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You are where you are now thanks to your superpowers of commitment, resilience, and determination.
You didn’t give up, even when things were difficult and confusing.
You kept moving forward with an open mind.
You continued to practice what you were learning.
You made change happen and you have a different relationship with sleep because of your own commitment to change.
I wish you all the best as you continue to move forward!
—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! You don’t see insomnia as something that’s complex or complicated anymore and, with that clarity, you have a clear and workable way to respond if and when it shows up.
Your response keeps you away from an ongoing struggle and keeps you moving toward the life you want to live. As a result, insomnia loses its power and influence over your life and you gain insomnia independence 🙂
—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.
The body can sleep when natural light is present and the body can sleep even when thoughts and feelings (including anxiety) are present. Sleep can, however, become a lot more difficult when we put pressure on ourselves to make it happen or when we go to war with whatever thoughts and feelings might show up at night.
How do you currently respond to waking during the night and experiencing anxiety when you see natural light? What have you been learning from 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.
Welcome to the forum! I am assuming you’ve been diagnosed with alpha-delta sleep (please correct me if I am wrong). There’s no need to share any specifics here if you would prefer not to, but have you been diagnosed with any other medical conditions such as pain disorders, depression, or an anxiety disorder?
How are you currently approaching sleep and responding to that daytime fatigue? What are you learning from those actions?
—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 must be very difficult to be going through what you are going through without having any clear answers or a specific diagnosis that helps explain why you can get a lot of sleep and still feel unrested.
Unfortunately, I do not believe that anyone here can offer a medical diagnosis (myself included). Home sleep testing might offer some additional insights, especially if done over a period of more than one night.
You are clearly a strong advocate for yourself and your strengths of problem-solving, determination, and resilience are shining through and are assets for you to draw from as you continue on your journey.
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.
Welcome to the forum — you are not alone!
Your experience seems to tell you that difficult thoughts and feelings (such as worry) come from a good place — your problem-solving brain doing its job of looking out for you and reminding you of what’s important to you.
Your experience also seems to tell you that accepting the presence of difficult thoughts and feelings (such as worry) reduces their power and influence — they become more like water off a duck’s back rather than something that consumes all your energy and attention and can seem to take control over your actions in ways that pull you away from the life you want to live.
Might your experience with difficult thoughts and feelings offer any guidance for how to deal with sleep not happening as you’d like it to happen?
You mentioned that you’ve never struggled with sleep before. When you didn’t struggle with sleep, were you monitoring and evaluating your Fitbit’s interpretation of sleep with such intensity? Were you watching boring shows on your iPad to get to sleep? Were you spending as much time in bed? Were you taking antihistamines? Were you taking supplements and drinking herbal teas to make 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.
A forum search for acupuncture shows it’s something a lot of people have tried — but it doesn’t seem to be an effective way to solve the insomnia struggle (which is often kept alive by all our attempts to get rid of it).
—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 have a physical job with high energy demands. And, you are still doing that job even after nights when you don’t get at least 7-8 hours of sleep and even though it feels more difficult to do your job when you don’t get at least 7-8 hours of sleep.
It sounds like sleep drive might not be the main issue here since you find it hard to keep your eyes open after 11:00 PM.
Perhaps the main issue is how you choose to respond to waking during the night (which is a normal part of sleep) and how you choose to respond to the thoughts and feelings that show up at that time?
How do you currently respond, and what are you learning from 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.
Thanks to your growth mindset, you know that change is possible. That life is a journey of ongoing development and growth.
Concern about burnout is valid and understandable. That concern might also be a reminder of your values and how the possibility of burnout could be an obstacle to you doing the things that are important to you and living the life you want to live.
You mentioned that you are supposed to be practicing compassion. Why are you supposed to be practicing compassion, and what might that practice look like? If a loved one was going through what you have shared, what would you say to them? What advice would you give them?
—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! It sounds as though you’ve learned a lot on your journey. You made the decision that medication wasn’t for you and, with that decision, you learned that your body can generate seven hours of sleep without medication. You’ve also learned that anxiety comes and goes — so trying to fight or avoid it might not be a workable strategy.
What do you feel is the best way to respond to those nights when sleep doesn’t happen as you want it to, based on what you’ve learned so far?
—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.
Sleepiness is a good clue that conditions are good for sleep to happen — but the absence of sleepiness doesn’t mean sleep won’t or can’t happen. (And, to clarify, sleepiness is more to do with difficulty remaining awake rather than feeling worn out and fatigued.)
When you don’t feel sleepy, are you in bed or are you out of bed? If you are in bed, perhaps there’s no need to do anything if you are feeling comfortable. If you are not in bed, you have two choices — you can stay out of bed until sleepiness shows up (even if that means an entire night being out of bed) or you can go to bed, rest, and give sleep the opportunity to show up.
Which of those options feels most workable to you?
PS: “Second suffering” is an insightful term. That can definitely happen if we respond to difficult nights in certain ways. What does “second suffering” mean to you, and how is it created?
—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’ve been through a lot over the past few months. You’ve overcome a lot and you’ve learned a lot. You’ve demonstrated resilience.
It sounds as though you might be evaluating the effectiveness of sleep restriction based on the amount or type of sleep you are getting each night. Since your experience seems to tell you that you cannot make a certain amount or type of sleep happen through effort, that might set you up for some ongoing struggle.
Sleep restriction is really intended to help you move away from chasing after sleep — it stops you from doing things like going to bed earlier in an attempt to make sleep happen, it stops you from staying in bed later in the morning in an attempt to make sleep happen. And, it comes with the bonuses of strengthening your body clock (with the consistent out of bed time in the morning) and ensuring enough time to build sleep pressure to help create good conditions for sleep at night.
It might take more than a few nights of doing something new before you can draw any meaningful conclusions from what you’re doing — I’d suggest giving anything “new” at least two weeks of committed action before reflecting on whether or not it’s helping.
As for getting out of bed when you can’t sleep, personally I don’t think it’s necessary — but you are the expert on you! What I think can be helpful is ensuring that you aren’t struggling and battling away when awake in bed — because that’s not usually pleasant and it turns the bed into a battleground!
Is there anything 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.
Apologies for the delay in responding — I just found this post in the public forum, so I’ve moved it here based on when you posted, and I suspect you have gained a lot of knowledge and experience on this since then!
Your experience tells you that, just as you cannot control sleep through effort, you cannot permanently delete or change the thoughts and feelings that show up as your problem-solving brain does its job of looking out for you.
You can, however, always control how you respond to all this difficult stuff when it shows up. How are you responding to difficult thoughts and feelings when you wake during the night now, and what are you learning from 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.
When you were sleeping well, there were no routines, rules, or rituals. You lived your life independently of sleep.
When insomnia showed up, your strengths of problem-solving and self-advocacy rose the surface. You engaged in routines. Your actions served your desire to make sleep happen, rather than you and the life you want to live. And, sleep didn’t improve. You struggled more.
Based on your experience and what you’ve learned on your journey so far, what might be a helpful way to move forward? What will you gain if you continue to engage in evening rules and routines? What will you gain if you live your evenings doing what you want to do?
—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 makes complete sense that you want to avoid having that first totally sleepless night (and your experience tells you that you cannot make sleep happen through effort).
It makes complete sense that you want to get rid of anxiety (and your experience tells you that the more you try to fight or avoid anxiety the more powerful and influential it becomes).
Thanks to your superpowers of self-awareness and self-reflection, you’ve identified that you need a new strategy. What might that look like, based on what you’ve learned on your journey so far?
—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.
