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You’re in a great position because you know exactly how to respond to sleep disruption — you can implement all the techniques you are familiar with and know from experience to be helpful!
Sometimes, it can be our desire to “understand” why we are experiencing sleep disruption that heightens arousal and can actually perpetuate sleep disruption (even though you might have answered that yourself with all the uncertainty going on related to COVID-19).
The fact of the matter is, we have no control over sleep. Waking during the night is a normal part of sleep. The body compensates for lost sleep all by itself. The body gives us more deep sleep when more deep sleep is needed. The body always gives us, at least, the minimum amount of sleep we need. We have more control over the quality of our days than the previous night(s) of sleep.
As soon as we become worried about sleep, try to control sleep, or modify our days in response to sleep, we make sleep far more difficult.
So, I would encourage you to implement all the techniques you know from experience to be helpful! You cannot control sleep, but you can control how you react to difficult nights — you can improve the quality of your days by doing things you enjoy and avoiding sedentary behavior. You can improve the quality of your nights by doing things more enjoyable than staying in bed when being in bed doesn’t feel good. You can build sleep drive by allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep, and you can strengthen the body clock by maintaining a consistent final out of bed time each morning.
It’s our sleep-related thoughts and behaviors that turn what would otherwise be temporary sleep disruption into a longer-term problem. So, if you can avoid the thoughts and behaviors that end up disrupting sleep drive, weakening the body clock, and generating arousal, insomnia can never work its way back into your life for the long term.
I hope this helps — you’ve got this!
—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 husband’s passing, Janice. Waking during the night is not unusual and is actually a normal part of sleep. Where waking can be a problem is if you find it takes a long time to fall back to sleep after waking — is that an issue you currently face?
If so, it can be helpful to make sure you aren’t allotting too much time for sleep each night, and you can also give yourself a more appealing alternative to unpleasant nighttime wakefulness during the night by getting out of bed whenever being in bed doesn’t feel good and doing something more enjoyable and appealing instead.
You might find this video helpful, too: Waking during the night is normal and isn’t something you should be worried about.
If you regularly wake during the night but fall back to sleep quite quickly, have been told that you snore loudly, you wake with a gasp or choking sound, or you wake in the morning with a dry mouth and headache, you could have sleep apnea. If you recognize any of these symptoms, I’d suggest speaking with your doctor.
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.
You’ve got this, Gabriele!
—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 Karen! It sounds as though you’re doing really well!
Microsleeps are quite common in the first few weeks as you build a really strong sleep drive to help you sleep better at night (isn’t it ironic that your struggle used to be connected to getting sleep and now it’s trying to stay awake?!).
These microsleeps are unlikely to have a massively negative effect on your sleep drive, but they are best avoided when possible. Often, movement is the best way to prevent microsleeps from happening. Some ideas might include some stretching, walking, cleaning, organizing, etc. Anything that removes you from the scenario/situation in which you usually experience microsleeps will likely be helpful.
Here’s a short video on microsleeps you might find helpful: How microsleeps influence sleep drive and what you can do about them when you have chronic insomnia.
Finally, I did see you mention that your goal for the next week is to add 15 minutes to your sleep window. Be careful with goals related to outcome since these can increase arousal and make sleep more difficult since you might put more pressure on yourself to sleep or become distressed if you don’t get the sleep needed for you to extend your sleep window.
Instead, it can be really helpful to give yourself process goals — by continuing to avoid going to bed before the start of your sleep window and always getting out of bed by the end of your sleep window, for example.
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.
Glad to hear you’re countering those negative thoughts with positive thoughts — do you believe the positive thoughts you’re telling yourself, though?
Often, the negative thoughts we have aren’t as accurate as they first seem. So, looking for evidence that supports them and evidence that doesn’t support them can help you come up with more accurate thoughts.
These more accurate thoughts are often more positive because they are more accurate — and with repeated practice, these more accurate thoughts might become the automatic thought rather than the typically less accurate, negative thought.
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.
Feeling really sleepy and then feeling wide awake when you get into bed is a classic symptom of conditioned arousal — because you have found it unpleasant to be in bed time after time after time, your mind has learned to associate the bed with unpleasant wakefulness. So, you feel sleepy when you aren’t in bed, but then when you go to bed your mind tries to protect you from what it sees as the threat of being in bed by making you awake and alert — and, of course, this is not helpful when it comes to sleep!
The good news is that since this association has been learned, it can be unlearned by making sure you’re only in bed when either asleep or when being in bed feels good. If you get out of bed any time being in bed doesn’t feel good, you retrain yourself to see the bed as a more pleasant place to be because you’ll only be in bed when being in bed feels good.
This technique is part of stimulus control and when combined with other techniques that help build sleep drive and lower arousal (such as sleep restriction) you will likely start to experience better sleep.
Here are a couple of videos you might find helpful, too:
What to do when you feel sleepy early in the evening but don’t feel sleepy when it’s time for bed
How to stop the sleep roller coaster and make sleep more consistent and more predictable
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! I think it might be helpful for you to start by challenging your automatic thought that you stopped sleeping from the age of 17 to a more accurate thought that your sleep got worse from the age of 17!
Of course, it’s impossible to stop sleeping and to go for six years with not even one minute of sleep!
It does sound as though you’ve tried a lot of things — but I didn’t see any mention of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques such as sleep restriction and stimulus control.
Let me reassure you, too, that insomnia has not been shown to cause any health problem or to increase mortality.
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.
If you’re falling asleep within around 20 minutes of getting into bed, this does suggest that you’re sleepy enough for sleep when you go to bed — it could be that your arousal system is hiding sleepiness cues from you. This will likely improve over time as you continue to consistently implement that sleep window and other CBT-I techniques.
If you’re tossing and turning during your sleep window, this suggests that being in bed at that time doesn’t feel good — so, I would suggest getting out of bed and doing something more relaxing and enjoyable instead. This way, your mind has something to focus on other than sleep, you eliminate the temptation to put effort into sleep, you improve the quality of the night, and you prevent yourself from reinforcing a negative association between your bed and unpleasant wakefulness.
It could be that your desire and wish for more results is an obstacle to you getting more results — because desire is a goal that requires effort, and sleep does not respond well to effort!
Sometimes focussing on the process and making all goals connected to process is more helpful than focussing on the outcome and making all goals connected to outcome. You have no control over outcome, but you have full control over process and implementation!
—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, Gabriele! It sounds as though you’re doing really well — it’s definitely a process and takes time to weaken that anxiety and worry, and that makes sense because it also was a process and took time for that anxiety and worry to reach a high enough level to disrupt your sleep!
Keep moving forward, stay consistent, and I am sure you’ll continue to do well!
—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’d expect someone who gets roughly seven hours of sleep to be spending roughly seven-and-a-half hours in bed. If you feel that you’re getting less than seven hours of sleep, allotting less time for sleep might be helpful since it will mean less time awake and deeper, more consolidated, and better quality sleep.
What kind of things are you doing during the day to add enrichment and enjoyment to your life, lower fatigue, and direct attention away from 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.
Not a whole lot happens until you ask questions or get involved in existing conversations! It’s good to have you as a member here, though!
—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 @Insomniac12 and welcome to the forum! @hiker shared some great tips! It might take some time for you to adjust to the lack of construction noise, as ironic as that may sound!
In the meantime, when you wake after four hours and find it hard to fall back to sleep, what is going through your mind? You might find it helpful to make sure you aren’t allotting too much time for sleep, and you might find it helpful to get out of bed during the night if being in bed doesn’t feel good.
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 would suggest starting by reading about cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and considering whether you might find it helpful — particularly if you recognize yourself in this video, “Watch me use my mystical powers to reveal how your sleep issues began and why you now have insomnia“.
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.
Thinking and worrying about sleep at 4:38 AM is natural but probably not helpful when it comes to reducing sleep-related worry — and this alone could be a perpetuating factor behind your insomnia.
If and when you wake during the night, you might find it helpful to get out of bed and do something you find relaxing and enjoyable if being in bed starts to feel unpleasant. The more you can enjoy your nights, independently of sleep, the less you might worry about sleep.
How are your days, @Maryam? Are they enriching and enjoyable? Are you regularly pursuing fun and pleasant activities so you can enjoy your days? The more you can enjoy your days, independently of sleep, the less you might worry about sleep.
I am sorry to hear about your struggles and hope this post 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.
Are the panic attacks caused by thoughts and worries about sleep, or something else? If they’re about sleep then you might find cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques helpful. If they’re connected to a past trauma, I’d suggest seeking the help of a licensed healthcare provider.
—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.
