[boke]

Hello,
Just discovered this great forum. I get occasional insomnia (of which I’m presently in for the last 4, 5 nights).
I believe in the SRT and SCT methods to getting back on my feet. 2 things:

1) I’m not that anxious or stressed but it always starts with that damn loose thought (“What if I don’t sleep well tonite”? I’ll feel like crap). I reason that I’ll be ok and just go with flow but that NST just lingers and lingers and lingers. Then a faint anxiety develops (slight feeling that something is off). Then I fall into the same ol’ pattern (35+ years) like DiCaprio in Shutter Island. And I have to weather a couple of weeks of significant sleep deprivation.
2) I’m able to apply SCT during this period good enough (though at 6AM I give up and stay in bed for the last 2 hours till 8AM.
SRT starting bed time is not a problem (2AM) but after a tough night of cycling in and out of bed…I cheat and sleep in till 10AM or 11AM (I can because I work evening shifts). I find it just so damn hard to get out of bed at the end of my sleep window esp. after a white night.

Any tricks ? Cold water shower ? Early morning jog/bike ride ? Coffee ? Wakeup pills ?

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum, boke!

Thoughts like, “What if I don’t sleep well tonight?” don’t stop sleep from happening — but the almost default human response of trying to fight or avoid thoughts like that sure can! That’s because we then engage in a battle with our mind — and, if we are heading into battle, our brain probably isn’t going to let us sleep!

Perhaps acknowledging and allowing all the thoughts your brain wants to generate (as it does its job of trying to look out for you) might be a more helpful strategy? Thoughts tend to come and go in their own time — if you became an observer rather than a fighter, I wonder what kind of effect that might have?

It can definitely be difficult to get out of bed around the same time after a difficult night. If, however, you know from experience that staying in bed doesn’t seem to be a helpful strategy, perhaps a different approach might be more helpful?

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