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I had trouble falling asleep last night as well. I was thinking too much about “am I falling asleep yet?, am I falling asleep yet?”. Unfortunately once I fell asleep I was up at 3:30 and from then on was just garbage.
Soda has little caffeine and if it was at 3:00pm shouldn’t have any effect.
@mac I do miss waking up to the alarm clock. It is very very rare now.
A bad night. And I knew it was likely. As 11pm approached I still wasn’t sleepy. After four decent nights beforehand though I decided to try and take a chance. I got in bed anyway. Didn’t crash until around 11:30. Woke up 4:45am. Drifted in and out of BS sleep until 6. Also messed around with the phone a bit too much, close to 10pm. Probably messed with my sleep drive for certain. And so comes another battle through the work day. God give me the strength.
Sorry you had a bad night, Mac, although over 5 1/2 hours of sleep doesn’t sound so bad. I’ve been surviving on the 6 hours. I’m always tired when I get up though because it’s not enough sleep for me, but it’s not too bad. I can basically make it though the day just fine. Sometimes I take my 20 minute power nap to help. I’m usually always really ready for bed at 12:00.
I wonder if more consistency might work better for you, Mac, where you go to bed and get up at the same time everyday. A lot of my worry has gone away because of the consistency. I just know that I have to wait until 12 to go to bed no matter what. And I have to get up at 6:00 no matter what. So I don’t think about it anymore. It seems to be working. I slept through the night again last night.
5.25 hours is what it was. 11:30-4:45am. That is nowhere near enough for me. Struggling terribly today.
As far as consistency goes, you say wake up at the same time everyday, like let’s say my alarm at 6:15. But that’s not possible unless I go to sleep near midnight which is almost undoable for me.
I’m just not at that point where I am willing to torture and force myself to stay up til midnight every night. If I’m shot and exhausted and know I can crash in a matter of 15-20 minutes, I’m going in my bed. The problem is that even when I’ve done that, let’s say it’s an 11pm crash, I’ll wake at 5am. It’s as if my body just can’t sleep past 6 hours straight. I’ve had ONE 7 hour night in these 15 days now.
Hoping that within time with enough 6 hour nights I will eventually start gaining confidence enough and killing my brains fear enough to where slowly I will get to 6.5 and eventually consistent 7 hour nights.
You’re right, it’s 5.25 hours. I can’t add. So it sounds like at least you’re consistently getting 6 hours of sleep. Is this more consistency than what you had before you started working this program? If so, then it makes sense that eventually you will start getting more confidence.
I just thought that by now, over 2 weeks in, (even though I haven’t been on full fledged SRT) I wouldn’t still have to be so insanely strict with the rules and wouldn’t have to be dealing with anymore horrible nights like last night. Back to no electronics at least 2 hours before bedtime and not even thinking of going to bed unless I can no longer keep my eyes open.
Approximately 6 hours last night. 11:15ish o 5:15ish
You know its funny, so many of these sites and sleep therapists say to keep a journal/log of how much you slept, yet at the same time they say to not worry about the clock or time in general. How does that make sense?
Anyway, as much as my anxiety has dropped down a bit in these now 17 days, I just don’t feel like I’m getting much better sleep wise, which is of course the most important thing here. Before I started my light version of SRT, I was getting around 6 hours, albeit broken sleep. I know its better to sleep straight through, but 6 hours still isn’t enough to make me feel refreshed. To get by? Somewhat, yes. But to be skipping into work like I used to without wishing the day was over already? 6 hours just won’t do that.
Here’s to hoping that I’m not in this same exact boat a month from now.
Slept 5.5 hours. Could feel the anxiety creeping in when I laid down in bed. Somehow it didn’t stop me from falling asleep. Thank goodness. 4 good nights in a row. Tomorrow I turn in my sleep log to Martin. If I have another good night tonight maybe I can increase my sleep window by 15 minutes. Even 15 minutes more of sleep would be appreciated. But I’m doing ok on the 5.5 to 6 hours. Yesterday I took my 20 minute power nap at 11:30. It amazes me how much it rejuvenates me for the rest of the day. Did a lot of things like my part-time job, exercising, piano lessons and going to the jazz jam last night. It helps to fill the evening with activities so the night doesn’t feel so long, waiting for 12:00 to roll around.
About the log that I fill out, I only record the time I went to bed, the time I got up for good, the number of times waking up, and about how long I was awake. So other than the actually going to bed and getting up times, they are just approximate and you don’t have to look at the clock to see what time you woke up in the middle of the night.
Deb… So just to verify you have been using a strict 12a-6a window (for the most part) all this time?
Yes. 19 days now, with 4 bad nights and 15 good ones. Included in the good nights are a couple where I got up just once, but then after going back to bed fell asleep right away. The bad nights were when I couldn’t fall asleep until at least 3:00 or 4:00 or not at all.
I’m tired again today but I wouldn’t trade this any day for all the anxiety, worry about the approaching night, and the many miserable nights.
I guess that’s a good way to put it. 17 nights now for me and 5 flat out bad nights in there. Though my problem is that most of the “Good” nights are just that, “Good” with big quotations around them, and none of them different than any of the other “good” nights over the 2+ years.
What I want is to begin going into a phase of good nights that I can start really feeling amazing about. Hoping that comes soon.
I’m not expecting to feel amazing until I start getting enough sleep everyday from 7 or 7 1/2 hours of sleep, which won’t be for another month or more. But at least my nights for the most part are frustration and worry free. I’ll take that for now.
Good stuff Deb, Sounds like things are improving for you.
I’ve been reading the comments and am pleased for you.
I saw a really good news article a few years back online headed, “What years of anxiety and insomnia taught be about how to effectively deal with it.”
Google it.
I rather liked the approach the author adopted: “Just accept it”
It kind of softened his relationship to his insomnia.
Have a read and let me know what you think.
I do wonder whether sometimes folk should just accept their insomnia and the feelings of (in my case nausea and tension) that comes the next day.
With me, I’ve had insomnia episodes on and off for over 2 years, with no clear cause. Often nights with nil sleep at all, though fortunately never together on successive nights (unlike some poor souls here). At least after a duff night, I can look forward to sleep the next night.
But I don’t get insomnia every night, so I just look to the good nights. Also, have come to accept 5.5hrs to 6 hrs as being OK. Insomnia increases with age – and I am now older, so maybe that is just how it is!
I have followed this “acceptance approach”, and it does help quite a bit.
May I suggest you read this article and note especially the bit where he asks, “How would you feel and how would you act if I told you, you will have insomnia for the rest of your life”…
Also, suggest reading Eckhart Tolle’s book – The Power of Now, about living life in the present and seeing your thoughts as separate from yourself, or from your presence, as he puts it.
Ultimately, isn’t this about how you accept the insomnia. Make it a big deal and it becomes a bigger deal. Learn to accept it and it minimises its fear power. As Martin Read says, “If you cannot sleep, its no big deal. Just relax and see what happens”. This is all as key to me as the SRT is…. I.e. having the right mindset.
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