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I recommend doing the course as it helped me a lot. There’s a lot of useful information. Hopefully it will be helpful to others as well. It’s like anything new it takes a bit of time to work but if you’re patient and just do it, it should make a difference. You realise you’re not alone out there.
I agree with what Ruby said. The sleep window is good and I still set my alarm to wake in the morning at the same time and I get out of bed then no matter what the night was like. There’s always flexibility so for instance if I have a bad night I still get up and if I’m still tired after breakfast I may practice a yoga pose, called legs up the wall for 10 minutes, it’s relaxing and refreshing at the same time. Then I just get on with my day. As for stimulus control it drove me to the edge, I tried it on another course and ended up not finishing that course. Then after research found this course.
Stimulus control was definitely not good for me. Good luck.I wouldn’t call it erratic. 90% of the time I sleep well. The older you get the less sleep you need. I’m almost 67. So some nights it may take quite a while to fall asleep but I always do go to sleep. I’m not obsessed with getting 8 hours of sleep. I average between 6 to 7 hours, this is just an estimation of course. Sometimes I sleep straight away and sleep all through, other times I sleep straight away and wake up after a few hours, I may listen to music for about an hour then go back to sleep. The fear has gone as I don’t believe in sleep hygiene any more. I recommend trying to think like a child again and don’t even think about sleep.
Hyperarousal can come from just being excited, like a kid on Christmas Eve not sleeping. It’s not always from worry. We have to remind our brain sometimes, for example, okay brain you’re keeping me alert now and I realise why I’m excited (or you could replace I’m sad etc) thanks brain but I realise this is a normal part of life and guess what I can handle it by accepting it and letting it wash over me but hey I’m still here. Don’t fight the pain just let it sit in your lap and it can disappear and you can then relax. It works for me. Good luck.
I can’t remember where I was at week 3. At the beginning I used to sleep well every second night because I had so little sleep the previous night. I think you will improve but to be honest I didn’t have the best sleep last night. It’s the second last night of a holiday I think you call it a vacation. I’m ready to go home and had a few things on my mind. The difference is prior to doing the course if I had a bad night the next day was compromised because I thought I couldn’t go on as normal. At first you may be a little tired but you just push through. If you listen to Martin’s podcast you’ll see it’s still normal to have a bad night every now and then but you just accept this. Overall you should sleep a lot better. Good luck.
Yes you’re only on week 2. For me sometimes I still have to remind myself to be patient. I call it patient relaxation. I had my doubts too but I did lose that anxiety of being awake. Just keep doing the course. I also remember as a child I never thought about sleep or made any rules regarding it. It was just natural, never forced. Sleep requires no effort, it’s just something your body knows how to do. Don’t overthink it. Stop being afraid of being awake sometimes, it’s normal. You’re not exceptional, just normal. I hope this helps. Wishing you all the best.
I typed CBT-1 by mistake, sorry, it should have been CBT-i the i stands for insomnia. I tried a sleep app before doing this course and the CBT-i was too restrictive regarding following set rules and the sleep window was rigid and they worked out for me when I had to go to bed and for how long (after I had to estimate how long I slept for every night and how long I was awake) and I had to get out of bed if I didn’t sleep in 10 minutes. This course uses ACT-i which allows you to stay in bed as long as you’re not struggling with wakefulness or even get out of bed and listen to music or even stay in bed listening to music or reading etc as long as you’re not struggling with being awake. ACT-i suits me much better.
Sonja, I agree especially about the sleep drive and staying up later. Thanks for your post.
I agree with this Chee. I like the version of a sleep window on this course. I tried sleep restriction on a sleep app that did not work for me because there were so many hard and fast rules with no exceptions and I’m a human being not a machine.
I agree with this. I was a bit all over the place regarding all different types of information from different sources and it was overwhelming. The thought came to me to just follow one source the night I booked this course.
