lowering my anxiety. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[Jake240904]

Hi sleepworry, I think alcohol most likely does disturb your sleep and has unfortunately been something I’ve relied on to sleep in the past, although I obviously realise this is more harm than good. I think because I’ve finally recovered my sleep, a set back like that has really knocked my confidence. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

[Chee2308]

Hi Jake!
I discovered worrying about not sleeping well was a hoax all along. I found what really matters is the average sleep duration over the longer term, and this tends to balance out. Usually for me, this is somewhere between 6-7 hours and I found if I slept 7-8 hours by frequently sleeping in, this sets me up for progressively difficult nights down the road. So you can choose to worry about it, but it would all have been over nothing.

[Scott]

Jake – The one and only! 😉 I’m glad you found the video beneficial!

SleepWorry – keep in mind that once your body processes alcohol, it can actually make it a stimulant which can cause middle of the night awakenings, in addition, to creating an urge to use the restroom!

Scott J

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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.

[Jake240904]

Hi chee2308
This is very true. It is certainly a useful thing to remind yourself of from time to time, one or two nights doesn’t make a huge difference, it’s all about the long term.

[Chee2308]

Hi Jake
The converse seems true too. If you slept badly due to excessive worry, you’ll likely be sleeping well going forward until you oversleep again. Inadvertently. Then the whole cycle repeats. I found restricting my bedtime to no more than 7 hours helps keep my nights consistent. Sleep to live and not live to sleep, that’s my motto. When you are recovering, it can be tempting to overdo it and oversleep. Then you run into difficult nights and wonder why.

[MelH89]

I was a mess 3 weeks ago over my insomnia (caused by anxiety). Once I began therapy (CBT) and weaning off my sleeping pills (I’ve been taking for 9 years every night) the confidence has helped me sleep better. You will sleep again, I promise you. You are not alone.

[Jake240904]

Hi MelH89,
Glad to hear your doing well. Turns out despite all the panic and anxiety I experienced I managed a decent nights sleep. Rather than reach for sleeping pills on tough nights, I would drink lots of alcohol. Now I implement CBTI I realise how effective it is. Thanks for the kind words and glad to hear CBT is working for you, it’s the gold standard of treatment for insomnia.

[Manfred]

@Mel and @Jake: Would u pls describe how CBT-I heloed with ur anxiety/panic? I struggle a lot with this anxiety.

Did u also have anticipatory anxiety during the day?
And at night, how did u sleep while being anxious or panicky?

Great to hear ur Story and trying to learn.

Manfred

[Jake240904]

Hi Manfred,
I’ll try and get to the point straight away. In my case CBT-I was largely ineffective for me at first. It’s important to note that i was probably in a situation very similar to you, all I could think about was sleep, very anxious, intrusive thoughts at night whilst lying in bed etc. Inevitably this lead to a 3 day no sleep spell. After this I resorted to alcohol for sleep but i soon realised how damaging it was. This is when I started exploring the idea of CBT-I. I soon realised after being anxious all day no matter how much stimulus control, thought work, relaxation exercises and analysing my thoughts I would do at night, i wasn’t going to sleep because I was too hyperaroused. This wasn’t an ideal situation. Then I reached out to Daniel Erichsen (please I advise you to find his YouTube channel). I went on his website and told my whole story of insomnia and it wasn’t long before a YouTube video with my name in it popped up. He directed me to videos to watch and gave me some useful advice that ultimately helps me sleep soundly every night. Sleep comes when you stop trying to control it. I know it’s difficult but when you truly stop being anxious about being awake at night and actually accept I’m not going to sleep tonight, You will feel better. It is only natural to want to control sleep but by coming to the realisation that insomnia is only a manifestation of anxiety it is very helpful. One last thing, on Daniel erichsens YouTube channel, (the sleep coach school), sleep coach Micheal Schwartz made a video called ‘enjoy your night’. This has been very important for me getting restful sleep back. To sum it up he describes how important it is to find enjoyable activities to partake in at night such as watching a series on Netflix, gaming, listening to music. Don’t worry about blue light exposure. Go on your phone, laptop etc as ultimately it creates more anxiety not exposing yourself to blue light as it’s applying pressure. I hope you find this helpful and get to a place of peaceful sleep.

[Manfred]

Thanks, @Jake.Thzmank you.

I know Daniel’s channel, great stuff. BUT: how to loose this anxiety? How to enjoy the night while being anxious??

[Martin Reed]

This is a great discussion!

Here’s the thing about anxiety — it comes from thoughts.

Anxiety can make us feel uncomfortable — but it cannot harm us.

Here’s the thing about thoughts — they are just thoughts.

Thoughts can make us feel uncomfortable — but they cannot harm us.

Often, it’s our attempts to avoid or suppress our thoughts or our anxieties that make them feel more powerful and more unpleasant (and this, of course, serves to make sleep more difficult, too).

Perhaps, instead of trying to avoid or suppress our thoughts it might be more helpful to acknowledge and accept them? To recognize them as thoughts, perhaps to even name those thoughts (“Oh, there’s that “I’ll never sleep again” thought — welcome back, old friend!”), to allow space for them, and to allow them to stick around for as long as they like, might help transform the relationship we have with our thoughts and the effect they might have on us.

I hope this is helpful!

—

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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