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Welcome to the forum, @ekathryn — and thank you for your supportive contribution, @SBerry!
You know, we are all different — and the severity of insomnia often varies from person to person, too! I have worked with clients who reported an average of less sleep than you, and clients who reported an average of more sleep than you. Comparing ourselves to others isn’t always helpful!
Since you said you are better able to fall asleep more quickly, it sure sounds like you are making progress! It’s also great to hear that you are living the life you want to live, independently of sleep, by being active and not canceling plans!
If we wake during the night and find it hard to fall back to sleep that usually means that we aren’t sleepy enough for more sleep and/or arousal is too high for more sleep to happen (heightened arousal at that time can be caused by issues such as putting effort into falling back to sleep or putting pressure on ourselves to fall back to sleep).
It might be helpful to recognize, too, that waking during the night is a normal part of sleep — it doesn’t mean anything is wrong and it isn’t a guarantee that you won’t fall back to sleep.
What is the sleep window you’ve been implementing over the past couple of weeks, and what are you doing when you wake and find it hard to fall back to sleep? Do you stay in bed?
—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 best source of advice for your situation would be from a medical professional — the recommended treatment for chronic insomnia is usually cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) but there are contraindications for individuals with the mental diagnoses you’ve described.
—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 Mark and welcome to the forum. There’s not a whole lot we can do about temporary periods of sleep disruption caused by external stressors — they’re just part of the human experience! What we can do is implement behaviors that help create good conditions for sleep to occur and avoid the behaviors that can perpetuate sleep disruption.
Can you tell us a bit more about your current sleep routine?
—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.
Light therapy probably isn’t going to tackle the thoughts and behaviors that usually perpetuate sleep disruption, so I am not sure how helpful you will find it. In addition, I don’t know of any evidence to support light therapy as an effective treatment for chronic insomnia.
—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 Phoebe! Have you looked into 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.
Welcome to the forum, Moozie! If you have any specific questions or concerns (or just want to vent) — please go ahead and share. 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’s OK to worry and it’s normal to worry! Worry is a sign that your brain is generating thoughts — something it is hard-wired to do! Sometimes it can be helpful to accept and acknowledge the thoughts we have that generate worry for what they are (thoughts and nothing more or less than thoughts) rather than trying to fight or avoid them.
Thanks for sharing that you are definitely making progress — what kind of things are you doing to help create better conditions for 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.
If you wake at 4:00 AM regardless of whether you go to bed at 10:00 PM or midnight, your body clock might simply be attuned to waking around 4:00 AM.
An alternative explanation might be that when you wake and see that it’s around 4:00 AM your brain starts to tell you that you won’t fall back to sleep and this might increase arousal and make conditions more difficult for sleep to occur.
Have you tried working with a 4:00 AM rise time (perhaps by going to bed earlier in order to give yourself the opportunity to get the amount of sleep you want to get) rather than trying to push yourself to sleep past 4:00 AM (something that you can’t really 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.
We are all here for you, MrsBay — and know what you’re going through. If you have any specific questions, please let us know!
—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 Alex — it’s your mind-reading guru here! Only kidding — I can’t read minds (yet) but I can tell you that your story and experience is, once again, not unusual!
In and of itself, adding 15 minutes onto a sleep window of five-and-a-half hours is a tiny change to make (it’s just a 5% increase in time allotted for sleep). So, with this in mind, perhaps it’s not the extra 15 minutes that’s creating some additional wakefulness — but the increased monitoring for the effects of the extra 15 minutes.
Any time we make a change, our brain will want to be a bit more active to evaluate the effectiveness of the change. In the short term, this can create a bit more sleep disruption — but the mind soon adapts and gets used to the change, and becomes less inclined to monitor.
With this in mind, next time around you might find it helpful to add the 15 minutes and stick to it for longer — maybe a month or so, before deciding what to do next.
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.
Thanks for sharing that you are practicing having a positive mindset — you absolutely can move past insomnia and enjoy better sleep for the rest of your life!
What is your current sleep schedule like? When do you go to bed at night, when do you get out of bed to start your day in the morning, and 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.
In my experience, the best outcome associated with checking the time during the night is neutral. In my experience working with clients who have chronic insomnia, checking the clock during the night often increases arousal and that can make sleep more difficult.
I think it can be helpful to ask yourself what the benefits are to knowing the time during the night. Sleep cannot be controlled, so there’s nothing we can do with the information — but there is a very real risk that we might start to get frustrated or put pressure on ourselves to sleep after checking the time!
—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 might be learning from experience that alcohol isn’t an effective long-term solution for insomnia!
Thanks for sharing that you’ve decided to commit yourself to sleep restriction — a technique that has overwhelming evidence to confirm its effectiveness!
—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 and welcome to the forum.
We can’t directly control sleep, unfortunately — but we can control our behaviors. And, fortunately, there are plenty of behaviors we can change/implement in order to create better conditions for sleep to occur!
You might want to start by taking a look at my page on cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I).
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.
The more difficult nights can definitely be a challenge — but let me ask you this:
Do you expect every day to be better than (or just as good as) the last? If not, why place such importance on experiencing a night that must always be better than (or just as good as) the last?
It’s great to know that you are working on implementing techniques that are proven to be effective — good on you for getting started, for moving forward, and thank you for sharing your challenges with us!
—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.
