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Pam1129, welcome to the course/forum! I assume you mean 7:30 pm. I worked the midnight shift at one point in my life, so just clarifying. I too was going to bed around that time and getting up between 4-6 am. I have been staying up until 8-9pm but when I stay up until 9pm I find it difficult to fall asleep. I usually have no problem falling asleep but wake up often during the night. I have been assuming it’s just because I’m not used to the sleep window yet. I am interested in what others have to say.
Casserieev, thank you for sharing that. I look forward to all the tools I will learn in this course. I have to say acknowledging and feeling my emotions/thoughts is not easy! I find it difficult to be in my body, especially when my arms are vibrating, my breath is faster and I am tense. It is a work in progress, something that has to be practiced over and over. Hopefully with time, it will get easier.
The AWAKE exercise, from what I understand, is to help me acknowledge and allow negative thoughts. Fighting these thoughts does not work for me. They won’t go away. So acknowledge them and experience them.
I am wondering what approach everyone is using for the second A–allow? My brain starts intellectualizing it, “should I be floating in the stream with my thoughts on a leaf or should I be the sky with my thoughts on clouds?” I’ve even thought about driving my car with my thoughts sitting beside me in the car. I’m overthinking this, I know.
What technique do other people use?
KathyLauraA, since this post is from February 2025 you may not still be in this forum. But your post was so helpful. Thank you for sharing your insights with everyone. It’s helpful to know what the electric feelings in my arms and the hot/cold is all about. I don’t know if the sleep anxiety had crossed over into the rest of my life or if the general anxiety had crossed over into sleep. But these techniques are useful for any anxiety, not just sleep anxiety. I try to use the AWAKE exercise during the day. The allow part is the most difficult for me.
Thanks again for sharing.These are older posts but I’m glad I found them. Anxiety plays a huge role for me right now. I always thought I had to accept it–as in identify with it. But now instead of saying “my anxiety” I try to rephrase it as “the anxiety.” It is something I learned, a way of coping in the past. Of course sleep anxiety is different from other anxieties. You can brainstorm job anxiety–find a new job, work less hours, find new meaning in your job, etc. But you can’t brainstorm or problem-solve sleep anxiety. At least I don’t think so.
What are your thoughts?I have the opposite experience. I feel awful during the day at work. It’s not so bad when I’m off work and at home. But at work I feel terrible. And when I go to the gym I feel the tiredness also. It depends on how much I am exerting myself at work and at the gym.
For me, my alarm clock is set at 6am, which is also when my sleep window ends. But invariably I wake up at 5am, part of the wakefulness. I am hoping I will be able to sleep until 6am at some point.
Fuyuk0, sorry you had a bad night. I think Martin has some information about dealing with thoughts coming up in the training. I have been trying to note my anxiety. Instead of calling it _my_ anxiety which implies I identify with it, I note “there is anxiety.” I have also been trying to follow the deep meditation described in “the power of now” by Eckhart Tolle.
I also do a breathing exercise where you inhale, then hold it for 4 second and exhale for 7 seconds. I think it’s called “square breathing.” It is suppose to activate the vagus nerve.Fuyuk0, thank you for your response. I try to keep up with all my usual activities, but yesterday after I got home from work, I decided not to go to the gym like I usually do. I was so exhausted and felt the kind thing would be to let myself rest. Will likely go today or tomorrow. At least going to work distracts me even though I feel awful.
The funny thing is, I slept better last night and now I have anxiety about not having enough sleep drive tonight! Funny how our minds work overdrive. Looking forward to learning more about dealing with difficulty thoughts….I feel your pain agnesharon. After 4 days of maybe 3-4 hours of sleep a night, I have been so tired. I have forced myself to go to work, thinking it would be a better distraction than calling in sick and staying home. Last night I slept a lot better. Now I am worried that my sleep drive will be less tonight and I won’t sleep well! I am trying to be kind to myself but yes, the struggle is hard. I was very tempted to take a sleep aid but realized that that would only set me back.
Aiw,
I can relate. I am usually in bed and asleep by 8 pm. I have been getting up between 4-6am. This is for work. What I would love to be able to do is go to bed at midnight and get up around 8am. I won’t be able to do that until I retire. So now I’m struggling to stay awake until 9. It’s hard because I definitely feel sleepy.I’m very early in the program too. It’s been challenging to find things to do to make wakefulness more enjoyable. I don’t like getting out of bed. I typically watch reruns on tv–CSI NY or something like that. I also found a very light series to watch on Amazon Prime. There’s lots of episodes that last maybe 40 minutes each. I really feel the effects of getting only 2-4 hours of sleep. Does anyone have any tips on how to get through the day on so little sleep?
Thank you all for these great suggestions. I know there’s a difference between fatigue and sleepiness. But my night time activities depend on how fatigued I am. Sometimes it feels like my body just wants to lie in bed. That’s when the thoughts can be intrusive. Sometimes when I listen to Martin’s podcast it’s hard when people talk about how hard it is and how long it takes to recover.
Trailrunner85, do you develop tolerance to the sleep aids? I like to read also but my eyes have been burning so it makes it hard.
Yes, the full acceptance is hard!
I’m still working on that. I am very sensitive to the lack of sleep and it is challenging to go to work every day.Sleep, I don’t like getting out of bed either. Some nights I can rest better than others.I am working hard on acknowledging my thoughts. I read somewhere that you can’t let go of what you don’t accept. It’s true!
