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There is no evidence that insomnia causes any health problem whatsoever. If you want to take a nap for 20-30 minutes, why not take a nap?
A nap taken later in the day might slightly reduce your sleep drive for nighttime sleep, but perhaps that’s a tradeoff you are willing to make?
If it’s not, perhaps some kind of movement and physical activity (especially actions that are aligned with your values and interests) might help you get through that afternoon slump while also keeping you moving toward the life you want to live?
If you are concerned about morning nausea, I would suggest talking to your doctor. We can experience a lot of difficult and uncomfortable feelings after a night of struggle.
I hope there’s something useful here. You are not alone and I wish you all the best.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
It sounds as though medication and supplements aren’t really getting you closer to where you want to be over the long term. As for how to get your natural sleep back, if you recall the past when you were sleeping really well, what were you doing to make that great sleep happen?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Waking during the night is a normal part of sleep — struggling to fall back to sleep can often come from all our attempts to fall back to sleep. In other words, the more we try, the more we can find ourselves struggling.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Those mornings sound like a real gift!
If you regularly feel sleepy close to the start of your sleep window, you might want to try making the hour before it begins that last time you check the time and then head off to bed whenever sleepiness shows up. This gives you the opportunity to generate more sleep if conditions feel right for more sleep to happen.
Ups and downs are all part of the journey. An ongoing commitment to workable action is what matters. Action is hard. Action is within your control. Every time you take meaningful and workable action, you are making progress.
I appreciate your kind words — you are doing all the work, so I hope you give yourself all the credit for what you are learning, what you are doing, and what you are experiencing!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Thanks for sharing your awareness that the NOW exercise (or any other exercise for that matter) isn’t intended to (and cannot) make sleep happen. The goal of the NOW exercise is to help you refocus on the present so you can better do what matters to you — even in the presence of difficult or distracting thoughts and feelings.
Good on you for taking action and getting the practice in!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Staying in bed can be more restful compared to getting out of bed — as a result, you might not feel as fatigued the next day. Have you tried getting in any practice with the AWAKE exercise during any difficult periods of wakefulness?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
I am so glad to hear you are proud of the fact you still went out with your running group after 2 nights of very little sleep. That’s not easy to do — and your commitment to that action kept you moving toward the life you want to live, independently of sleep!
The alternative, doing less and withdrawing from life, is an easier choice to make (and is probably a response we are hard-wired to make). Yet, it rarely makes us feel a whole lot better, rarely improves our sleep, doesn’t usually give us — or get rid of — the thoughts and feelings we want or don’t want, and it pulls away from the life we want to live.
It sounds as though your practice of the 3 good things exercise is expanding the focus of your attention and helping you notice more of the good stuff around you, even when difficult stuff might also be present.
The AWAKE exercise can help ease anxiety but that’s not really its intention. Its intent is to help you build skill in experiencing anxiety (and other difficult thoughts and feelings) with less struggle. To be more of an observer rather than an opponent. It’s a skill and, just as you said, it requires ongoing practice!
You are clearly committing to workable action that is shifting your focus away from sleep and toward actions that reflect who you are and who you want to be. For as long as you do that, sleep loses its power and influence over your life. And, when it loses its power and influence you are less likely to get involved in the process of sleep and so sleep is better able to take care of itself!
Thank you, too, for the update that you got 7 hours of sleep. As you shared, this proves that your body is capable of generating great sleep all by itself
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
You are committed to meaningful and workable action — and every time you do that, you are making progress. And, for as long as you are learning, you are making progress.
Have you tried playing around with the NOW exercise during the day to help you refocus when your problem-solving brain seems to be pulling you away from where you are and what you are doing?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
You can do whatever you like during your buffer zone — it’s a time for you and nobody else
The only thing to be mindful of is the intent behind your actions because if you engage in actions or activities with the goal of making sleep happen you can set yourself up for a struggle!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Thoughts don’t always make sleep more difficult (the brain is always generating thoughts) — trying to fight or avoid them sure can, though!
It sounds like you have two options here:
1. Go to bed when you feel sleepy, regardless of when that sleepiness shows up.
2. Go to bed when you feel sleepy, only after your sleep window begins.Which do you feel is the right option for you, and why?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Thanks for sharing! Have you tried playing around with the AWAKE exercise to help you build skill in experiencing those thoughts (and wakefulness itself) with less struggle?
Remember that your goal isn’t to get rid of difficult thoughts and feelings (or wakefulness itself). That might happen as a bonus side-effect from time to time, but it’s not the intent. The intent is to build skill in experiencing all this stuff with less struggle. To be more of an observer rather than an opponent.
Since this is a skill, it requires ongoing practice
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
A sleep window isn’t intended to make a certain amount or type of sleep happen. It’s nothing more than a single tool that can be used to help us move away from chasing after sleep.
What probably matters most is ensuring you only go to bed when you are ready to go to bed (for many people this means they are feeling sleepy — finding it hard to stay awake) and to maintain a reasonably consistent out of bed time in the morning.
Does this help?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Thanks for sharing, Jack! As Helen pointed out, practice is what matters
Reframing the goal when you go to bed from sleep (something your experience probably tells you is out of your control) to rest (an action that’s within your control) is something that a lot of people find helpful!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
It sounds as though the focus of your attention is expanding — it’s not laser-focussed on sleep anymore. You are moving away from sleep tracking and other sleep-related rules (such as getting out of bed if you are awake for more than 15 minutes).
As a result, sleep is starting to lose its power and influence. As you are less involved in the process of sleep, it is better able to take care of itself.
You are taking meaningful action, and that’s what counts.
Thanks for sharing, Helen!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Thanks for sharing, Jack! How did you respond to the thought, “I hope I sleep tonight”?
What might be most important here is that you engaged in activities the next day that mattered to you. For the first time in your life you went surfing. And you had a great time with your son. Even after a difficult night.
In other words, you continued to live the kind of life that matters to you, independently of sleep. What might happen, the more you do that?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
