[Birdie]

Hello there, I have used Martin’s CBT-I program and my home sleep has improved immensely! I’m very grateful for his work. But I am having anxiety about traveling away from home for 18 days. I will be waking at 3 am the first day and will be traveling from California to E. Canada taking 3 different planes. I’m meeting 10 cousins I never knew I had. I’ve never left my husband for this long. I’m a light sleeper with insomnia. I may be sharing a room for 4 days too. When traveling in the past I have always drugged myself to get some sleep but it had consequences and didn’t always work.

I understand that I may not be getting much sleep due to all of the changes and excitement. But I really do want to make this trip.

I’m just looking for some advise vis a vis traveling, waking at 3 am, changing time zones, jet lag, lots of change…and how to get some sleep.

Thank you very much.

[Martin Reed]

That anxiety is natural and normal, Birdie! Can you think of any other times when anxiety has shown up before (and maybe during and maybe even after) doing things that are important?

Anxiety related to a job interview? Anxiety related to being a parent? Anxiety related to meeting new people?

How did you respond to that anxiety? Did you cancel the job interview? Did you give your kids away? Did you stop socializing and lock yourself in an isolation unit?

If not, why?

Was it because you recognized that doing things that matter involves the presence of difficult thoughts and feelings such as anxiety?

If so, perhaps what’s really important here is doing things that matter, even if they come with anxiety. Perhaps what really matters is traveling, meeting your cousins, adding good stuff to your life — even if that generates anxiety and even if there might be some difficult nights that come with it?

Sleep you cannot control. Anxiety you cannot control. Going on an adventure that will enrich your life, even in the presence of difficult stuff you cannot control, is completely within your control.

I hope there’s something useful here 🙂

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If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Birdie]

Thank you very much Martin. I really appreciate your response and approach. It’s so different than the norm. I will concentrate on the definite plusses of my trip.
I am happy to pay you the $49 you have listed for questions. One question I have is how to approach the time zone difference at “bed time”? Should I just let nature take its course meaning wait until I’m sleepy and go to bed? Dr. Jacobs says to take pills for a few days until one is acclimatized. No way.
My thought is that you’re thinking…don’t plan any of this….let nature do her thing.
Thank you again! Birdie

[Martin Reed]

Hiya Birdie!

I think some temporary disruption is a cost of traveling and doing things that matter — especially if we are crossing timezones!

What can sometimes be helpful is remaining awake until it’s around your usual bedtime in your new destination (in other words, if you usually go to bed around 10:00 PM at home then see if you can delay going to bed until 10:00 PM — local time — wherever you are in the world, too).

If you reach your destination at a time when you’d normally be sleeping, you might want to grab a bit of sleep and then try to get up at your normal time — or you can try to plough through until your normal bed time. The accumulated sleep drive will help create good conditions for sleep the following night and might help you adapt to the new timezone a bit quicker.

PS: There’s no charge for these answers (or for using the forum) — you shared some great questions that I am sure will benefit others who read this topic 🙂

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If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Birdie]

You are so generous. Thank you very much Martin. What you wrote is very helpful. I am preparing for temporary disruption. That will be my mantra. 🙂 No…enjoying myself with be my mantra.

You say “if you usually go to bed around 10:00 PM at home then see if you can delay going to bed until 10:00 PM — local time — wherever you are in the world, too).” That will be the situation when I return back to California from E. Canada. I’ll do that.

Initially I’ll be going the opposite direction, meaning it’s 4 hours later than my time. When they hit the hay it will be 4 hours earlier for me. So…if it’s 10PM for them it will only be 6pm for me. The sleep drive might not have kicked in. Do you have any suggestions for the other way around?

By the way, I have it checked “Notify me of follow-up replies via email” but I don’t get them. I’m not sure if that’s the case for others. I am going to be donating again.

Thank you again for all you do!
Best, Birdie

[Martin Reed]

Good question — in that case, you might want to go to bed only when you feel sleepy enough for sleep, while maintaining that out of bed time in the morning. So, that 10:00 PM (local time) is an earliest possible bedtime, rather than the time you must go to bed.

PS: It looks as though you weren’t subscribed to this topic and that’s why you didn’t receive any notifications. Even if you click to receive reply notifications when you post a reply, if you aren’t subscribed to the topic as the first poster, you won’t receive the notifications. I’ve subscribed you to this topic so you should now receive email notifications.

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If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Chee2308]

I apologize for my intrusion but there’s something about this thread that I just had to speak out. There’s just too much detail about sleep here and all I read about are endless attempts to control it. Let me ask you a simple question: Aren’t you supposed to be enjoying yourself or do you want to embark on this trip just to SLEEP?? Haven’t you slept enough already while at home?

[Birdie]

I really appreciate this Martin. This sounds like a good plan. It will be fun to see how it all plays out. It’s working so well for me at home. I’m not expecting anything. I know, as you say, there will be temporary disruption. But my attitude is much different now. It will be good to be tested…my attitude, that is. Haha

And now I understand why I didn’t receive a notification before. Thank you. Best wishes, Leslie

[Author]

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