Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
The therapist if trained and certified for CBT-I will discuss your particular window. The missing piece is your current sleep efficiency. However, since your to bed and rise time is 5-5:30 hrs, you shouldn’t restrict it further. During CBT-I you can continue to use Ambien as a sleep aid until things stabilize. Just let the therapist know. He/she will almost definitely ask that.
To save time before your first visit I would recommend you starting sleep logs. You can download one online or my preference is use the CBT-I coach app. For the next 2 weeks fill it in to the best of your abilities so when you start the therapist has a good understanding of your situation rather than waiting 2 more weeks and then getting an idea on what SRT should be applied.
Sleep restriction isn’t the only component so although it is likely he/she will suggest it, other components will be in play to help your sleep become more consistent, restful and less frustrating.
I had trouble falling asleep last night as well. I was thinking too much about “am I falling asleep yet?, am I falling asleep yet?”. Unfortunately once I fell asleep I was up at 3:30 and from then on was just garbage.
Soda has little caffeine and if it was at 3:00pm shouldn’t have any effect.
@mac I do miss waking up to the alarm clock. It is very very rare now.
I started reading some of Sasha Stephens. It’s helpful to read.
Glad you had a good sleep. I slept pretty good for a Sunday night. Lights out at midnight and was up around 5:45-6. I tossed and turned and didn’t get up until my 7am. I didn’t bother with SC because I only had an hour left and was hoping to cat nap the extra hour. Anyway, I managed to get a solid block of sleep. Better than waking up 2 hours later and so forth. I find it hard to gauge my sleep because I’ve been fairly strict with not looking at the time. So some nights I may wake up and then get up, read or whatever and go back to sleep or just simply fall back asleep but I usually have no idea what time it is. If I look at the time it could be 2 am or 3 am or 5 am or 6:45 am. But if I do look and it’s only 2am, I freak out.
A thing Ill commend you on is that you are still living your life. The first few weeks I wanted to be a hermit and not commit to anything. What I’ve found is that I would stay at home and have even more struggle staying awake and worrying. The times I am out in the evening enjoying things I may be more tired, loopy and out of it but I still manage to have fun and when I get home, my wind down is shorter and go to bed and generally sleep better. The key is balance, fill up your days with things but make sure to have a bit of a buffer to also de-stress and continue with mindful meditation, tea, bath or whatever helps you relax.
So yes, keep on trucking!
I know it’s frustrating. I have gone to bed relaxed and calm and had issues falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night not to be able to fall back asleep. I wish I knew the answer and hope someone with experience could enlighten us.
Last night I went to bed fairly tired and woke up an hour before I should have. You’d think if my body was tired it would just doze back off. Sometimes it does though!, just not all the time.
I used to be able to sleep in, nap when I felt like it and still go to bed and sleep through the night. As for some reason why you can’t sleep. There may not be a reason but you may want to look at if there were any changes such as new stress.
Your body knows how to sleep. It has been doing so ever since you were both. You never forget how to sleep and it’s as natural as breathing.
CBT-I is the way to go. You can either do it online though here or Sleepio. You can also find someone local who is trained in CBT-I. It is the recommended first line treatment to insomnia.
Hope you get back on track!
Days where I feel jittery and anxious from bad sleep, Ill tent to lay off the caffeine completely due to mild paranoia although I doubt it’s really bad. I drink one cup if that. As long as you don’t drink in excess and shorter than 6-8 hours before bed you are fine. A few weeks ago when I was in a rough jittery state I was at a McDonalds and a guy ordered an extra large coffee and it was 10pm. I was thinking he’s crazy! lol
I started locally with a therapist who does specialize in CBT-I and been doing it since October. Are things better since I’ve started? hard to say but it does keep me consistent with what has been proven to work best. In other words, if I just went to bed at 9PM, watched TV in bed, tossed and turned and had no outlet to speak my mind on how I feel, I think I would feel crappier than I am now. A lot has happened around my life this past year and may or may not have been a contributing factor in my sleep. So a lot of the CBT-I component we’ve been working on but a lot of the focus now is the CBT portion for anxiety and just overall support. Things like my beliefs that my insomnia is different than everyone elses. Other issues in my life that are causing stress etc.
As for my week to week progress. What happens is Ill get a good streak where I am getting a solid 6:00-6:30 hours of sleep and then get a bad streak and those bad streaks fluctuate. Some nights are 2 hours, some are 5. Regardless, my thought is there isn’t another better option. I have tried going to bed early in the past before CBT-I and it simply doesn’t work. For me getting out of bed in the morning on weekends are harder than staying up until my go to bed time.
Hi Deb,
Especially the first few months you will need to stay consistent. Not perfect but consistent. If your wake up time is 6:30 and you get up at 6:40, no big deal. When it’s 6:30 and then for 2 mornings you get up at 8:00 then it seems to fall apart.
Surprisingly, I had a decent sleep. Went to bed shortly after midnight and fell asleep quickly. I managed to sleep through until 7am. I was relaxed but awake and knew that if I stayed in bed I would toss and turn for 30 minutes and then sleep for another hour or so and screw things up. At 10am I was really tired and laid down for 30 minutes for a power nap. Better then than in the afternoon.
I do receive emails from Martin and today’s was about watching soccer and how he was to watch the games at 4am. The long story short is not to treat yourself with sleep ins or odd hours until you are treated. I guess what that means is once your sleep gets back to normal and stays normal for awhile then you can deviate. From my experience staying normal means being able to comfortably fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up on time consistently for a few months.
I think blue light affects us all differently and from day to day. It is true that blue light inhibits melatonin production but if you already have enough stored up one should be able to dose off. Another factor I believe is the content. If one’s screen time is playing high intensity video games it would make a bigger difference than if one were watching a boring documentary. From what I’ve read, the amount of decreased melatonin is about 20%. Not sure the length of exposure.
As for feeling sleepy, turning off the screens and reading, coloring, doing puzzles works better to get that sleepy feeling. I was actually considering getting a math textbook and crunching out problems to tire out my brain. Actually reminds me, suduku is good. After 1-2 of those I am more tired than before.
Anxiety is definitely the biggest factor at play. Back in the day when I was stressed I could just lay down and it would actually help relieve stress and could sleep. Now it has done the opposite. The more anxious I am for whatever reason, the worse I sleep. I do find that days off knowing I don’t have a full day ahead of me I do generally sleep better. As with you, I had time off during the holidays and slept better.
Are you doing CBT-I alone, with a therapist, online?
I used to be able to watch 30 minutes of TV in bed and just turn it off and go to bed. One thing I’ve stopped is moderate drinking. I would have 2-5 units on most nights in the evening to wind down and one night I woke up with a tight chest and said to myself “Let’s stop this for a bit”. I think it was helping me dose off. I would take week long breaks from alcohol in the past and would actually sleep better!. Not the case at the moment and staying clear of alcohol just to rule that out.
I think you are right with developing sleep anxiety. Sure I would have a bad night here or there and by the next night be tired enough to make it back up or just nap the next afternoon. It’s when it runs for days in a row that I think it manifests. I also have had some family stresses that don’t help either on top but it’s not like I am thinking about that at night. I am more just feeling anxious about sleep.
Looking at my sleep logs to answer your question, it doesn’t seem 100% that things derail after sleeping in. It does look like it’s a factor or work. For example, the times I slept in (and was able to for some magical reason), the following night where I would have to be up for 7 for work, that night is usually the worst.
The bad nights don’t really begin after developing anxiety the night before. 2 nights ago I slept 5 hours in one block and slept another hour later and felt ok about it. So last night I was in a good mindset but was a rough night.
Everyone is different but I think what helps me generally is to occupy my evenings with fun stuff. Rather than watching a movie or shows and then winding down for 2 hours meditating, progressive relaxation, hot baths etc Going out with friends until say 11 or whatever, coming home and winding down quickly seems to work better because although I may feel more anxious about how much time I have to relax, it gives me less time to worry about sleep. Also because of the fun/social factor if my mind wanders, it wanders to the positive day and drift off easier. If I am looking at the time counting down until I go to bed, it sets up for a harder night than one where I come home, it’s late and I just want to go to bed.
Been doing it since October. It started with 7:30hrs per night and after a month went down to 7:00hr. 12:00 to 7:00. I sometimes push it to 12:30 or 1:00. As for results, I will get 5-12 days or so with 80-95% efficiency and feel pretty good, then out of nowhere I get derailed and get 2-4 hours of sleep and efficiency drops to 20-60%. The good news although not encouraging is if you continue to sleep only a few hours a day, your efficiency will go up and you will tend to sleep deeper which is more restorative. I “think” why I get derailed to some extent is I may push my wake up from 7:00 to 8:00 or 8:30 when I actually sleep like a baby and think “oh man this is good!”. They say you should always stick to your rise time no matter what but I find it hard to believe 1-2 days of that would mess it up so much. Was never an issue for me 6+ months ago.
They say that sleep restriction therapy increases sleep drive and thus should bust through sleep anxiety because your desire to sleep is stronger. Makes sense because sleeping is as natural as breathing, however, for some reason I am averaging 2-5 hours of sleep this past week and not sure how my body is still feeling wired. I am exhausted, fatigued, tired and unmotivated. I am not sleepy though.
Sorry to hear Mac. You are not alone. I had a bad night last night as well (and many others). Went to bed at midnight and was up around 2:30-3:00. I stayed in bed for a bit and when I determined sleep was not possible I got up and went to another room and just sat on the couch with music on for 15 minutes or so. I didn’t feel “sleepy” but was tired. Went back to bed and tossed and turned and got up again. Tried this once more and then got up at 7:00. I may have drifted off to very light sleep but hard to say. My issue is that my brain is always on and always checking to see if I am awake or not. It’s frustrating and wish there was an easy effective way to deal with it.
