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From my perspective, I can tell you that nothing in your posts indicates anything more unusual than chronic insomnia (I am not a doctor, though). Your story is similar to the stories others with chronic insomnia share with me on a daily basis.
If you take a sleep study and “brain issues” are ruled out, what’s the next plan, Michael? What’s the next test you’ll take or the next area you’ll explore?
Much of the struggle with insomnia comes down to the ongoing (and completely understandable!) detective work, experimentation, and research — stuff that takes a lot of effort, makes things seem more mysterious and worrisome and doesn’t usually get us to where we want to be or help us live the kind of life we want to live.
I hope this might be 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.
Thanks for the update and for sharing that you’ve found practicing meditation has helped with the “mind clutter”. It’s encouraging to know that you are practicing that in the mornings and during the day because these kinds of things can easily become stealthy sleep efforts — and, as you know since sleep cannot be controlled sleep efforts are rarely 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.
Personally, I would rephrase “the goal is to lessen anxiety, not improve tonight’s sleep” to something like “the goal is not to fight anxiety, avoid anxiety, or to make sleep happen, but to live the kind of life I want to live even in the presence of anxiety and sleep difficulties”.
Why? Because, just as we can’t control sleep, we can’t control our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. When we try to control these things, we are more likely to get caught up in an endless struggle.
What we can control are our actions — and through our actions, we can do things that help us live a rich and meaningful life (or at least move us closer to living a rich and meaningful life) even in the presence of difficult thoughts, feelings, emotions, and nights of less sleep than we’d like.
—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.
Night shifts are really difficult — at least it sounds as though your night shift is somewhat consistent, which means you have a better opportunity to adapt.
To be honest, sleep disruption alongside shift work isn’t my area of expertise — you might find it helpful to work with someone who specializes in circadian rhythm sleep disorders and/or has experience working with shift workers.
—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’re not the first person to experience sleep disruption after retiring! I think retirement can be a common trigger for sleep disruption as we no longer have as much structure to our days (for example, we don’t “have” to be out of bed by a certain time) and we suddenly have a lot of free time during the day that, if not filled, can lead to more sedentary behavior and more time for rumination and worry!
With this in mind, it’s encouraging to hear that you are sticking to a consistent out of bed time in the morning and you are active during the day! Making sure you only go to bed at night when truly sleepy (finding it hard to stay awake) rather than when fatigued/tired can be helpful, too!
—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.
Hello Marla and welcome to the forum! As suggested by Vakerue, there’s nothing we can do to make sleep happen other than being awake for long enough!
Can you tell us a bit more about your sleep at the current time? What time do you go to bed at night? What time do you get out of bed to start your day? How many hours of sleep do you get on an average night?
—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.
Hello Martin, and welcome to the forum! As Vakerue mentioned, it can be helpful to do things that help create good conditions for sleep — and to do things during the day that help you live the kind of life you want to live, regardless of how you sleep.
Can you tell us a bit more about your sleep at the current time? If you could describe a typical night for us, perhaps we can offer some additional thoughts.
—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.
Sorry to hear about your ongoing difficulties, Cyrusromeo. Since you haven’t found medication to be a long-term solution, have you heard about (or tried) cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)?
—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, and sorry to hear that you’ve been struggling with your sleep. Can you tell us a bit more? How long has this been going on, and what’s an average night like?
—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.
Thank you so much for sharing! When we strip the mystery away from sleep and insomnia, we can also strip the influence sleep and insomnia has over our lives!
For those unfamiliar with the 3P model of insomnia, it’s a model we use to explain the development of chronic insomnia.
The first P is predisposing factors — some of us might be more predisposed to sleep disruption, for a number of different reasons. This makes us more likely to experience some sleep disruption, or more susceptible to sleep disruption.
The second P is the precipitating factors — the initial trigger(s) for our sleep disruption. There are as many triggers for sleep disruption as there are people in the world. We can’t really get rid of these triggers and this is why everyone experiences sleep disruption at some point in their lives.
The third P is the perpetuating factors — the things that keep that sleep disruption alive. Often, these perpetuating factors include a change in our behaviors, a change in our sleep-related thinking, and a change in our relationship with our thoughts — and it’s when we tackle these perpetuating factors that we tend to see the most sustainable improvements in sleep.
Thanks again for sharing!
—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 and thanks for sharing that you’ve learned quite a lot from the YouTube channel! What techniques are you planning to implement and were there any key insights you learned on the channel that were particularly 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.
Hello Grandma Maria and welcome to the forum. Allow me to echo the sentiments shared by Hbhigg and share my condolences for the loss of your parents. At such a difficult time, it would be unusual to sleep well and not to experience difficult thoughts and emotions.
It sounds as though you are spending a lot of time experimenting with sleep aids, supplements, and other things in a bid to improve your sleep — that is a well-trodden path that most people take.
It’s an understandable path to take, too — but, unfortunately, it’s often the ongoing search for the “magic remedy” that perpetuates sleep disruption. Sleep doesn’t need anything to happen — the more we try, the harder it usually becomes.
As suggested by Hbhigg, it can be really helpful to shift focus and attention onto what truly matters and has the most influence over your quality of life — what you do, during the day.
We have two choices here — we can do things that help move us toward the kind of life we want to live, or we can do things that move us away from the kind of life we want to live.
When we are dealing with difficult thoughts, feelings, and emotions (and struggling with sleep) the brain’s default option is usually to encourage us to do things that don’t help us live the kind of life we want to live. We might withdraw from activities that are important to us or do things that aren’t aligned with our values.
If we can make “towards moves”, no matter how small they might be, we can help shift attention away from sleep, be less influenced by difficult thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and engage more in things that truly matter to us and have the most influence over the quality of our lives.
I hope this is 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.
Hello Ethan and welcome to the forum. Dreams can definitely be disturbing but, as you know, they are not a real danger or a real threat.
Recurring nightmares can respond well to image rehearsal therapy — that isn’t my area of expertise but you might find it helpful to look into that.
Good luck and I hope this helps!
—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, csellars! First of all, let me say that you CAN sleep — regardless of how long you’ve had insomnia!
If you find it hard to fall asleep at the start of the night, you might be going to bed before you are truly sleepy enough for sleep. It’s very easy to confuse fatigue (which isn’t a sign the body is ready for sleep) with sleepiness (finding it hard to stay awake).
Can you tell us a bit more about your sleep at the current time? What time do you usually go to bed at night, what time do you get out of bed to start your day, and roughly how many hours of sleep would you say you get on an average night?
—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.
Sorry to hear of your recent sleep difficulties. Anxiety can definitely make it more difficult to sleep, but sleep will always happen in the end — no matter how anxious we might be.
We can get most caught up in anxiety when we try to fight or suppress it. Sometimes, it can be helpful to make some room for anxiety — even though it can be uncomfortable — because when we allow it to be present, it tends to have less power over us and might have less influence over our lives.
—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.
