[bren1]

Hi Martin, First of all, your site is very informative and helpful, I only stumbled across it a few days ago and I refer to it often for guidance and affirmation. I recently started the sleep stimulus control (1 week ago) with the guidance of a sleep pshycologist specialist  who has been a great help. I have had chronic insomnia now for 3-4 months. I initially had no idea what was going on for a couple of months,  and now I know that in that  time I implemented every bad habit in the book. I now understand the stimulus control, however since starting a week ago  the pattern has not really changed. I will basically have an hour at the most one night if im lucky,  followed by 6-7 hours the next. I feel very  close to sleep on the bad night however anxiety  kicks in and keeps me from going to sleep. (breathing heavily and panting as I drift off) thus I am back to square one . Is this normal? and if so can I expect any improvements with sleep stimulus control until the anxiety issue is addressed. Do you have any tips to curb the anxiety upon sleep onset?? thank you brendon

[Martin Reed]

Hello Brendon and thanks for your kind words about the website.

Depending on how entrenched your sleep-related worry and anxiety is, it can take many weeks of consistent implementation before sleep becomes more consistent. It really is a case of just implementing the techniques correctly, being committed, and being consistent.

Are you combining stimulus control with any other CBT-I techniques (such as sleep restriction)? When you are in bed and can’t fall asleep, how do you decide when to get out of bed, and how do you decide when to return to bed again?

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[bren1]

Hi Martin,

thanks for getting back to me. To answer your questions above, no im not really doing sleep restriction as a rule, however since posting to you previously i have shortened my actual sleep window for stimulus control back to around 6.5hrs. 10pm-4.30am. Since around the 2/5/19, when i can’t fall asleep,  i get straight up and continue to do so as much as necessary. Going back to bed varies, sometimes i can’t keep my eyes open, other times i have thought i will just give it another crack and see what happens. Could be 10mins to 30 mins out of bed im thinking. I have taught myself just to deal with the whole thing  over time, however i did spend 3 months worrying what was wrong with me, and it has taken its toll on me i think. If only i new then what i know now, this would be a much easier fix. Anyway with much support from family and people like yourself, i feel like i am slowly improving sleep, which hopefully in turn eases anxiety. I will keep going with  stimulus control for as long as it takes.Thanks again martin, i wish i had found your site much sooner, any further tips would be greatly appreciated. Brendon

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