[James89]

Hey all,

I need some advice on how to continue implementing sleep restriction and stimulus control. I’ve had problems with sleeping for the past year. Sometimes I would fall asleep quite fast but wake up 4 hours later and not be able to fall back asleep. Other times I couldn’t fall asleep at all. I tended to oversleep quite a bit, going to bed usually around 11:30PM and going out of bed at 8:30AM. I successfully implemented sleep restriction and now go to bed at 1:00AM and go out of bed at 7:30PM. This basically solved the falling asleep problem as I nod of in a few minutes of hitting the pillow now, which is a great relief to me.

The main problem now is sleeping longer. I consistently wake up 4-5 hours after falling asleep and it is very difficult to fall back asleep (only happened a few times the past year that I slept 6 hours straight). The standard advice is to wake up and do something else. I have done this a few times but it was so unpleasant to go out of bed (it’s very cold at this moment in my surroundings at night) that I couldn’t fall asleep at all after going back to bed.

I would like some advice on the following options:

– Would just reading sitting in my bed be a good alternative?
– Would just getting up after my first bout of sleep be a good idea? So sleeping for 4-5 hours, waking up and see if the extra sleep drive this builds would be beneficial for sleeping longer the next night?

Thanks!

[Chee2308]

Hello James!
What you describe is the trickiest part of the recovery. Once you’ve overcome the problem of sleep onset insomnia, you now find yourself hitting a plateau and unable to sleep past X number of hours. I’ve gone through it too. What helped me was my discovery that sleep is just a process and not a constant strive to achieve Y hours of sleep. That’s the irony. You need to give up all efforts to chase that final hour or two of sleep. As well as developing an non-caring attitude in how you slept and subsequently having absolute self-confidence in being able to sleep. That basically did it for me. I stopped ALL efforts to chase sleep because I already know I CAN sleep. I became convinced 5-6 hours of sleep must be normal for me and therefore there’s no final hour of sleep to be chased anymore. There was simply no more improvement to be made in my sleep and I had hit the end of the road in my recovery, I believed. That relaxed my mind and by giving up all efforts, I began loosing my grip over sleep and my obessesion with it. I now go to bed at 10pm. Initially I used to wake at 3-4 am, I would get up and use the bathroom and then go back to bed. As my mindset changed, I started falling back asleep faster and was sleeping for longer. My current sleep pattern is now I could sleep all the way to 530am, before getting up to use the bathroom and going back to bed and staying in bed until 630. Usually I can sleep in that final hour and this sleep is always light, fragmented and full of dreams. I also found no difference in how I feel upon waking up after sleeping for 6, 7 or 8 hours. Perhaps my minimum sleep duration is 6 hours and any sleep I get after that is considered bonus. I hope you find this useful. A complete lack of effort is key. This may include trying to “trick” your mind by getting out of bed and reading a book or whatever, as this may develop into a sleep effort because your intention of doing it is to sleep. Not caring whether you are going to sleep at all is what matters and therefore it doesn’t really matter whether you get out of bed or what you do in that final hour anymore. Staying in bed because it’s comfortable and being OK with not sleeping is fine and is what I am now doing. If you like to read, then go ahead but try to keep the lights dim as you don’t jolt your body awake with a rush of bright light and possibly interrupt the production of melatonin. Take comfort that you have already spent the early of the night sleeping and most likely would have achieved the restorative deep sleep you need. Good luck!

[James89]

Thanks for your reply Chee Hiung Yong! I understand what you mean by giving up all efforts to further improve sleep. But even then it is difficult for me to decide how to continue from here. I could accept the 4-5 hours of sleep and get up (possibly building extra sleep drive) or lie in bed until my sleep window is over and catch the extra, however light, sleep I get and see it as a bonus.

However, until now, I almost never got an extra decent sleep cycle after those 4-5 hours by just staying in bed, even when I’m quite comfortable in there. So I’m looking for other options than just staying in bed. I’m inclined towards starting to read a book in dim light when awakening from the initial sleep I get when I’m pretty sure I won’t sleep again and see what happens.

[Chee2308]

Hello James,
You should do whatever you feel like doing during that time, the choice should not be intending to sleep, like drinking sleepy tea. Personally for me, I love snuggling in between my warm comfy sheets in a very dark cool room and by getting really comfy, I find drifting back to sleep almost effortless. But whatever your chosen activity, it must be really enjoyable to you and it shouldn’t be something that feels like it’s forced upon. Try to make this time completely relaxed and carefree, be friendly towards wakefulness and not see it as stressing. I hope you find your way back to sleeping again and good luck.

[Author]

Posts