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Implementing an appropriate sleep window can be really helpful at rebuilding trust in your body’s natural ability to sleep since the technique helps build sleep drive and will help you generate a much stronger sense of sleepiness as bedtime approaches.
Not only can that heightened sense of sleepiness be reassuring, but it can also help overpower any sleep-related fear or worry, and help you fall asleep.
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.
Some great insights from @hiker there!
First of all, it’s important to understand that waking during the night is completely normal and to be expected! If you are finding it hard to fall back to sleep, I would echo the suggestion not to check the clock when you wake during the night. If you have the belief that waking up at 3:30 AM means you won’t fall back to sleep, knowing it’s 3:30 AM might be making it harder to fall back to sleep.
I’d suggest looking into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques to ensure you are allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep and to help you implement strategies that will address any arousal that might be making it more difficult for you to fall back to sleep when you wake.
—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 I am sorry to hear about your Dad’s struggles. Of course, there is nothing I can do about your father’s heart issues, acid reflex, or other health-related challenges.
What I can do is help your father identify and address any behaviors he may be implementing (along with any sleep-related thoughts or beliefs) that might be perpetuating his sleep difficulties and making sleep more difficult that it should be.
You might want to discuss whether implementing cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques might be appropriate for your father with his physician.
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.
Abandoning all effort when it comes to sleep is often very 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.
Wine can definitely help with sleep onset but alcohol disrupts sleep and reduces sleep quality — so it’s not that surprising that you’ve found it causes you to wake after four hours or so. It’s also, of course, not a healthy or a long-term insomnia solution.
As pointed out, being inactive during the day and not pursuing enjoyable or enriching activities is a major perpetuating factor of sleep disruption because it means more time spent thinking and worrying about sleep, more sedentary behavior that doesn’t help build sleep drive or help regulate the body clock, heightened fatigue, and the development/reinforcement of a mistaken belief that the quality of our day is completely dependent on the quality of our sleep.
So with this in mind, we can see that beyond the core components of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), adding as many enriching and enjoyable activities to our daily lives is one of the best things we can do to reduce sleep-related arousal, reduce sleep effort, and improve sleep.
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.
This could be a symptom of hyperarousal but I would suggest talking about this with your doctor. Have you discussed cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) with your doctor, or tried implementing any 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.
Sorry to hear about these nights of panic — what is going through your mind when you feel that panic? If you are able to identify the thought or thoughts that are generating that panic you might then be able to evaluate them for accuracy. When you do this, you might see that those thoughts aren’t very accurate and that can strip them of their power!
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 your sleep window is six-and-a-half hours and you are spending between 40 and 50 minutes awake during the night, this suggests you are typically getting somewhere between five-and-a-half hours and six hours of sleep each night. Does that sound about right? If so, I think that your current sleep window is probably about right.
It does usually take a few weeks for sleep to become more consistent and consolidated when you implement sleep restriction. How are you getting on since you posted?
—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 during the night and find it hard to fall back to sleep, there are usually one of two issues at play:
1. You might be allotting too much time for sleep (is the difference between when you go to bed at night and when you get out of bed to start your day significantly longer than your average nightly sleep duration?).
2. There might be some conditioned arousal. In other words, through repeatedly waking and finding it hard to fall back to sleep you may have associated waking during the night with difficulty falling back to sleep. So, you find it hard to fall back to sleep.
So, to help address these two options you can ensure you are allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep. You can also get yourself out of bed when you wake during the night and being in bed doesn’t feel good. This will help you relearn to associate the bed with sleep and pleasant wakefulness rather than reinforcing a negative association between the bed and difficulty falling back to sleep.
It can also be helpful to reduce overall levels of arousal by not checking the time if and when you wake during the night and making sure you are filling your days with enjoyable and enriching activities. The latter gives your mind something to focus on other than sleep and helps you recognize that you can have good days or even just a few enjoyable moments after difficult nights of sleep.
If you are able to recognize that wakefulness during the night doesn’t dictate the quality of your day (or life) you will likely be less concerned by the awakenings and this can, in turn, reduce the amount of time spent awake during the night.
I would not suggest looking for a pharmaceutical answer to this challenge since drugs are never a long-term solution for 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.
As you pointed out so well:
1. Sleep disruption is completely normal at times of stress, worry, or uncertainty.
2. Thoughts are just thoughts! Thoughts are not facts.
3. A bad night of sleep (or a string of bad nights) actually increases the likelihood of a better night due to the build-up of sleep drive (but it’s helpful to see each night as a fresh start with no expectations).
4. We have a lot more control over the quality of our day than how we slept the previous night — and daytime performance is less connected to sleep than we might believe.
5. Abandoning all sleep effort and giving insomnia and sleep as little attention as possible is a great way to improve sleep and begin the process of getting rid of insomnia.
Thanks for sharing your insights!
—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.
Setbacks and ups and downs are completely normal! Ultimately, if you are able to stick to a consistent final out of bed time and not go to bed before the start of your sleep window (and only when you feel sleepy enough for sleep) you will start to fill that sleep window with sleep if you are allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep.
It will usually take a few weeks of consistent implementation to notice consistent results, so I’d encourage both of you to continue looking forward and see each night as a fresh start!
—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.
Riding the roller coaster of lots of sleep then little (or no sleep) then lots of sleep is almost always a symptom of allotting too much time for sleep and not observing a consistent out of bed time in the morning.
If it’s important for you to enjoy more consistent sleep, it’s important to observe a consistent sleep schedule!
Here’s a short video about this: 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.
How are you getting on since you posted? Have you tried implementing any 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, Kaci! I am glad to hear your daughter is better now. I think that you have recognized how “normal” your insomnia is — it started with a memorable event and has been perpetuated by your completely understandable reaction to that sleep disruption!
Putting effort into sleep and trying to control sleep actually makes sleep more difficult and this can lead to a lot of sleep-related worry and anxiety, which — in turn — can make sleep more difficult.
I’m so encouraged that you are no longer obsessing about sleep all day and that you are waiting until you are sleepy before going to bed!
When it comes to redirecting the mind when you get into bed, I don’t think it’s helpful to try suppressing thoughts or worries that might enter your mind. The very act of trying not to think about something makes it almost impossible not to think about that very thing! Trying to do this also takes a lot of mental energy and effort at a time when you want to be relaxing your mind to create the best conditions for sleep!
Sometimes it can be helpful to simply recognize thoughts for what they are — thoughts! Thoughts are just thoughts. Thoughts aren’t facts. And, ultimately, you get to decide how you respond to those thoughts. Will you simply recognize them as thoughts and allow them to enter your mind and leave your mind, or will you try to fight them, try to suppress them, and worry about what they might mean?
It can also be helpful to “shift” this worry/thinking time to the day by allotting 10 to 15 minutes during the day to allow yourself to worry and think all you want about whatever you want! With practice, your mind might learn to get most of its worrying and thinking done during that daytime period and this could lead to fewer thoughts and worries at night when you want to be sleeping!
Finally, sometimes thinking about something else can be helpful. Thinking about a TV show you are watching or a book you are reading and then imagining what might happen next might be something relaxing for your mind to focus on. Visualizations might be helpful, too — imagining yourself on a beach or in a forest and really exploring everything around you.
Whenever being in bed doesn’t feel good, that can be a good cue to get out of bed.
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.
How are you doing since you posted? I am so encouraged that you are giving sleep restriction a try!
It does normally take more than two nights to get results — I would suggest adopting a “set it and forget it” attitude and sticking to your chosen sleep window without any thought or evaluation for at least a couple of weeks before determining if/how it’s helping.
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.
