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You’re very welcome! If you find the idea of jumping straight to a five-and-a-half-hour sleep window a bit intimidating (which is completely understandable) you can indeed make the reduction a bit more gradual and staggered.
There is evidence to support the effectiveness of such a strategy — it’s known as sleep compression. Here’s a video about it: If sleep restriction for insomnia is too hard, sleep compression can be a good alternative.
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 completely agree!
—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 thing to help you feel refreshed in the morning is probably better quality sleep. Instead of the ongoing experimentation with medication, have you looked into the most effective long-term treatment for chronic insomnia, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)?
—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’ll very likely find cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques helpful regardless of whether you are taking medication or not. So, I would suggest simply taking any medication as it has been prescribed to you by your physician. You certainly shouldn’t make any changes without talking to your physician first.
The only time sleeping pills can become problematic is if you take the medication contingently — because this can continually erode your sleep confidence and make you believe that you can only sleep if you take a pill. You might find this video helpful: Does cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) work if you are taking sleeping pills?
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 very tormenting dreams are contributing to your sleep difficulties, I would encourage you to discuss this with your doctor or another licensed healthcare provider. You might also find it helpful to find someone local to you who is certified in behavioral sleep medicine.
—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 all have unique sleep requirements — so you may be someone who only needs a small amount of sleep. With that being said, three hours is definitely a very short amount of sleep!
When do you typically go to bed at night and when do you get out of bed to start your day? When you wake after around three hours, why do you think you aren’t falling back to 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.
It’s completely normal for sleep to be disrupted when we travel. As long as you avoid compensating for any lost sleep (for example by spending more time in bed, modifying your days, trying to conserve energy, etc) then your sleep will soon recover all by itself.
Ultimately, sleep only ever becomes a problem when we try to get involved in the process!
The fact you have a hard time napping shouldn’t be something to be concerned about — daytime naps reduce sleep drive and can make sleep more difficult at night. So, if you want to improve your nighttime sleep, daytime naps are best avoided anyway.
—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 Deb suggested, one of the best things you can do to prevent your days being filled with sleep-related thoughts and worries is to fill your days with something else! The more active and engaged you are during the day, the less time you will spend thinking about sleep and the more you will be able to recognize that you have far more control over the quality of your day than how well or how poorly you slept the previous night!
Waking during the night is completely normal — if however, you worry about those awakenings, it can be difficult to fall back to sleep. If you allot an appropriate amount of time for sleep each night you will spend less time awake during the night. And, if you get out of bed when being in bed is unpleasant, you will not be reinforcing the idea that the bed is a place for unpleasant wakefulness.
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 am so sorry to hear that a doctor told you that CBT-I probably wouldn’t work for you since you have anxiety and depression and that medication would be a better solution. Since cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) specifically helps lower sleep-related arousal, it’s a great way to improve sleep when sleep-related worry and anxiety is making sleep difficult.
One of the best things to do when it comes to anxiety is to see if you can identify the thought that is causing anxiety. Anxiety doesn’t occur by itself — we have a thought and this triggers an anxious response. So, next time you feel anxious, ask yourself what is going through your mind.
If you can uncover the thought(s) that are causing the anxiety, you can then evaluate the accuracy of those thoughts. When you do this, very often you will see that the thoughts that are generating such powerful anxiety aren’t even particularly accurate — and this, in turn, can reduce the power of the anxiety they generate.
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 aren’t alone! I am so glad to hear that you’ve found the Insomnia Coach Podcast helpful — if you can recognize any of your own experience in the stories others share, you can recognize that you can get your sleep back on track just as all the podcast guests have done!
When do you currently go to bed at night, when do you get out of bed to start your day, and roughly how many hours of sleep do 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.
Waking during the night is quite normal — but if we worry about these awakenings, it can be hard to fall back to sleep.
Alcohol withdrawal may contribute to some temporary sleep disruption. You might find it helpful to implement cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques to help set the stage for sleep and prevent you from perpetuating your current sleep disruption.
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.
Those jolts you are describing sound like hypnic jerks, which are quite common and certainly not a sign that something is wrong with you or your sleep. You might find this forum discussion helpful: Jerking self awake when falling asleep / hypnic jerks?
If you are experiencing dreams, then you are almost certainly getting deep sleep too since this sleep stage is prioritized by the body when sleep deprived.
Have you looked into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)? I think you’ll find it very helpful since it will help address any incorrect or inappropriate sleep-related thoughts and it will help you implement constructive behaviors that will give sleep the best chance possible.
To start, since you are going to bed at 10:30 PM and getting out of bed between 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM this means you are allotting between six-and-a-half and seven-and-a-half hours for sleep. If you are currently averaging around four hours of sleep each night, we can see that your current sleep schedule is virtually guaranteeing you up to three-and-a-half hours of tossing and turning during the night.
I hope this gives you some things to think about and that you found this post 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.
I’d suggest sticking with a sleep window of between five and five-and-a-half hours and continue to get out of bed during your sleep window if being in bed becomes unpleasant. 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.
Diet is very important for our overall health, but the food we eat isn’t a perpetuating factor of chronic insomnia. So, eating well is always a good idea — but if you have chronic insomnia it’s not going to do much when it comes to addressing the sleep drive disruption, the body clock disruption, or the high levels of arousal that occur because of our sleep-related thoughts and behaviors.
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.
There is no evidence that insomnia causes an increased risk of heart attack and there is no evidence that insomnia causes an increased risk of epilepsy. There is also no evidence that insomnia causes an increased risk of stroke.
The fact of the matter is, worrying about this and endlessly researching for the consequences of insomnia isn’t helpful since it only leads to more sleep-related worry and this perpetuates insomnia.
It’s far more constructive to direct attention on improving sleep — and if you have chronic insomnia, the best way to do this is to implement evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques.
Probably the best research we have when it comes to the negative outcome of insomnia is a meta-analysis published in 2019 that included 36,938,981 individuals and found no difference in the odds of mortality for those individuals with symptoms of insomnia when compared to those without symptoms.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this study didn’t attract much media attention.
—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.
