[mcardle071]

I have been struggling with insomnia for the last 4 months. Prior to this insomnia i was an excellent sleeper and always slept between 8-9hrs per night. (OCD on sleep in some ways), this all stemmed from my younger days on playing elite sports. There is not doubt that this obsession is still partly to blame for my insomnia.

I have now started CBTi and i am struggling with the sleep window aspect. In keeping the diary for 1 wk my average sleep time was 5.5hrs but was waking up early around 5am sometimes getting back to sleep for an hour and other not. I kept my bed time around 11pm in most cases.

The wake time i want is to eventually get to is 6:30/7:00am. I have since set my sleep window from 11:30pm- 5:45am, it would cause me to much anxiety staying up any later than 12am to reach the 6am wake time. The gap would be to large.

The sleep window itself appears to be causing me huge amount of anxiety. Last night i did not fall asleep at all within the window, it was probably the lowest i have ever felt (catastrophe thoughts) with insomnia and has made me think has my insomnia now gave me some depression. I could just feel the possible hours available to sleep falling away as i stayed awake and failed to sleep. This has obviously increased the anxiety more as i don’t want another sleepless night due to the sleep window.

Should i just go with the possibility of a sleepless night again and if so, see if it eventually corrects itself with persistence? It is very frustrating that at one stage i could sleep a bit and now since a window has come to the fore that i am unable to work with it. (all physiological)

Has anyone else experienced anything similar or many sleepless nights with the window and how did you get around it?

Thanks in advance for any responses, any tips, no matter how small will be very much appreciated.

Kind regards
mca071

[Martin Reed]

What is it, specifically, about the sleep window that causes you anxiety? When you start to feel anxious, what is going through your mind?

Identifying the underlying thought that is triggering the anxiety is the first step towards addressing the anxiety.

—

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