[Deb]

When I first did ACT a few months ago I had a similar experience of no longer struggling to go fall asleep but then experiencing light sleeping all night long. In that case, I was having many dreams and I remembered a lot of them after waking up. So I wasn’t having the deep, restorative sleep where there is no dreaming. I think I’m experiencing something similar now, but without the dreams. It must be light sleep since I wake up so easily and often. Fortunately, I fall back asleep soon afterwards.

It’s interesting that with SR I slept well, although there are other things that I didn’t like about it. I wonder if with SR you just get so very exhausted that when you do fall asleep you immediately go into the deep sleep. Who knows? Anyway, I’m hoping that over time my sleep gets better and deeper. Right now I’m just grateful that I’m finally starting to fall asleep more quickly, which has been my main issue all along.

[Borgesbi]

Deb, I do think SR does help in improving sleep quality because like they say, it consolidates sleep. It feels to me that my sleep quality has increased big time since starting SR ( when I actually sleep! Ha). I’ve entered some good days now and it is incredible how different we feel during the day when we sleep well.

Steve, the CBD oil you took was from hemp or cannabis? I’ve been taking 5 drops in the morning and 10 drops one hour before going to bed and have been loving it. I’m much calmer than before, but hope I don’t experience any negatives with it!

[GILL999]

Hi all. I wanted to chime in here as I’ve just sat and read through the whole of this thread.

I’ve been suffering with bouts of severe insomnia for years and am currently in the middle of my worst ever bout, caused by something completely irrelevant. Outside of a bout I have no trouble sleeping, but right now j am getting no more than 2 hours sleep max a night. It’s been 4 weeks to the day since it started and I am literally at my wit’s end. I’ve been signed off work as I’m unable to even function and desperate just to get my life back.

I’ve been prescribed various meds by the doctors, none of which have helped with the actual sleep so i’m no longer taking them. I’ve been prescribed two different anti depressant/anti anxiety medications which i am taking – when they kick in i think from previous experience will help with the severe anxiety that’s been caused by the insomnia.

I have paid for the full course with Martin and am in week 1 doing my sleep diary, but reading through this thread, It’s hard to know what to make of its success or not. I’m not sure about putting myself through more trauma of SC and SR if it’s not going to really help.

I have also seen ACT mentioned a few times which in the past is the only thing that ‘spoke’ to me – I did a course with Guy Meadows. But i couldnt tell you if it actually helped me in the past or not, as i can’t really identify what has got me out of the bouts in the past – it just seems to happen eventually. But then again it’s never been this bad before. It feels as though my brain has literally forgotten how to sleep. I can’t get to sleep and when after hours I finally drift off I suffer from constant hypnic jerks, so I’m waking every few minutes. I’m really at a loss to know where to go with this now. All thoughts and opinions welcomed.

[Steve]

Borgesbi – The bottle says a hemp extract so I believe it is hemp and not cannabis.

[Steve]

Hi Gill. First of all, I would say that CBT-i, SR and SC do work if done constantly and not just on an intermittent basis. As I mentioned to you before though, it can take some time and just because the course lasts 8 weeks, doesn’t mean you will be “cured” in that time period. I think that in comparison to doing nothing, CBT-i is a better bet if for one reason only. And that is that after a couple weeks, you may be getting less sleep than before you started SR, but it will be more consolidated and therefore you will feel better. As an example, I was getting 4 to 6 hours of sleep before I started CBT-i but it was over an 8 or 9 hour period of staying in bed. That means I was constantly waking up throughout the night and my sleep was not a deep one. After about 2 weeks of SR, I was getting 3 and a half to four hours of sleep but that was in a 5.5 hour period so it was more consolidated. I was still tired when I got up, but not as bad.I recognize that it will take time to get more sleep but I am prepared to stay the course because I know CBT-i is better than pills. The sleeping pills they gave me never worked and as for the anti-depressants, if you look at the side effects for them, you will see most of them have insomnia as a side effect. That’s why doctor’s usually prescribe a second med to help you sleep to counteract the anti-depressants. So, try sticking with the program and see what happens. After all, SR isn’t all that bad. Look at it this way. You are only getting 2 hours sleep now. So if your SW is 5.5 hours long, you won’t be losing any sleep in the beginning. And once your sleep starts consolidating, you will feel better and start to get more sleep. Feel free to ask in this thread any questions you may have.

[gsdmom]

Can anyone answer this question? I’m thinking of starting sleep restriction. I know my sleep window would be only 5.5 hours, say 12:00am-5:30am. If I go to bed at 12:00am and am not asleep by 1am, should I get out of bed and read or something until sleepy or do I stay in bed the whole 5.5 hours even if I cannot sleep?

[delv-x]

With SR/SCT it’s actually more like 15-20 minutes get out of bed. My suggestion is go to bed at 12:00am. Lay there and relax. If after what feels like 20-30 minutes if you don’t feel like sleep is approaching or you feel more restless then it’s better to get out of bed and do something else. If it’s been an hour and sleep is not happening then you should definitely get out of bed.

The thing you don’t want to do is routinely stay in bed awake as this creates an association between your bed and wakefulness. Also if you aren’t sleepy then you should not go to bed until you feel sleepy. If you feel tired but wired, meditation or reading in the evening may help get you to a sleepier state.

 

[Steve]

Hi gsdmom. If you want to know more about Sleep Restriction and Stimulus Control, go up to the top of the page and click on the Resources tab in the menu. You can then click on either category and it will explain it to you in more detail.

[Borgesbi]

Forgot to mention:

Karen – your post was a breath of fresh air! I’m sure it encouraged a lot of us here (certainly me). Knowing that it has taken you 5 months of practicing CBT-I to achieve 17 consecutive nights of 6-7 hours of sleep gives me hope that some day I’ll get there 🙂

A question for you: did you happen to go through a long period of averaging 5 hours of sleep? When did you start averaging 6-7 hours of sleep? Was it a gradual increase? I’m asking because my good nights of sleep (falling asleep faster and staying asleep) never go over 5 hours or so, rarely do I get 6.

[KarenP]

Thank you!  I’m so happy to hear it encouraged you.  Honestly, I’ve only been averaging  6 + hours of sleep the last 3 or so weeks.  That’s around the same time I started practicing mindfulness meditation during the day.  Even though my sleep window is now 7 hours, I still wake up after 6 hours naturally.  I check my phone, and try to sleep another hour.  It’s amazing, I think the quality of my sleep is so much better and so restorative that I don’t need as much.  Before insomnia started in January, I was probably averaging 8 hours of sleep.  I’m in my sweet spot now, sleepy enough at 11 to be able to fall asleep.  Most of the days that I get 7 hours of sleep, I wake up after 6 hours and try to go back to sleep.  As Martin has told us, the 8 hours of sleep necessity is a myth.

On a side note, 2 nights ago, my hubby and I were babysitting grands at my daughters house.  Very stressful  day and emotional as well since we lost our dog on top of that.  I had an almost nil night of sleep.  Did SC all night long.  I was exhausted the next day, but stayed up till 11:00 pm.  I was so afraid that after 3 weeks that it was all vanishing.  The following night I slept 6 hours after doing SC once, and I slept through night last night!  I just reminded myself that everyone has bad nights, and I could do this thing!!  I believe positive attitude is everything!

Hope this helps.

Karen

 

[Steve]

Glad you are getting the sleep you need now Karen. I went into a slump but over the last three nights, had a 5.25, a 4.5 and a 4.75 hour sleep. I am starting to crack the 5 hour sleep barrier, even if I’m doing it slowly. I am just so tired in the morning though only getting mostly sleep in the 4 hour range. My biggest problem is nodding off during the day. I was so tired yesterday (Sunday), that every time I sat down, it went into a microsleep. I finally nodded off for about 25 minutes later in the evening. I know these naps are killing my sleep drive but it’s hard to avoid them. I have to work at doing a better job at that.

[Mac0908]

Update: I feel like my slogan is “Little by little”, meaning exactly what it says as far as my recovery. It has never been a fast fix for me. It was never even close. I’m an anxious person by nature. This was maybe inevitable. Maybe it will linger in some way shape or form forever. But that being said, I AM getting better. For every brutal “relapse” or bad week or whatever it is I may have, I eventually come into a good phase or a good week, which ultimately seems to drop by overall sleep anxiety/fear down, even if a small notch. Little by little. Even if I continue with the two steps forward one step back, eventually the odds are in my favor.

Trial and error is what this has all been, and even though its taken MUCH longer than I had liked, I’m currently in an ok place. I still have to watch myself and my sleep hygiene/routines. I make sure to never and I mean never look at the clock. I make sure to not get into that bed unless I’m legitimately sleepy. I make sure to NOT lie in on weekends longer than a half hour or so… and much more. But overall right now, I’m in an ok place. I hope to stay there now for quite a while. Hope everyone else is doing well.

[Deb]

Thanks for the update, Mac. For myself, I don’t have much to report yet as far as any great results. Things take time, like you said, Mac. The  week before last I was having the light sleep. Last week it changed and I was having more trouble just falling asleep. I haven’t been as consistent as I need to though, and know that slows down progress. I think overall though, that I’m feeling more relaxed about sleeping.

How about everybody else?

[Pam1129]

Although I haven’t commented much of late.. I’ve still been following, for the most part ; this forum.

I also want to share the whole truth; but ….

after reading Sasha’s book ‘Effortless Sleep’  one of her big things was to keep it all positive, ( even if it wasn’t All true ) when someone asks how you’re doing or how the sleep has been , you role is to respond in a positive way  ‘it was a great night and tonight’s gonna even be better’ I’ve SOO been trying to do  this more , even if I’m cringing at times inside…

My SW  is 12-5:30

it’s really difficult to stay awake that long , however , being in bed a shorter amount of time has def been great for me

1. It’s Allowed me to fall asleep very quickly ?

2.When I wake ( which is about 5 times) I am falling back to sleep !!

So I’m determined to  keep ‘sleeping well!’

[Deb]

Glad it’s going well for you, Pam.

How are you Steve, Delv, Daf, Borgesbi, Jazzcat and the rest of you? Everybody has been quiet lately. On vacation? I’ll be taking mine next week in Yellowstone Park. Hopefully all the hiking will put me right to sleep at night!

[Author]

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