[erdento]

I’ve had insomnia for approximately 35 years.  I have completed several sleep studies and sleep programs.  The last time was about 10 years ago.  The problem I have now appears to be the result of implementing these programs.  I currently sleep from 1 to 3 hours a night.  This is a substantial improvement from the approximately 15 to 30 minutes after the last sleep restriction program.  I could not continue this program to completion–after about one year–because of a need for more sleep, regardless of how I managed to get it.  Prior to the last program I had done three others.  Before starting the first program, I would get about 3 to 5 hours of sleep.

After the last program, I increased from the 15-30 minutes to the current 1-3 hours over about 5-7 years, adding more sleep gradually until reaching the current amount several years ago.  I would like to get more sleep.

Is it possible to undo the effect of these several programs and simply revert to my original 3-5 hours.  I would be happy to get that now.  How could I do this and would it be possible to do this on my own?

[Steve]

Hi Erdento. I should probably let Martin have first crack at this question as he is the Sleep Restriction expert here but I just wanted to give my opinion in the meantime. Sleep Restriction is not like a computer program where it is put into you and you follow the program. Rather, it is a technique that you would learn and implement over time. It is either going to work for you or it isn’t. But whether it does work or it doesn’t, it doesn’t stay in your system until you remove it. My guess is that your sleep went down because you had massive anxiety over your sleep issues. Especially since you went through what, four sleep programs and none of them seemed to work? That can cause a massive amount of anxiety in anyone. I know my own insomnia started slowly and went downhill from there. Only my further anxiety caused it to increase. I hope this answered your question and I hope you look into therapy for your anxiety and another sleep program to get you back to sleeping normal.

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum, erdento. I am not sure what you mean by “undoing the effect” of the programs you have taken in the past. Are you saying that you want to stop implementing the techniques you are using or that you want to reintroduce the techniques you learned in the past?

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[erdento]

Hi.  I wondered if I could reverse the effects of the sleep restriction programs, regardless of the method of achieving this.  At this point, if I could do that and just end up with the amount of sleep I had at the beginning, 3-5 hours, I’d be happy with that.  Rather than have another attempt at sleep restriction, I thought, given past experience, this might be a better approach and, considering all the various things I’ve tried over the past, I would be better off with the 3-5 hours.

[Author]

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