[Codester]

Hello all,

New to forum. Just started the free version of the program. My biggest issue is waking at 3-4am and not being able to go back to sleep. Have been dealing with this issue for about 7 years now.

Anyone else dealing with this issue?

Thanks!

[Chee2308]

What time do you go to bed?? Actually it is really normal to wake up after sleeping for 3-4 hours! So Get up, use the toilet and go back to bed. Most people go back asleep in no time if they are not anxious, worried about anything including sleep or try to fix anything.

[Codester]

Yes, I normally go to the bathroom but when I go back to bed I can’t stop my racing thoughts and go back to sleep.

[Chee2308]

What is your mind racing about?

[Codester]

It depends. Sometimes it’a just about stuff I need to get done, issues in my life. Other times it’s stress about not sleeping.

[Marion]

I’ve been reading about cbti and listening to podcasts including martin reeds. Here’s what I’m trying now for about a week which seems to help.
Plan on going to bed and waking at the same time. For me it’s 9-530. At 8-830p I start getting ready for bed and read till 9. I usually fall asleep pretty quickly. But always wake up 3-4 hours later. Always. I try to go back to sleep but if not asleep in 10 minutes I get up (out of bed) and read. ( it’s recommended to do something relaxing until tired. ). I use a head lamp with a red light. I have one that I use when camping. This is so I don’t use bright white lights in an effort to not activate any extra wakefulness. I have read how red lights keep your night vision, but have not read this from anyone explaining or recommending cbti it’s totally my thought. I also have to prepare for being able to read without being cold so I have a jacket and a blanket ready so then when I wake up I quickly put those on and can read for 15 or 20 minutes by that time I do feel a little drowsy, even though sometimes I read for an hour, but when I feel drowsy, I’ll go back to bed. Sometimes I go straight back to sleep other times, I will lay there, but I’ll get up after 10 minutes of being awake. sometimes I’ll wake up after 10 minutes or an hour but I keep repeating the cycle until 5 AM. Some nights are better than the others, but I do believe I am improving.
Other things I have been doing recently is I try to get outside to see the sunrise for about 10 minutes. I also try to exercise every day. I hope this helps.

[Codester]

Thanks. I’ll try that.

I do often read to try to get back to sleep but I’ve always done it in bed. I’ll try your method.

Yes, I exercise too. When I first started it seemed to help a lot. Now, not so much, unfortunately. 🙁

[Chee2308]

It doesn’t really what you do. If you are unwilling to let go of the deeply entrenched belief that not sleeping isn’t a problem, you will continue to struggle, mainly with your own set of thoughts.

[Codester]

Chee2308, I think you might have misspoke there. I think you’re trying to say it’s harmful to keep thinking that not sleep is a problem and that’s a deeply entrenched belief many people with insomnia have and it isn’t until we let go of it that we are able to improve, correct? So we should think not sleeping ISN’T a problem. It’s a bit confusing how you worded it.

I understand that concept. The more stress and anxiety we carry around sleep, the more it is a problem. The one thing I would push back on is that there are many studies out there showing that lack of sleep contributes to serious health problems. I myself was diagnosed with cancer in 2020 at a very young age. I am quite sure stress and lack of sleep contributed to me developing the disease. However, I am trying to shift my thinking and take each night as it is and not worry how it will go or if I wake up feeling unrested and crappy. I have noticed that on days I don’t worry if I’ll sleep and/or am confident that I will, it goes better. I also sleep much much better in the country.

[Chee2308]

Sleep isn’t a problem that you should worry about. On the topic about cancer, many who had it will attest that they slept poorly with plenty of sleepless nights while doing chemotherapy, were in pain or plainly worried sick about dying yet many also survived it and their conditions went into remission. They were many also who had advanced stages of the disease, were so sick so they just kept sleeping all the time and they didn’t make it. So what gives here? Your preconditioned mentality about sleep has caused you to make an unsubstantiated and unwarranted connection between sleep and your overall health when none really exists. In any healthy person, a lack of sleep can only exist momentarily. The body will almost certainly make up for it over time so the average sleep duration over a longer time period will converge towards a number, which is usually between 5.5 and 6.5. If you think of missing sleep temporarily as missing a meal because you were too busy or just weren’t hungry at the time, ask yourself if this is something you should spend the rest of the day worried about, or should you just let it be because the shortfall will eventually catch up as there is NO WAY your body can do it wrong. There is nothing you can do about your sleep in the same way you can’t do anything about your appetite, what you can do is just play along and see where it takes you. If someone or something had no concept about sleep, and its alleged effects, perhaps like a baby or a pet cat, did you think they would regard it as a problem? The answer is NO because they slept whenever they felt like it and seem healthy so where is the problem??

[Codester]

Ok I see your point.

[Author]

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