[Nao]

Hi, a quick update from me:

After a very frustrating 5-day relapse, I’ve been sleeping well for the past 10 nights or so, including while staying at various hotels for a work conference and vacation road trip, and at my parents’ house. Now that I’m back at my apartment, my sleep has continued to be pretty good although I’m a bit more restless when it’s a work night. I still wake up 2-3 times per night, usually in the late morning, which causes me some frustration and anxiety, but I’ve been falling back to sleep within a short time. Fingers crossed that this signifies my sleep is on the upswing…it’s interesting how sometimes I sleep better at home, sometimes better away from home.

Do others wake up several times during the night, including in the late morning? Thanks.

[Borgesbi]

I had just been thinking to ask the same thing here in the forum. My insomnia has been so much better too and I feel like it will only get better from here and on (with small relapses perhaps), but one thing I also still experience are awakenings. Las night I slept straight from
9:30pm to 2:30am and then from 2:30 until 6:30 I had a ton of awakenings (at least 3 or 4) although I would fall back asleep pretty fast after each one. It didn’t frustrate me necessarily but it makes me wonder if these awakenings will eventually go away.

One of the people here in the forum said her sleep doctor explained that in people with insomnia, the amygdala is much more active and stays active while we’re sleeping even if we’re consciously calm. So it’s almost as if our unconscious is on alert and waking us up to make sure everything is ok and we’re safe because it has gotten the message from us in the past that being in bed or anything related to sleep is stressful. The best thing in my opinion is for us to not give these awakenings much attention and let it be – if we can fall asleep rather quickly after an awakening, that’s already great 🙂

[RonA]

Borgesbi, is it possible that you are having all these awakenings after sleeping 5 hours that you are just not that tired anymore? Sleeping from 9:30 to 6:30 is a 9 hour window and I do not know many adults that can sleep that long without waking up several times.

[Borgesbi]

Hi RonA,

It is possible, definitely. But I’ve dropped CBT-I since it wasn’t working for me and from recommendation from another person here in the forum, I started ACT for insomnia, which has been working great for me. I try to do a sleep window of 8 hours during the week and let myself relax about it over the weekend. I was still pretty sleepy and falling back asleep fast last night even though I had many awakenings so my body was definitely asking/needing more sleep 🙂

[Nao]

Thanks, guys. I’m definitely still tired after waking up after 5.5 hours or so. I slept well for 2.5 weeks or so and then not so well the last two nights (waking up early and not able to fall back sleep, trying SC once). It’s frustrating that I have had this pattern of several good weeks and then several bad nights. I try not to give in to anxiety/obsessive research on sleep/compensating for bad nights, but it’s hard to ignore the fatigue and tiredness when it happens, and I feel like I have several bad nights no matter what. I wish my bad nights didn’t often come in clumps…do others experience that?

[Author]

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