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I’m in the early stages of practicing Sleep Restriction and many of the other suggestions that Martin has so generously provided.
This holiday week has been stressful and has affected my sleeping. Prior to this week, I was trying to practice sleep restriction, and it seemed to be working. Last night I went to bed at 2:30 am, and woke up at 8:30 am.
Keeping track of bed time, wake time, waking later time, and getting out bed time….geesh, I don’t know. I never had to monitor all this. I don’t object, or say it’s not going to help me sleep better, but I long for the days when sleep just happened and I didn’t need to think about it.
So, it’s 10:00 pm, and I’m tired. I’m trying to resist going to bed, but there is a part of me that is just saying I should. Go to bed, now. I’ll do as best I can to stay awake, but I’m getting a bit confused about this process. Maybe I need a hobby.
The “hypnic jerk” thing used to scare me. It made me become more wakeful, wondering what had happened and what was wrong.
When I read more, I realized that, for some people, these “hypnic jerks” happen when one is about to fall asleep. Since then, and I’ve had trouble falling asleep, I welcome those little twitches that tell me…….ahhh, sleep is setting in.
I’ve got an appointment for a sleep apnea evaluation. In the meantime, I’ve done some reading, tried Sleep Resistance Therapy, and have subscribed to the free daily emails through this website.
I have come to welcome the “hypnic jerks” that I experience while trying to fall asleep. They may wake some people up or scare them, but to me, they tell me I’m falling asleep. I just hope that I’ll fall asleep soon after. I know they’re kind of weird and scary, but to me, I’m glad when they happen.
I don’t know if this would be helpful, but since I retired and have no reason to get up at a certain time, my sleep/wake habits have gotten crazy. I don’t like to go to bed, anticipating that I won’t sleep, and I don’t like to wake up when I have no reason to. I began to stay up later and later, sometimes all night, and then sleep from 6am to noon.
I’ve only begun to try and work through this. I know that getting a good night’s sleep is important to my health, and for making the most of my waking hours.
The problem happened gradually, and I don’t expect to solve it overnight. It’s just good to have a plan and making progress. (I want a nap right now, 3:35 pm, but I’ll wait until nearer my bedtime, when I am sleepy, get my 6.5-7 hours sleep, and wake up, get out of bed, and get on with my day). Waking up too early, and getting out of bed when it’s still dark gives me the creeps. I don’t know why.
I too am liking and benefiting from the free sleep course. I’m on day 6, and have learned to get rid of my preconceived notions about sleep, change some of the habits which I thought were good, but actually are not, and actually change what I do around sleep.
I always thought sleep is supposed to come naturally, but didn’t realize that our sleep requirements change with age, and I had some expectations about sleep that actually affected my sleep. Worrying about sleep can make sleep harder. I didn’t know that.
Lauriso, you seem to have a lot of self awareness, and are paying attention to your sleep and mood patterns.
For a long time now, It’s taken me 1-3 hours to fall asleep, and sometimes I felt I never did. Or, I’d wake up at oh-dark-thirty, and not be able to go back to sleep. I think early waking can be due to depression, and since I have a history of depression, I just tried to live with it.
I’ve heard anxiety can make it difficult to fall asleep, and I never thought I had a problem with anxiety, so figured it must be something else. While I knew I was sometimes anxious about things when I was awake, I wasn’t aware of any anxiety at bed time.
It took me awhile to consider that my daytime anxiety might be keeping me awake when I was trying to go to sleep. I’m still trying to figure that out.
I’m not aware of any medical issues that cause insomnia, unless they cause pain that keeps you awake.
Depression and/or anxiety however, which I believe are medical issues, can affect your sleep.
From what you’ve written, you’ve been worried that you might have a medical issue that’s affecting your sleep. That worry may be affecting your sleep!
While everything on the internet isn’t necessarily true, I’d start by Googling “Medical problems that affect sleep”. You may learn something that could help.
Oh, gosh, I totally get it!
I always assumed that I should just fall asleep after going to bed, and wake up easily, all perky and ready for the day.
When I started having trouble falling asleep and/or waking up before I wanted to and not falling asleep again, I started to worry. After turning off the light, I’d worry that I might not fall asleep, so that kept me awake. If I woke up and had to go to the bathroom, I’d worry again that I wouldn’t fall back to sleep.
I didn’t think that sleep should require any though – we’re just supposed to do it! Then I learned about sleep Hygiene, and realized I do have to think about it, a bit. Like most people, I didn’t want to change. I’d go up to bed, start watching TV with my laptop, and when I’d turn off the light, I couldn’t sleep.
At some point, I decided that lying in bed, even if I didn’t sleep, would at least give my body some rest, and I might even fall asleep at some point. That was good for me.
After some minor reseach, I found out that my bed is for sleeping, so eventually – it took awhile – I got the TV out of the bedroom, and left the laptop downstairs. I subscribed to the daily emails from InsomniaCoach. I tried Sleep Restriction Therapy.
I still have trouble sometimes falling asleep and sometimes waking up early, but I’ve stopped the worrying. I found out (from the emails) that as we get older, many of us actually need less sleep, so if, sometimes, I only get 5 or 6 hours of sleep, worrying wouldn’t help. I’ve adjusted my hours in bed, but mostly I’ve adjusted my expectations. I don’t need 8 hours of sleep, so if I get fewer, it does no good for me to lay awake worrying about it.
I think it’s normal, but what’s better is how things work after a setback. Worrying about it can make it worse.
I’ve read that depression and/or anxiety can affect sleep patterns. As I recall, anxiety can make it harder to fall asleep, and depression can lead to waking up early. Also, a lack of sleep, with normal patterns of REM and other cycles, can make depression and anxiety worse.
It may be helpful to get evaluated for depression or anxiety. Seeing a professional about these things can be intimidating, especially since there has long been a lot of stigma around depression, anxiety and other, similar, problems, as some deem them as “mental illnesses”.
So, if you are intimidated about seeing a professional, there are a lot of online tools to find out if you are suffering with sleep issues related to depression anxiety. It’s a place to start, to understand better, and help figure out more about your sleeping issues.
