[ddillon923]

Hi,

I’m just finishing my third week of sleep restriction. My current window is 6h30min.

I have had insomnia for many years. I was on Trazodone for 2.5 years and recently came off (and also started Lexapro). Since stopping the Trazodone, my sleep has been very fragmented.

The sleep restriction has helped a lot with creating a great sleep drive. I can also fall asleep really quickly and easily at the beginning of the night — yay! — and usually fall asleep quickly after wake-ups during the night, too, although I often have one time when I have to get up out of bed for a while.

The problem is that I am waking up a zillion times every night. I have not experienced sleeping several hours in a row. My best night has been waking three times in 6 hours; more commonly, I will wake 4 or 5 times. Some nights, it is 6 or 7.

Does anyone have any tips or encouragement? Is this going to improve if I persevere?

It seems like most people on this forum who have trouble with waking in the night are sleeping 4 hours or so and then waking. I am not getting any good stretches like that at all. My sleep has also been almost entirely dreamless, which makes me think I’m not getting through sleep cycles.

Thanks!

[ddillon923]

P.S. Most nights I am insanely sleepy by the time I go to bed at 11:15 — like I can’t even see straight and risk falling asleep every time I blink. My wake-up time is 5:45; sometimes I wake up naturally at 5:15 or 5:30, though, and get up then.

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum! Waking during the night is a normal part of sleep. When we pay more attention to sleep these awakenings often become a lot more noticeable and it can also be harder to fall back to sleep if we start trying to avoid them or start trying to make sleep happen.

If you are concerned about the number of times you wake at night and have been told that you snore really loudly or stop breathing during the night, wake during the night with a gasp, or wake in the morning with a dry mouth, you might want to get evaluated for sleep apnea.

If you didn’t wake so often during the night, what would you be doing differently with your life? In other words, what would you do if you didn’t wake at night that you are unable to do now?

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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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