[Cathyo]

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Thanks to Martin’s 2 week course and YouTube videos, I finally managed to overcome my insomnia a year ago, sleeping on average about 6 hours a night. Now, it’s come back with a vengeance and I get so aroused with anxiety that I am only getting 0 to 4 hours sleep a night. I don’t wish insomnia on anyone, but it helps to know I am not alone.

[Cathyo]

Thanks Martin. I somehow managed to get back into a good sleeping pattern again, so I know I can do it. The emails I received from you and your YouTube videos always help me through a bad patch! I just have to believe in myself and not panic! Thanks again for your help – finding you was definitely a turning point in my search for help with insomnia.

[Cathyo]

Hello Manfred,

I don’t tend to struggle with anxiety during the day as much as I used to. I may have thoughts about whether or not I will sleep the next night, but I seem to be able to let those thoughts go on the whole. It may be because I just get on with the day as if I have had a good night’s sleep, not cancelling anything; it may be because there are more distractions during the day so I don’t focus on it; or it may be because I do 10 minutes of meditation every day. I do this through the Calm app (Headspace is good too) and there are lots of resources on there, not just meditation, which I believe has helped me get through this without my anxiety getting out of control or falling into despair.

As it gets close to bedtime, the thoughts about sleep start to get stronger but the anxiety tends to build if I find myself lying awake for more than an hour or so unable to get off to sleep, or unable to get back to sleep if I wake during the night. Despite the fact I seem to be able to cope on little sleep (as I believe is the case with anyone suffering from insomnia) and I tell myself this time and time again, this still doesn’t help my anxiety. I think the main reason for this is because I have googled anything and everything about the effect poor sleep has on your health and this resulted in me endlessly trying to find a magical cure. Needless to say, this just made things worse. Anne-Marie’s comments above about shifting the way I think about sleep is very helpful, which I know is covered in the CBTi courses, but hearing from someone it actually worked for makes a huge difference. Also, just yesterday, Martin reassured me that despite the headlines about the damaging effect poor sleep has on your health, there is no evidence to say this is true. There have been other studies proving there is no direct effect on health, but this doesn’t sell newspapers!!

I have done 2 CBTi courses which included sleep restriction, stimulus control, etc. and although very helpful, at the back of my mind, there was always this worry about the affect of insomnia on my health, which is why I feel it didn’t work as well as I had hoped for me.

Feeling reassured by Martin’s comments (and Anne-Marie’s), the ‘block’ that was preventing the strategies learned from CBTi has lifted so I feel more optimistic and able to move on.

I hope you can find a way to ease your anxiety and things improve for you.

[Cathyo]

Thank you so much for responding, Anne-Claire. I definitely have to be more disciplined about my negative thoughts because I know that is a big problem for me. Knowing that you give yourself positive self-talk and it has worked for you, along with not obsessing about sleep (which I am definitely guilty of) it gives me hope, so I am going to start now and stick with it.
Thanks again!
Cathy

[Cathyo]

Hello Anne-Claire,
Your post is very encouraging. I too have followed 2 CBTi courses and ACT and although I found them helpful and it all makes total sense, I still don’t know how to shift my attitude about sleep and so my insomnia continues. Despite the fact I get on with my usual routines and plans for the following day and I am quite positive and hopeful that I will sleep better that night, once I get into bed and find myself lying awake, the anxiety sets in preventing me from any chance of sleep. Then the worry sets in because I am wondering if I am going to have to live with just a couple of hours sleep a night and how I will cope, how it will affect my health, etc. I need to find a way to change my way of thinking about sleep in the way you have done but I don’t know how.
Cathy

[Cathyo]

Hello Caty,

I have only suffered from insomnia for the past 20 months but I am obsessed with trying to find a solution and have literally tried everything, but so far nothing has worked for me. Because of this I felt I had to find a way of living with it until (hopefully) I can get back into a normal sleep pattern.

I read somewhere that it’s the way you respond to a problem that affects you more than the problem itself. I started doing meditation 10 minutes a day through the Calm App (Headspace is also very good) and I really believe this has helped me keep positive during the day, no matter how tired I am. When I am having a bad night I do relaxation exercises to ease my anxiety. (There are various exercises for this on the Calm and Headspace apps, or you can find some on YouTube). It doesn’t necessarily get me off to sleep, but it does usually (not always) calm me down to at least allow sleep to happen if it’s going to. There are times after a bad night when I feel pretty low and in despair about it the next morning, but this mood usually lifts after an hour or two of getting up. I can only assume it’s down to meditation.

So, if you haven’t already tried it, I certainly think it’s worth doing. Good luck.

[Cathyo]

You are right, I know. I just don’t know how NOT to try. When anxiety sets in I then start to carry out all the different strategies to reduce the level of my anxiety. I will keep your wise words in my head and see what happens. Thank you!

[Author]

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