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In my opinion, if your long-term goal is to sleep in your own bed with your husband then that is the only place you should allow yourself to sleep.
In the short-term, it might be easier to sleep in a different bed but — as you pointed out — this doesn’t help address any conditioned arousal that might still be present with your own bed. So, all the initial problems with sleep might return as soon as you return to your own bed.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Sorry to hear about your ongoing struggle with sleep. Have you tried implementing 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.
Sounds as though you are doing well, Jack! Thanks for sharing!
—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 you checking the clock when you wake during the night? If so, it can be very helpful to avoid doing this since it only usually serves to activate the arousal system and make falling back to sleep more difficult.
When you wake during the night, it can be helpful to remind yourself that waking during the night is completely normal. If you feel calm and relaxed then it’s perfectly fine to stay in bed since conditions are right for sleep. If you find yourself “trying” to sleep, tossing and turning, feeling worried, anxious, or frustrated, or being in bed just no longer feels pleasant, then it’s a good idea to get out of bed and do something you find relaxing and enjoyable until you feel calm and relaxed, then return to bed and see what happens.
I hope this helps! Glad to hear you are implementing sleep restriction and that you are noticing results!
—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 feeling better! It’s perfectly fine to take a break from cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques when you are unwell since your priority is rest and recuperation! When you feel ready to do so you can just re-implement all the techniques again and continue onwards!
You might find this short video helpful: What to do if you catch a cold / become unwell when implementing CBT 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.
I would suggest starting by allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep each night and giving yourself an earliest possible bedtime and latest possible out of bed time in the morning.
This will help build sleep drive and reduce nighttime wakefulness — and that will help improve sleep confidence and reduce sleep-related worry and anxiety.
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’s no evidence to suggest that insomnia can damage the stomach and since chronic insomnia is perpetuated by our thoughts and behaviors rather than things like an upset stomach, addressing these thoughts and behaviors is usually far more constructive when it comes to improving sleep for the long term.
—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.
A white noise machine might be helpful if external environmental sounds are disrupting your sleep. I am not sure how effective a white noise machine will be when it comes to reducing hyperarousal, 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.
It’s not too surprising that sleep issues are lingering even though the initial trigger is no longer an issue. That’s because insomnia is perpetuated by the thoughts we have in response to sleep disruption and the behaviors we implement in a bid to improve our sleep that actually make sleep more difficult.
Some examples include experimenting with medication and supplements, spending a lot of time thinking about sleep and researching sleep, spending more time in bed, modifying our day in response to a hard night of sleep, canceling plans with friends, calling in sick to work, etc.
Since our thoughts and behaviors perpetuate insomnia, addressing these thoughts and behaviors is the best way to address chronic insomnia — and this is why cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is so 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.
The onset of menopause absolutely can (and does!) have a negative effect on sleep. However, once the body adjusts to this change, sleep is able to recover all by itself.
Unfortunately, what can happen is that when sleep disruption happens (regardless of the initial trigger), we start to think about sleep (and worry about sleep) more than we did before. We can engage in sleep-related research and spend time worrying about sleep. We can also implement behaviors in a bid to improve our sleep that actually make it harder for our sleep to get back on track. These behaviors include things like experimenting with pills and supplements, spending more time in bed, modifying our days, etc.
All these thoughts and behaviors (which are completely understandable!) unfortunately perpetuate the problem. Since cognitive and behavioral techniques help address these thoughts and behaviors, they can help improve sleep regardless of the initial trigger.
You can find many examples of people who have found CBT-I helpful by looking in the insomnia success stories forum, the client case studies page, and the Insomnia Coach Podcast.
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.
It sounds as though you might be focussing a lot of attention on the nights when sleep is a bit more difficult rather than on all the nights when you are sleeping well. So, sleep restriction might be working a little better than you think!
When it comes to the sleep window we aren’t really concerned with what happens on individual nights — we are more interested in the bigger picture. So, when calculating the sleep window against your average nightly sleep duration it’s helpful to look at your sleep over a period of around two weeks. You can then figure out if your current sleep window is appropriate or not.
If you are finding Sunday nights particularly difficult, you might find this video helpful: How to get rid of “Sunday Night 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.
Ultimately, we use our natural biological sleep mechanisms to our advantage. So, we build sleep drive by allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep and we help regulate the body clock by remaining active during the day and getting out of bed by the same time each day.
We can also reduce sleep anxiety by learning more about sleep (to correct inappropriate and/or incorrect sleep-related beliefs) and implementing behaviors that give sleep the best chance possible.
Then, as sleep starts to improve, anxiety falls, and this leads to further improvements in sleep and less anxiety.
This process is typical if you implement cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques.
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 mentioned that you have tried cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques but they didn’t work — how long were you implementing CBT-I techniques for and what specific techniques did you implement?
—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 way to build sleep drive is to be awake for long enough! So, I am glad to hear you are practicing sleep restriction. To a lesser extent, daytime activity also helps but there is no specific type of activity or exercise that is better at generating sleep because the only thing that can generate sleep is sufficient wakefulness!
—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 discussed your concerns with your doctor? If you are not feeling sleepy this could be because you are either getting enough sleep or you are experiencing hyperarousal. 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.
