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Well, it looks like you are doing fine.
If I had just one night of 4.25hrs, I would think nothing of it. It would not affect how I felt at all.
In fact if I had two weeks of that, each night it would not bother me much either. As long as I actually sleep for at least an hour I’m OK. I just hate nil sleep nights and do feel cr*p after them.
But everyone is different re how sleep levels effect them and what they need, I guess
Deb,
I don’t know what your age is, but I guess you will know that as people get older they will need less sleep – and tend to get less sleep too.
On average I thin 8-9 hrs might be normal for a late teenager, but then sleep need goes down. I’m pretty sure that I’ve read that for folks over 55 like me (I’m 56), the average time sleeping is around 5 hrs, and some people need less than that of course – and can function fine on just 4 hrs – as about their average. (I know I can, though I feel better for my normal 5 to 5.5 hours). I used to sleep about an average 7 hrs when I was in my teens and early 20s.
So I wonder if your 8 hrs target is really achievable or realistic or right for you. Maybe it’s just ageing. Plus, see one of my newer posts – how can you be sure about how much sleep you are getting? Lots of research has shown that people who self-identify as “insomniacs” are often found to be sleeping more than they are aware of – their perception of how much they sleep is weak. That is not their fault, it’s due to brain chemistry.
Hope that helps, Daf
No I have not.
Think it is the next thing I must do.
God, the unpredictability of the insomnia is so annoying. I can go weeks, then it comes back all guns blazing and every other night is a nil-sleep night again for two weeks or sometimes even more.
Re Remeron, I have the same experience… it works for a few nights – makes you very drowsy for up to 2 nights, even if you only take it just one night. But after a week of taking it every few nights, it just stops working.
And the thing is ladies and gents. insomnia fear (IF) is NOT real. It is an idea made up in our heads, which is illogical, a mirage.
Even when you’ve nailed down some good sleep for a few weeks – and think insomnia is gone for ever, you may find yourself worrying that it could recur,… then remember this…. IT is NOT REAL. The fear is all in your head. You don’t need it, so let it go!
Your body knows how to sleep. The fear is not real, a product of some of your thoughts…. and you are NOT your thoughts, so be free!
Ironically, another thing re sleep issues is not to talk about sleep issues. And that would ultimately mean not identifying self as one who is “insomniac” (no such thing) nor read blogs or articles about it…. thus you cut its power off.
Everyone sleeps in the end….. it’s just like breathing!
It’s a bit like Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is not to talk about Fight Club!!! Ever! Ha!
Thanks Debs, good advice.
It’s so frustrating when one can go seven weeks without a “nil-sleep night” only for it to come back.
Guess it’s that lingering fear of it that comes back and restarts itself like an unrequested program attaching itself to your computer, even when you thought you’d deleted the effing thing!
Mac,
I agree, once you have had bad sleep, I think a part of you hates to have it come back again… and there is always that deep seated fear lingering. I have had long periods of “nil-no-sleep nights”, last one was from Mid Aug to end Sept this year…. so, 7 weeks of decent sleep. You think you’ve “cracked it” then it comes back… The key is not to fear it. Keep doing the SRT thing and keep remembering that sleep is natural and will come in the end….. this article will help you remember that…. and the author has a book I’ve read too…. but from reviews of Sacha Stephen’s book, hers sounds a lot like his…. except for the fact she is a sufferer and he isn’t!
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-christopher-winter/sleep-tips_b_4022780.html
I feel for you.
I will write a post later today or tomorrow about why the drugs don’t work – and actually only extend the problem. Look out for that.
Daf
Hi Mac and Deb,
I think sleep restriction therapy does make sense. In fact, it is maybe the only thing we can actually control (apart from trying to control our thoughts, over which we have some control, if we keep practising things like mindfulness and saying NO to negative thoughts etc., replacing them with positive thoughts).
I have to say though that for me, I’m not keen on the idea of getting out of bed after 15 minutes or so. It does just not work for me. (I don’t know what Martin says on that aspect of SRT, but it is the approach used by the NHS (health service) in England.)
I think better to just stay in bed and relax if you are OK doing that if you cannot sleep. After all, if you resolve to make sleep “no big deal” by making it less of a focus in your life (no more reading about it on tinternet / blogging!, ahem!), then why would you make it a big focus by getting out of bed if you can’t sleep right away? Unless you really want to get up and do the ironing instead.
Kind regards
Daf
Noted Debbie – thanks for that and for your help before.
PS Who have you hired to help you?
Thank you Oz,
I like the idea of a regular painkiller dose the next day after a night on nil sleep – Paracetamol from my research, looks the best one to try. Took some yesterday and it damped down the tight chest/nausea feelings for a couple of hours. Will do that again. Maybe can try at night next time I cannot sleep to cut the anxiety too. Good idea.
I also like your words: ‘I don’t really care whether I get a great sleep tonight as I know I’ll be OK’ That is good too. Thanks you. Daf
Thanks Preeced, I totally agree about the fear as being the issue.
And it’s a hard nut to crack because I know if I could somehow just “accept” the not sleeping AND the slight anxiety too, I’d sleep fine. But as it gets to 3am, 4am, the anxiety rises, and then there is no chance of sleep.
So right now it is a night on no sleep at all, followed by a night with 5 to 6 hours net sleep. It has been going on like this for 10 days – so 5 nil sleep nights and 5 with sleep. This repeats a pattern I have been through a lot over the last 2 years 6 months.
I keep trying to remember that from Mid Aug to end Sept I did not have a single sleepless night….GLORIOUS! and I thought I had cracked this nonsense, but it came back again – regular episodes of 1 to 3 weeks of OFF Sleep/ ON sleep and then a week or two of good sleep.
As Martin and you say you have to believe that you will get through and you will sleep OK the following night (at least that is what happens to me) due to sheer exhaustion.
I just want to get two nights decent sleep together now.
PS Taking Zopiclone v occasionally and sometimes an anti-histamine, but Zop only gives me 2 to 3 hrs sleep and I wake up in a rush and feel awful, so not keen on drugs.
God I hate this. It’s really screwed up my life. Perhaps I should accept it is here for good?
Thanks for all the help. Please keep sending the love.
Daf (in Kent, England)
Agreed, nice to see a success story.
I agree with you a little on this….. sometimes on these forums there are not enough success stories. Think that is because folks when they get better cannot be a***d to post their success…. probably their desire then (when better) is not to go back to talking about it, even if it is to relate a success story.
And yes, the issue with forums is that one does occasionally read about people whose sleep issue are even worse than oneself – and then could get panicky as one could imagine that that is where ones’s insomnia is headed (getting worse – catastrophe thinking!!)
I will get the book.
Daf
I will have to get the book.
