[markhollis]

Hello all,

My sleep problems are seeming to get worse. I’m a 27 years old male.
My sleep problem is that I have an endless cycle of good and bad nights, which is a common problem.
After a tip from Martin, I’ve shifted by bedtime from 22:00 to 23:30. I did this around December. It seems like that’s the I get sleepy normally. This seemed to work well for me. I occasionally still got the bad night.
I’ve used the Dartmouth relaxation audio’s. That reduced the bad nights even more.
I also take camille tea. I run every day around 8 km.
I also try not to worry about sleeping bad right before I sleep.

However, now I’m in this endless cycle again, despite all these measures. I gets on my nerves: after all these measures, I still have this enormous problem. I come how from work, and I’m like doing all that work, trying not to get a bad night and it just doesn’t work. It’s like I just have to accept that I will get neurological damage from this, and nobody is there to help me around my neighborhood. Everybody seems to have this non-caring attitude around me. It just annoys me alot. The only good help I seem to get is from this online forum…

I think the crux of my problem is that my mind is that my mind is still to active to sleep at 23:30. However, I’m really hesitant to shorten my sleep even more. Also, isn’t it better to go sleep and wake up earlier. But that seems harder for me.

When I have a bad night and wake up in the morning it starts like this. First I feel alright, then I feel something in my fingers. Around 7:30 I feel bad. So I don’t only have fatigue sensations in my brain. Could there be a link with the glymphatic system?

I’ve read about the efficiency of the glymphatic system. The restorative properties of sleep are hypothesized to be linked to increased glymphatic clearance of metabolic waste products produced by neural activity in the awake brain. Maybe there’s something wrong with my glymphatic system.

One new tip I try is to not to eat much in the evening, certainly I don’t want to eat meat.

I don’t know who I should consult first with my problem.
A psychiatrist, a psychologist trained in CBT-I, a neurologist?

• This topic was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by markhollis. Reason: Glymphatic system information

[hiker]

Hi markhollis, it sounds like you have been checking in with Martin, and you might want to consult with him further on sleep hygiene and CBT-1 (no, I am not getting a commission!)

I have had insomnia issues for 40+ years. Lots of complicated reasons, which do not mean, at all, that you will go 40 years, too. I mention it only because I have been where it sounds like you are. Unfortunately it took me a long time to learn.

Anyway, I just want to address your concerns about neurological damage and people’s uncaring attitude.

I am not medically trained. However, over the years I have consulted with neurologists, sleep docs, had MRIs etc. I have learned that you can develop neural pathways which can lead to your brain sending weird messages. The most extreme is phantom limb syndrome, i.e. amputees who feel pain in a limb which is no longer there. The pain (including the psychological pain of insomnia) is real; you’re not making it up. But actual neurological damage? No. If you are interested further, check out unlearnyourpain.com by Howard Schubiner, M.D.

As for uncaring attitudes, I think two things come into play. I have found that even with all I know, a string of poor sleep nights, or even a single night, can really mess with my head. I can feel sort of paranoid or uncertain, wishing I were dead, irritable over anything, etc. And it can seem like nobody cares. Invariably I have concluded afterwards that it’s the insomnia talking.

And sometimes people indeed are uncaring. All you can do is choose how you are going to react to it. And usually after a while, I find it’s no so much that they don’t care. Rather, they just don’t understand—although they might think they do, because everybody sleeps poorly sometime. As you know, chronic insomnia is a whole different ballgame. Maybe it’s the equivalent of yours truly, being a man, can never fully comprehend what it’s like to be pregnant.

It might feel like you are resigned to a lifetime of chronic insomnia and misery. You’re not.

[Martin Reed]

What you’ve described sounds like typical, run-of-the-mill insomnia. It seems from your post that you are putting effort into sleep and this is likely contributing to sleep issues because as soon as we put effort into sleep we generate arousal and this makes sleep more difficult.

Trying not to have a bad night, for example, almost guarantees a bad night. Engaging in experiments and behaviors in a bid to generate sleep also perpetuates sleep disruption — doing things like modifying diet, for example, will not improve sleep since diet is not a perpetuating factor behind chronic insomnia (but thinking it might can generate arousal).

Since cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques help address the thoughts and behaviors that perpetuate chronic insomnia (and some of those thoughts and behaviors seem to be present in your post) I think you’ll find it very helpful.

Finally, perhaps I can reassure you that there is no evidence that chronic insomnia causes neurological damage or any other health problem for that matter!

You might find my podcast episode with Dr Jade Wu helpful since we discuss a number of insomnia and sleep myths — beliefs that can perpetuate insomnia.

I hope this helps.

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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.

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