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Welcome to the forum, danielstreva.
I am so encouraged that you are giving sleep restriction a try because allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep and maintaining a consistent out of bed time helps with sleep onset and sleep maintenance insomnia.
It does usually take more than two weeks of consistent implementation of an appropriate sleep window to notice consistent improvements in sleep. So, I would encourage you to keep moving forward.
Feeling very sleepy before the start of the sleep window and then feeling very alert when the sleep window begins is a classic symptom of conditioned arousal. In other words, since you have experienced so many nights of sleep difficulty, your mind has associated going to bed with sleep difficulty and activates the arousal response to protect you from what it expects to happen next.
Unfortunately, the brain can’t really distinguish between a real threat and an imagined one — so it can activate the full-on “fight or flight” response to protect you from the danger it thinks you are being exposed to by going to bed.
The good news is that since this association was learned, it can be unlearned — you can learn to see the bed as a pleasant place to be again. You can learn to associate the bed with sleep and pleasant wakefulness. This is done primarily through stimulus control.
Ultimately, you only want to be in bed when being in bed feels good (or when you are asleep)! So, any time being in bed doesn’t feel good, that’s your cue to get out of bed and to do something relaxing and somewhat enjoyable until you feel calm and relaxed again. Then, return to bed and repeat the process.
Not only is getting out of bed usually a more appealing alternative to staying in bed and feeling anxious or frustrated, but it gives your mind something else to focus on and this means it often becomes easier to restore a sense of calm.
Furthermore every time you get out of bed you help retrain yourself to associate the bed with sleep and pleasant wakefulness and, over time, this will reduce that sense of worry or even panic you might have experienced upon getting into bed.
Just as it took time for you to associate the bed with unpleasant wakefulness, it will take time (albeit usually less time!) to associate the best with sleep and pleasant relaxation again. Every time you get out of bed when being in bed doesn’t feel good, you will edge yourself closer to that goal.
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.
Thank you so much for sharing your story, Pallavi!
Your transformation occurred because you committed to implementing techniques that helped you adopt more constructive sleep-related thoughts and behaviors and allowed you to rediscover your own, natural ability to sleep and to sleep well!
Of course, every now and then there might be a difficult night — because these happen to everyone from time to time! The difference now, of course, is that you don’t react to those difficult nights — so your sleep recovers very quickly.
Congratulations and best wishes for the future!
—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 are finding it hard to estimate that 30 minutes, you can determine when to get out of bed by how calm and comfortable you feel. So, if you are awake and it feels good to be in bed, and you feel calm and relaxed, let yourself stay in bed — conditions are right for sleep!
If being in bed starts to feel unpleasant, that’s your cue to get out of bed and do something relaxing and enjoyable instead. This way, you aren’t reinforcing a negative association between the bed and unpleasant wakefulness and you give your mind the opportunity to focus on something other than 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.
I have a feeling that although it might be more difficult to attend a meeting after just an hour or two of sleep, you’ll be able to do it — and that’s because the body is remarkably resilient and remarkably able to cope after difficult nights of sleep!
Sleep disruption is not unusual when we are in a different environment such as a hotel room. There are a few things you can do to improve the likelihood of sleep, though. For example, you might only allow yourself to go to bed when you feel sleepy enough for sleep, try to stick to a consistent out of bed time in the mornings, and try to remain active during the days.
These behaviors will help set the stage for sleep — and that’s the most we can hope for since we cannot directly control sleep. Trying to do so, trying to put effort into sleep, usually serves only to make sleep more difficult.
You might find this video helpful, too: How to reduce sleep disruption when traveling with 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.
Welcome to the forum, Pds1969!
Although five days with no sleep can be quite concerning, this also means that you have experienced far more nights with sleep than without sleep!
I am glad to hear that you are planning on implementing cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) to help you identify and fix the sleep-related thoughts and behaviors that perpetuate insomnia!
You CAN sleep and you do not need sleeping pills 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.
Sleep disruption at the current time is completely normal and to be expected — because sleep is very sensitive to our overall levels of stress and well-being.
Ultimately, if you are able to avoid the thoughts and behaviors that perpetuate sleep disruption, your sleep will almost certainly recover all by itself.
Here’s a short video about this that you might find helpful: What to do when stress, worry, and uncertainty lead to sleep disruption and 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.
Welcome to the forum, NikkiInTheDesert85. What you have described, although distressing, is not particularly unusual. Your experience with insomnia is pretty typical — it began with an identifiable trigger and became perpetuated by thoughts, worries, and behaviors developed in response.
You might find this video helpful: Watch me use my mystical powers to reveal how your sleep issues began and why you now have insomnia.
I think it’s important to emphasize the fact that although you have been terrified of sleep for 15 years, you are still here today and you still managed to earn two academic degrees in that time! So, although sleep is a problem in your life, you are still surviving, getting through life, and accomplishing things!
Furthermore, if there was any grain of truth in the idea that you wouldn’t wake up if you fell asleep, I’d say that has been completely debunked since here you are, 15 years later!
In other words, your body has proven to you that you will wake up after falling asleep — and it has proven this to you for 15 years (or at least 5,475 times!). In fact, you have a 100% success rate of waking up after falling asleep over the past 15 years!
The fact you feel a lot of fatigue isn’t unusual either, because — along with heightened arousal — this is one of the primary complaints associated with chronic insomnia. The fact you recognize that you never sleep at an appropriate time also implies that you might find cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques helpful since they’ll help you implement an appropriate and consistent sleep schedule.
CBT-I techniques aren’t intended to address a fear of sleep since most people with chronic insomnia are desperate for sleep — but they can help set the stage for sleep and give sleep the best chance possible of occurring.
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, @lightbearer.
Why do you feel you need to move when in bed? Do you feel a tingling or a creepy-crawly sensation in the limbs that you feel the urge to move? Does that feeling go away when you move those limbs? If so, you might want to talk to your doctor about restless legs syndrome.
If not, and if you have been struggling with sleep for a while, it could simply be a symptom of hyperarousal.
In any case, nobody here can offer a medical diagnosis but hopefully this gives you a couple of avenues to explore!
—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.
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.
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.
