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It can often take a bit longer than two weeks before you notice improvements from sleep restriction — and it usually takes longer to tackle conditioned arousal (a common symptom of conditioned arousal is feeling really sleepy before bed and then wide awake when in bed).
Just as it took time for insomnia to develop, it will take time to address.
When does your current sleep window start and when does it end — have you been really consistent with it? What is your cue to get out of bed during your sleep window when you find yourself awake in bed?
It sounds as though your biggest challenge at the current time is falling asleep when you first go to bed — is that right?
Finally, what are your days like? Are you active and engaged in enjoyable daytime activities or are you typically quite sedentary during the day? Any napping going on?
—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.
Congratulations getting started with sleep restriction!
As you have experienced, sleep can temporarily get a bit worse due to the monitoring that tends to occur whenever we make such a change. If you continue to observe a consistent and appropriate sleep window, your sleep will become more consistent over time as you adjust to the new schedule.
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.
I don’t believe that insomnia is a listed side-effect of fluoxetine (Prozac) — but that would be a conversation to have with your doctor.
Are you implementing CBT-I with a therapist, or doing a self-directed course? What is your current sleep window? Can you describe a typical night and can you share the specific CBT-I techniques you are implementing?
—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’s not uncommon for sleep to temporarily get worse before it gets better, because of the monitoring that occurs any time we make such a dramatic change. If you are able to stick to a consistent and appropriate sleep window, I am sure that — before too long — you will notice improvements in your sleep. Good luck!
—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 are (quite understandably!) putting a lot of effort into sleep — even though you mention that you are trying not to think about it, you mentioned that you have read almost every post in this forum, you have tried listening to music, tried various meditations, religious chants, books, calming stories, and affirmations.
With this in mind, you might find it helpful to shift your attention away from sleep — instead of spending your days researching and thinking about sleep, for example, you might fill your days with activities you enjoy and that improve the quality of your life.
Instead of putting effort into sleep, you might abandon all effort to sleep and simply consider the process of going to bed as a time for you to get cozy and relax rather than trying to make yourself sleep.
If you are concerned that falling asleep will stop your heart or stop you from breathing, it might be helpful to recall how many times that has happened up to this point. I am assuming it has never happened — so what makes you think that it might? How accurate or likely is that belief?
It can be hard to determine if/when we are asleep because we are asleep when sleep happens! Trying to determine when we are asleep is something else that can increase arousal and make sleep more difficult — so that could be another behavior that might be worth abandoning!
Ultimately, chronic insomnia is fuelled by thoughts and behaviors that weaken sleep drive, disrupt the body clock, and increase arousal — and tackling these thoughts and behaviors using cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques can be really helpful!
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.
As you have experienced yourself, after a night of very little or no sleep, sleep drive becomes very strong and this makes sleep far more likely on subsequent nights (as long as we don’t do anything to reduce that sleep drive — for example, by spending more time in bed, napping during the day, being inactive during the day, etc).
With this in mind, it’s quite ironic that we become really concerned that a night of no sleep will increase the likelihood of additional nights of no sleep when, biologically, the opposite is true!
—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, Bee! To be honest, I don’t think it really matters which way around you do things — of course, you shouldn’t make any changes to your medication without talking to your doctor first.
In the short-term, you may experience some sleep disruption as you taper-off medication — and that’s often down to the heightened short-term monitoring that occurs whenever we make such a change. The fact of the matter is, though, that if we remain awake for long enough, we will always sleep — whether we take medication or not.
So, please don’t feel rushed or pressured to make any changes until you feel ready to do so! I’d encourage you to get started with sleep restriction and go from there!
—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 Bee and congratulations on the upcoming birth of your new baby! I would suggest discussing the suitability of sleep restriction with your doctor.
You might find it helpful to explore the thoughts that seem to generate anxiety if you don’t fall asleep within 30 minutes since you have identified that as being an obstacle to sleep.
What is going through your mind when you don’t fall asleep within 30 minutes? What is it about the idea of not falling asleep within 30 minutes that seems to generate anxiety?
—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 sure looks like you are on the right track here!
Since you usually feel very sleepy from around 10:00 PM and it sounds as though you fall right to sleep when you go to bed, you might want to advance your sleep window so it starts and ends a bit earlier. Do you think a sleep window of 10:00 PM to 4:15 AM or 10:30 PM to 4:45 AM, for example, might be more manageable?
When you wake during the night (which is actually a normal part of sleep), why do you think you find it hard to fall back to sleep?
Since waking during the night is a normal part of sleep, I’d suggest allowing yourself to remain in bed for as long as being in bed feels good. If and when being in bed doesn’t feel good, you might then choose to get out of bed to make that nighttime wakefulness a bit more pleasant and avoid creating/reinforcing a negative association between your bed and unpleasant wakefulness.
Final question: Are you checking the time when you wake during the 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.
Would you believe me if I suggested that you’d probably have a great day even after being up all night if you ended up winning the lottery jackpot that day?
If so, might this serve as evidence that what happens during the day (or what you do during the day) might have more of an effect on how you feel during the day than how you slept the previous night(s)?
It can take time to “rewire” our default thinking processes. Sometimes we have to “fake it until we make it”. If we don’t think we can have a good day after a difficult night of sleep, we might make ourselves have a good day by deliberately doing things we enjoy after a difficult night of sleep.
If we repeatedly prove to ourselves that we might have more control over the quality of our days than how we sleep, we might start to worry a bit less about sleep — and when we worry less about sleep, sleep often becomes a bit easier!
It can also be helpful to repeatedly remind ourselves of all the positive, productive, enjoyable (or even just OK) moments we have experienced during the day after difficult nights — because the brain won’t pay much attention to them unless we make it do just that!
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.
It’s easy to feel despondent following difficult nights — the brain naturally wants to focus on stressors and perceived threats to our well-being! None of us would be here today if that wasn’t our brain’s default wiring since it helped us avoid saber-tooth tigers and other prehistoric dangers! Of course, things are different now — however, the brain can trick us into believing that our thoughts are just as dangerous as a real threat (like a saber-tooth tiger!) when that isn’t the case!
With this in mind, it’s good to know that you are training your brain to also appreciate just how far you have come over the past few weeks (and months). Sometimes it can also be helpful to test any beliefs your brain seems to have about sleep (for example, the classic “If you don’t sleep you won’t be able to enjoy/get through your day tomorrow”) that tend to generate worry. As you know from experience, you can still have enjoyable moments even after difficult nights.
I hope this helps! We are all here for you!
—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 sure sounds like you are making progress, Marvin! Thanks for the update!
—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 Anu and welcome to the forum! I would suggest discussing concerns about headaches with your doctor. I don’t know of any evidence that chronic insomnia causes headaches (or that getting four to five hours of sleep leads to more headaches) but stress/anxiety is definitely associated with tension headaches. Office environments also seem to increase the problem of headaches associated with anxiety (possibly due to all the artificial light and perhaps being more sedentary).
—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.
Some good stuff in this discussion! All I would add is it might be worth exploring the thoughts that seem to generate the anxiety you described since the thoughts we have that generate anxiety are rarely as accurate as they first seem.
If you don’t fall asleep right away and you feel your heart racing, what is going through your mind? What is it about the idea of not being able to fall asleep that seems to generate that anxiety?
—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, Panos!
If you could answer some additional questions, perhaps we can explore these issues further!
Are you still following any kind of sleep window? If so, what time does it start and what time does it end?
When you wake before your alarm, why do you think you find it hard to fall back to sleep?
Why do you think you feel anxious about sleep or wakefulness? When you start to worry about sleep, what is going through your mind? What is it about the idea of getting four to five hours (or less) of sleep that seems to generate anxiety?
—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.
