Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
@ Hbhigg let me know how it goes! I love how it has worked for me. Also, some great tips from another forum participant which really resonated with me: https://insomniacoach.com/forums/users/r-e-m/replies/
You can join us in the forum we are supporting each other.There is a free webminar on the sleep school website (also Facebook page) if you guys are interested. A short one in calming anxiety for better sleep. March 17 2021 at 6:30pm London time.
@turtlestamp oh I hate when that happens. I get super frustrated. I haven’t had it 3 days in a row. For now the max has been 2 days, but when I have it on the second night that I do not sleep. I get like damn my body will never sleep. This sucks. I doubt my body’s ability to sleep. The last time I watch YouTube videos from people on the channel of Martin and somone shared that they had it various consecutive days of low sleep in a row but eventually it passed and that gives me hope to hang in there when I am doubting myself and my body. I feel you, is hard and I always also think I can take a pill and that lowers my stress because I feel is a bit of a choice then is not so daunting.
@turtlestamp, I get you. The sleep restrictions is rough! Like why am I gonna get up, if I just slept for 1 to 3 hours? What I find is that after the 2 days of only 1 to 3 hours of sleep, the next night I am out for like the 6 hours. My body gives me sleep after 2 days of not much sleep. That’s what I realized for myself and I feel OK with that. I don’t see it as bad. In the past, I felt horrible about that, but now I am like ok that’s for now, let’s see how it goes.
So in a week I can have three nights in it that has 1 to 3 hours, but the others are like 5 or 6 and then I think ok there is a day that I will have sleep.
I feel this gives me trust that my body gives me the sleep I need. I also prefer the few nights of natural sleep than all nights of long sleep when taking medication but feeling groggy and zombie during the day.@ Manfred I started with a sleep window of 6 hours and it has worked fine for me. There are tough nights, but some nights I get my 6 hours! :D:D so I have decided to not decrease it. The acceptance of the sleepless nights has gotten better, so I prefer to leave it with 6. I think I also have learned to stay away from articles that freak out about ppl having less than 8 hours of sleep and also ppl that think like that and panic and then trigger my anxiety. I keep my mantra, my body gives me the sleep I need and is unique to every person.
Yeah!! I live in the Netherlands (North Brabant) hehehe Good to hear you live in Belgium. I am not Dutch though, but I like this country a lot!@R.E.M Awesome tips!!!! Feel like printing them hehehe and sharing them with someone. I will refer them to you. I had the Calm app, but found other ones and well now I like the sleep school app, but is I think what works for each person. Just so happy there are soo many options.
Thanks for the support Manfred! 🙂 Yeah in theory is one thing, but practice is another and that is taking time for me.
At the moment, I am doing both ACT and CBT-i. I did the free online course and do both the sleep restriction, stimulus control.
Sleep restriction, I see it like, a way to show my body it can still do things with little sleep. Sometimes, I sleep two hours or one and start my day, ITS SUPER HARD, but reading youtube videos, this forum, hearing ppl sharing the story keeps me motivated.
The simulus control helps me to show my body to relax and find a relaxing activity to enjoy the waking time, not to relax to sleep, but to enjoy the waking time. Is like applying ACT to CBT-i in a weird way.
@Turtlestamp the meditations on the app, do help me. Because sometimes, I find it hard to bring myself to the present and show myself I am safe, so they are really good in that. There is a trial period on it, so I was able to try it for freee and I kept it because it works for me.Yeah, I feel like I am getting on the right track as well and it’s just practice and give time and patience to myself.
@manfred
I have had panic attacks and anxiety for quite some months when I started experiencing insomnia. So at the beginning I got into medication and therapy for anxiety and panic disorder. There I learn to build a friendly relationship with fear. It was intense therapy. I had it like 3 times a week for a couple of months, but it help me to feel OK with feeling fear. It’s really uncomfortable and it feels like I will die, but as the panic attack passes I realized I am alive. I had to do a lot exposofe exercises until eventually I feel more like ok here comes the panic attack. I have them less now as my body does not fight them anymore.
So it has been a journey for me, but I would never thought I would say this, it taught me a lot so in a way I can say thank you to it. If my therapist saw me writing this post, she would be speechless, I remeber coming to her office crying every time. It’s a painful process but I am glad I am not giving up because I am still learning a lot from it.
When the period was really heavy for me before anxiety disorder therapy I had a lot of suicidal ideation, so I am really glad I did not give up and it exercise my patience. Seeing that not all days are the same and just patience with the process as is not a quick fix for me.@manfred and @turtlestamp great points! I have been battling insomnia for 2 years and recently I am learning in the last two weeks that battling is the thing that is keeping me awake and anxious day and night as you guys said. I actually just need to surrender like that article you mentioned. Battling keeps the fight or flight response active which keeps me awake, so once I accept a sleepless night or a couple or 3, the discomfort that comes with it, the struggle of the next day, then the fight or flight will calm down. I have managed to be calm after 2 consecutive nights of 2 o1 hours of sleep. In the beginning, this was impossible for me, but I am seeing that with time it gets better.
I am just starting to learn this and is easier said than done, but until now, I get that I just need to let go. It will be fine if I do not sleep, it will be uncomfortable, YES! but it will be ok. I have been ok battling it, I will be ok not battling it.
The sleep school app I mentioned to you uses this ACT perspective in a more practical way, not just theoretical on how to show the body that is safe as well as CBT-i by doing relaxing things at night and enjoying them instead of being focus on the fight. The app has some awesome meditations that I can use during the evening that guide me through an anxiety attack and through the struggles of the day. The meditation is not to fall asleep on the contrary is to embrace being awake and paradoxically sleep comes. However, I really needed to embrace the mentality that I am not doing the meditation to sleep, but to really embrace being awake and being ok with it. Somehow then the body calms down with the relaxing activities and starts to see being awake as safe and not a threat anymore. It’s a bit complex, but hope you get a bit of what I am saying. Where I am guided to let go instead of fighting it, avoiding it, or getting rid of it. I noticed that, yes, I suffer the next day, but I can drop the secondary suffering, which is the fighting and judgement I add to it.
This attitude has helped me to feel less anxious during the day and sleep or no sleep becomes less important.Thanks Hbhigg! You as well! Being open to this program takes courage so props to you too!
I also use a lot of ACT techniques so grow in acceptance of insomnia.
There is an app I use for acceptance of insomnia specifically, https://www.thesleepschool.org/
And the sleep book.
I find it complimentary to CBT-i
🙂Indeed, the day can be tough, like I just change in personality with no sleep, but for now, just trying to take some distance and observe myself. Like saying to myself, now I am anxious, now I am down, now I feel like being on the couch the whole day. Ok, the feeling can be there and I will take that feeling for a walk and then see how it changes. I am 3 weeks off medication and using this technique has been so much helpful than doing it without them. Also, this support to write here helps!
@Mantred. I also have sleep anxiety. I think that’s what triggers the whole cycle of insomnia for me. Following the free online course by Martin helped and also I downloaded the app, sleep school app. You can find it at the play store. It also helps. This app also has a book, the sleep book by Guy Meadows. I have it on my kindle and they are both great support. I have been managing with them and without medication for the moment. The sleep anxiety is not completely gone, but it feels great to have support on how to handle it. I have medication that I can take if the sleepless now become too much, but I take it more incidentally now, not every day.
Awww I love all these loving messages!! Indeed let’s support each other here. Alone can be though indeed.
I have had struggle with sleepless nights for 2 years. On and off medication (quetiapine 6mg) it does the job but leaves me a bit zombie the next day.
Indeed, there are some parts where ACT and CBT-i are kind of crossing each other, but in other ways can complement each other.
I definitely prefer getting out of bed too, but maybe it will change at some point.
I like reading too, podcasts, writing, listening to music, meditating to relax not necessarily sleep but just rest. At times when I have sleepless nights, I just do like 3 hours of visualization meditation and that helps me to feel kind of refreshed. Yoga nidra for sleep is also really nice!
I can get a bit depressed and anxious during the day and there I need motivation and staying in the present moment.I also had the same, finished the course a while back and being more committed now.
Let’s see how it goes ??Thanks, Turtlestamp! Yeah, it’s tough, so ACT really helps with staying in the now at night and during the day when facing the daily hassles of life. I also think of moms who are taking care of their babies at night and need to be alert the whole day. It makes me feel trusting that I can handle the day. I know a lot of moms at the moment with newborns and I am always amazed by how much they have and managed to do with little sleep.
Also, I think, I can always go back to medication, so now I am giving myself a chance to trust that my body will give me the sleep I need and my body can sleep naturally as I let go of my false beliefs. It’s a bit of a mantra at the moment.
How long have you been trying the program? Are you doing the free online course?Let’s hang in there! We got this! If you feel like venting, feel free to message!
