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Have you thought about (or tried) implementing any cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques?
—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 that big insight, manohargss!
All I would add is that it’s impossible to control our thoughts, feelings, and emotions — when we try to do that we get tangled up in an endless struggle. What can be more helpful is making some space for difficult thoughts and feelings to exist, and then redirecting our attention onto things we have control over — the actions we can engage in that are important to us and that help us move toward the kind of life we want to live.
—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.
Often that hypervigilance occurs because we have a strong desire to make sleep happen or otherwise avoid nighttime wakefulness. Sometimes a more effective approach is to give wakefulness permission to happen — when we are less concerned about being awake, we create better conditions for sleep to occur!
—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 wonder if you abandon your attempts to get eight hours of sleep, you might immediately create better conditions for that to happen? Often it’s our efforts to get a certain amount or type of sleep that keep us trapped in an endless struggle with sleep!
—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.
Your insomnia doesn’t sound unique or unusual — it sounds like regular old insomnia! Ultimately, insomnia exists because of a strong desire to avoid nighttime wakefulness. This desire trains the brain to think of wakefulness as a threat or a danger — something we must be protected from.
How does the brain usually protect us? By generating difficult thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and by activating the defense mechanisms commonly referred to as the “fight or flight” response.
Of course, this makes sleep really difficult! So, as human beings we look for a solution — however, this usually leads to endless research, experimentation, and rituals. All things that don’t help and all things that reinforce the brain’s belief that wakefulness is a threat that must be avoided.
So, the key to moving past insomnia is to train the brain that wakefulness isn’t a threat. Effective ways to do this involve focussing on what we can control — our actions. Our actions allow us to do things that keep us moving toward the kind of life we want to live each day, regardless of how we sleep. If we can continue to do that, perhaps the brain will no longer think that wakefulness is such a threat.
Finally, if it’s any help, Matthew Walker’s book has been debunked and really should be pulled off the shelves.
I hope there’s something helpful here.
—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.
If I could wave a magic wand and grant you seven or even eight hours of blissful, uninterrupted sleep every single night for the rest of your life, what would you be doing differently in your life?
—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.
If you don’t feel sleepy during the day then you are either getting enough sleep, or arousal is high enough to suppress sleepiness.
What kind of things do you do during the day? Does how you feel tend to vary as the day progresses, and does how you feel tend to be influenced by what you’re doing?
What is it about the idea of not feeling sleepy during the day that has you concerned?
—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.
Welcome to the forum, Rich! What time do you normally go to bed at night and what time do you usually get out of bed to start your day in the morning? When you wake at night, why do you think you find it hard to fall back to sleep?
—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 you’re putting in a lot of effort to make sleep happen/avoid nighttime wakefulness. This, in itself, might be the reason why you are continuing to struggle.
The sleep window cannot make sleep happen, just as stimulus control cannot make sleep happen. These techniques simply help reduce the amount of time available for nighttime wakefulness and give you the opportunity to make any periods of unpleasant wakefulness more pleasant by doing something more enjoyable compared to staying in bed when being in bed doesn’t feel good, respectively.
I wonder if all this effort might be better invested in training your brain that wakefulness isn’t a threat or a danger — something that needs to be avoided at all costs? If you can get to that stage, sleep becomes truly effortless — because there’s no more trying.
—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.
Unfortunately, I’m not an expert when it comes to dealing with hot flashes caused by medication. Correct me if I am wrong, but I would imagine that you have no control over these hot flashes — in which case, they might have a similar effect on sleep as hypnic jerks.
When things affect us in a negative way it makes sense that we want to fix that problem. Sometimes we can do just that (if that thing is in our control). Unfortunately, sometimes it might not be in our control — and it sounds like this might be the case with the hot flashes.
If we, quite understandably, expend a lot of effort trying to avoid/fight things that are out of our control, we can be more likely to get hooked by those challenges and end up moving away from the kind of life we want to live.
In my experience, what can be helpful when faced with challenges out of our control is to actually acknowledge these challenges and to even make a bit of space for them to exist. While doing that, if we can continue to engage in actions that are aligned with our values and help us continue moving toward the kind of life we want to live, these challenges might have a bit less of an influence over us.
I hope there’s something useful here.
—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.
Unfortunately, we can’t put the mind to sleep and the more we try to control what goes on in our mind, the more the mind pushes back and the more we get tangled up in the struggle.
Thoughts don’t stop us from sleeping — but battling with them can make sleep a lot more difficult!
—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 the great question!
If your goal is to become more skilled in relaxation and being present, then progressive muscle relaxation can be helpful.
If your intention is to create sleep/sleepiness, then progressive muscle relaxation will never “work”. That’s because we cannot control sleep — and for as long as we try to do so, we will remain caught up in the 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.
I love it! I’m so encouraged by your reply, BZ — it definitely sounds like you’re on the right path!
—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.
CBD oil doesn’t address the thought processes and behaviors that perpetuate sleep disruption, so it’s not an effective long-term solution for chronic insomnia.
If you read the insomnia success stories in the forum and on the Insomnia Coach Podcast you’ll find a common trait among those who have put insomnia behind them — they no longer put effort into trying to sleep and they are able to accept that sleep (and nighttime wakefulness) is out of their control.
—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.
Fatigue is definitely uncomfortable — there can be no argument there! How do you normally respond to that fatigue?
—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.
