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Hi Becc, I can very much relate to what you’re saying. I battled insomnia for years, and then learned some techniques on my own, and then more on this site. And yet I still have bad sleep nights sometimes. Things will go well, i.e. sleeping fine, and then here comes the insomnia again. And even if it is only one night, sometimes that anxiety creeps in. As you say, even if you’re not particularly stressed in your life right now, the thoughts start “flooding back.”
There is no controlling the flood. I think the answer is how we react to it.
At the moment, the analogy which fits best for me is the weather. I didn’t sleep great last night, and the weather this morning doesn’t look all that great either. But I still see some possibilities to enjoy the day, even if it isn’t starting out like I’d prefer.
The alternative for me is to focus on being disappointed or frustrated or whatever that I can’t control the weather or how I slept. I am deciding to let any feelings like that come and go and just do some fun stuff anyway.
Hi Sdzagrean, I find that I have to practice these techniques on a regular basis, pretty much like getting a physical workout. When I don’t get out and exercise very much, I get out of shape. And when I don’t do things like mindfulness/ NOW exercise / labeling thoughts and emotions, I find myself not sleeping as well—and what’s worse, reacting badly when I don’t sleep well.
Hi Meherman, I agree with Scott and Rosanne, but I will add my own experience from last night’s poor sleep. This will be lengthy and may come across as disorganized and self-absorbed. Because I am not going to edit it very much. And after a poor night’s sleep, like most people, I am not organized and concise. Maybe this window into sleep anxiety will help.
I woke up with post-surgical pain. Hey, it won’t last forever. I will get over it, but right now I can’t sleep. How am I supposed to get through the day? Sure the surgery pain will go away, but what if this is a return to all those nights when I used to sleep badly? I can’t deal with this anymore. I can get up and practice reading sheet music for singing, or read, or stretch, but what’s the point, I just want to sleep and I can’t and I don’t know when I will be able to, if ever……
The above goes through my head in a flash, and I can stay there and think it over and over. And why not? It’s the way I feel, and not being able to sleep is so bad, and I just can’t deal with this……
And then I recall that I have had early mornings like this before, and I can stand back a little bit and sit and then I watch my mind sort of like watching TV. And thoughts of how bad this is are going through my head, whizzing through but some are slowing down, and I can see them passing through. They are not real fun thoughts and emotions, all about how insomnia has been a nasty part of my life and here it is again… and I can see that I can dive into these thoughts, sort of live in them and agree with them. Or I can stay back here and just watch them pass by. And I realize that I don’t have to hop on. And instead I reach for my cup of coffee and I sip it, and then I put it down.
And here comes another thought. I have learned I cannot control whatever thought just pops into my head, but I have learned I don’t have to dive into it and live in it. Anyway, the thought is that what if I don’t sleep well tonight, or the night after that. And then that I would not like that. And then well, I can’t really control that, any more than I can control the weather. And then I notice how quiet it is right now. I just heard the refrigerator fan turn on, don’t usually notice that, I guess. Oh, where was I …..a bunch of other thoughts went through my head, can’t remember them all, something about watching basketball later maybe.
—————————————–Okay, I don’t know if the above is just nonsense to you, or maybe you can see it as an illustration of how anything and everything can pop up as a thought. And how you can just observe them or buy into them. And believe me, I know how easy it is to get sucked into the dark rabbit hole when you really want to sleep and can’t and everything can seem hopeless. And then somebody tells you, hey, they are just thoughts, cliches like that.
The fact remains, however, that just because a thought or emotion is incredibly powerful, it’s indeed just a thought or emotion.
Example: I feel very, very strongly that I will not sleep well tonight, or the next night, and that I am on the road to a lifetime of insomnia and misery. I feel this so strongly that it is therefore true.
Answer: You feel it very, very strongly. But that doesn’t make it true.
To Czor / Elkie / Genie B./ Sonja Leslie………..It has been a couple of months since anyone has posted on this thread. I hope things have been going better for you.
I spent quite a bit of time in sort of a rabbit hole of despair, before I learned about observing thoughts instead of being them. (e.g Week 4 of this course)
I think it was toughest when I viewed sleep as a Requirement: if I do not sleep well, I cannot be happy.
Hi TaraH, I should have added that I have had a long road with insomnia due to severe childhood trauma, since resolved. Please do not think you are condemned to a lifetime of dealing with this. I have actually largely gotten beyond it.
I am guessing that since you are posting in the Week 1 forum, this where you are in the course. Please keep going at your own pace, and I think you will a shift in emphasis—away from documenting how many hours you are sleeping, how well you are sleeping, etc., and more toward how to live life regardless of sleep. That we cannot control sleep any more than we can the weather, but we can have a big say in how we react to sleep or lack of it.
Perhaps you are feeling like you can never get out of this maelstrom of sleep anxiety. It can be hard to believe that it will pass. Because I think we sort of fall into a sort of modern cultural mindset: that if I am feeling something very strongly, then it must be true.
Hi TaraH, I found that keeping track of how well I slept each night did not work out. Even if I had a good run of two weeks, sometimes just one restless night got me freaking out all over again.
I am guessing you already know this, because you write about panicking after a bad night. Plus, in your other posts you describe prior insomnia which resolved, at least for a while. But even being down this road before (same here) doesn’t necessarily mean instant resolution because at least for me, I find that I can’t think straight when I’m super tired.
So what’s the answer? I agree that acceptance is part of the equation, which doesn’t means liking it, rather just acknowledging the unpleasantness of being tired, and then just getting on with life to the extent you can. Not easy, I know.
Hi SCTwo, all I can do is second what others have said.
I also found that trying to overcome fear did not work. Well, maybe for a few minutes or even for a few days….but inevitably, it would just pop back up to the surface, sometimes even stronger than it was.
I am noticing as the weeks progress in the course, that Martin is referring to insomnia less often. Instead, there is more emphasis on living life regardless how well I slept last night, or even the last month. And indeed I can make some choices on what I’m going to do tomorrow, regardless how well I sleep tonight.
Sure, I hope I get a good night’s sleep, but I can’t control that, other than avoiding coffee late and getting a bed at a reasonable hour.
If I sound like I have left insomnia behind forever and everything’s going to be wonderful all the time, no, it’s not. I will sleep poorly some nights, maybe including tonight. And if I have a bad run, maybe that fear will creep in and get the better of me for a while, where I find myself trying to make it go away. Hard to think straight when you’re blitzed from insomnia.
But sooner or later I will remember to just the fear be, and after a while it will float away.
Hi Lizjoshcarlos, I struggled with insomnia for many years, and I very much recall feeling like no one understands what that is like. But if you stick with this forum and check out the podcasts and other materials on this site, you will see that Martin’s right—that you are not alone in this.
Still, you might feel alone. This might be the insomnia talking: it is hard to think straight when you are really hammered from fatigue. And it can be easy to get sucked into believing that a feeling must be accurate when it is so strong. Maybe our culture has to do something with it—this idea that if I feel something really strongly, it must be true.
I can’t really speak to the sleep restriction process. I did try it, and I remember only that it did not translate into no more insomnia. The same goes for a lot of the standard sleep hygiene techniques, e.g. don’t read disturbing news accounts or drink coffee late at night.
I am not saying these techniques don’t have value, and I practice quite a few of them. But for me, what has been more important has been my attitude toward insomnia. Over time, I have been (generally) able to see it as one of life’s difficulties which pop up here and there, rather than as a monster which is going to spiral me into despair. Even though it feels that way after several rough nights.
Take care, you are not alone in this.
I agree with Kevin that how you approach your day is key. I find that if I sleep poorly for a night or two, but still get on with life as best I can, I am more likely to sleep better sooner than if I start ruminating about how I haven’t slept well, when is this going to end, I can’t deal with this, etc.
Hi Packer Fan, I can’t really add to what Martin is saying. I will just relate what I did when I felt anxious about sleep.
I used to try to eliminate thoughts that made me feel stressed or sad or angry or whatever. I also tried to tell myself positive things, like your telling yourself you are a good person. (I’m willing to bet you are a good person, but that’s not my point here.)
What I found was that when I tried to eliminate a thought, it just gave it more energy, so it just kept at me. And when I tried to think only pleasant things or about how I did something good, I would get responses along the lines of “Yeah, but what about…..?” and then thoughts about evil in the world or how I have done some not so good things would come popping into my head.
I finally got to the point where I figured anything and everything might pop into my head regardless how hard I tried to keep the stuff out. In fact, I would get more of the stuff the harder I tried to get rid of it.
Sounds simplistic, but how about giving yourself a break and not trying so hard? I venture you were able to give yourself a break now and then as police chief, knowing you couldn’t make everything wonderful for everybody all the time. How about here and now, and even if you don’t sleep great every night?
Hi SCTwo, I think you are onto something here. I don’t know that you have to go all the way to “I don’t care,” but your main point is spot on: not granting insomnia power.
I remember I would have rated it a 10 pretty much all the time. I saw insomnia as an all-powerful monster, which might ignore me for a night or two when I could sneak in some good sleep. But that it was all-dominant, that I could no more control it than I could the weather.
It took me quite a while to see how distorted my thinking was, and I am glad you’ve figured it out.
I agree with Kevin that essentially it’s best to just roll with it, when the sleep anxiety hits. Tim, it sounds like you have discovered that even after some progress, there can be setbacks. It happens. And nobody sleeps great every night, even people who have not experienced significant insomnia.
You are quite right that when the panicky feelings hit, you “can keep them going by obsessing.” Of course you can know intellectually to stop doing that, but easier said than done, right?
You are definitely not alone.
Not sure I can add anything here, but oh well….
I dealt with insomnia for many years (severe childhood trauma, etc., doesn’t mean you will at all). Anyway, that is pretty much in the rearview mirror, but I still have bad sleep nights. Sometimes who knows why, and I suppose when I have a string of bad nights, I can call it a setback. I just think setbacks are part of the process: it’s not a continually ascending path to great sleep every night. Nobody sleeps great every night.
I like the observation that when we have a difficult day, that we aren’t quite as likely to extrapolate and figure well, I guess, all the days from here on out are going to be difficult. I realize there are exceptions, e.g. financial problems which can’t be fixed in a day, so yes, things can be tough for a while. But it seems we’re more likely to translate a difficult night into oh, oh, every night from now on is going to be like this, what if I am doomed to a lifetime of poor sleep. Maybe because our defenses are down, and we feel more vulnerable.
Maybe I shouldn’t be writing “we”—-how do I know what you’re going through? Instead it is “I” but I do have a hunch that a lot of people are on the same road I travelled.
Hi sahoosibu, I can relate to the early morning panic.
I am not a mental health professional, but I do know that early morning awakening is a classic sign of depression. Depression can stem from adverse life experiences which can be talked through, or from chemical imbalances which can be aided with antidepressants. If you want to explore this, best to find someone competent rather than winging it with whatever you happen across online. I had to deal with depression so this is a familiar path.
It is also true that the early morning panic can just take on a life of its own. You wake up, freak out, wonder will this ever end, get more panicky, and it just feeds on itself. I have travelled here, too.
I wish there were an instant solution. All I can offer is how I dealt with it, which was pretty much to stare right at it. I tried to push the freak-out thoughts away with other more pleasant thoughts, but it seemed like the panic just got stronger. So instead it came down to acknowledging them, like Martin describes. And I found that if I focused on the present nanosecond–not the whole day or even the next two minutes–that I somehow got through the day. Not as easy and fun-filled as i would have liked, but I made it, and maybe felt a little proud that I made it.
I’m pretty much over it at this point, but it can still pop up, and I don’t always put my own advice into practice. So sometimes it’s just a so-so or even kind of crappy day. But I don’t need to extrapolate and figure the rest of my life is going to be guaranteed miserable at all.
Hang in there, there are millions of people like us. We are not doomed by a long shot.
