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Hello Leo and welcome to the forum.
First of all, it’s important to recognize that you CAN sleep! It would be impossible for you to be here and typing out your post if you hadn’t slept since 1999!
Ultimately, if you have chronic insomnia the best way to improve your sleep for the long term is to implement cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques.
Nothing in your post makes me think that you wouldn’t find CBT-I helpful, Is this something you’ve ever tried?
—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 sleep diary isn’t intended to make you think more about sleep, but in the short term I can see how that might sometimes be the case! You might find this video helpful, “Why keeping a sleep diary when you have insomnia is so helpful and rarely increases worry or anxiety“.
In my experience, it’s quite rare for people with chronic insomnia to check the time during the night and then feel calm and relaxed after doing so. In fact, you might be the first person to have told me this! If that’s the case, then go ahead and check the time!
By default, I suggest avoiding this because most people find that checking the clock leads to more worry and anxiety as they calculate (and worry about) how much time they have left for sleep — and this makes sleep more difficult.
To answer your question, if you wake and feel calm and relaxed, it’s OK to stay in bed since conditions are right for sleep. If you start to feel worried, anxious, or frustrated, that’s your cue to get out of bed and do anything you find relaxing and enjoyable until you feel calm and relaxed again.
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 don’t think there’s any reason to believe that you won’t be able to improve your sleep and move away from a polyphasic sleep pattern. Just as you “learned” to sleep in two shifts, you can learn to sleep in one shift — it will just take time and consistency. Your sleep certainly hasn’t been ruined! 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.
That first breakthrough night can be so encouraging — and serves as evidence that your efforts are paying off! 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.
How are you getting on? Any updates? Usually, it’s a good idea to follow a regular and appropriate sleep window — and try to avoid compensating for a bad night of sleep (or no sleep) by modifying your daytime life too much.
—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 hard to say for sure what is going on here.
Are you spending a lot of time asleep at night, too, or is sleep happening primarily during the day?
I wonder if, after stopping the sleeping meds you tried compensating for poor nighttime sleep by trying to sleep during the day and, after repeated attempts to sleep during the day, you are now sleeping during the day rather than at night?
If you are spending most of your day sleeping then sleep drive is likely to be too low for you to sleep at night (in other words, by sleeping during the day you aren’t going to be sleepy at night).
You might find it helpful to implement a regular and appropriate sleep window in an attempt to shift your sleep to a predetermined window in the evening. This will likely take time, though, and you might find it helpful to seek the help of a behavioral sleep medicine specialist with experience in circadian rhythm disorders.
—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 browse the insomnia success stories forum, the case studies page, and listen to a few of the podcast episodes, you will see that many people have been able to retrain themselves to see the bed as a place for sleep, and now sleep well in their own bed.
What makes you think that you are spending a couple of hours in stage one sleep when you get into bed? What makes you think that you are getting deep sleep when you sleep on the couch?
The good news is that the fact you are sleeping on the couch proves that you can sleep — and that you are finding it hard to sleep in bed because you have repeatedly struggled to sleep in bed.
The key to retraining yourself to see the bed as a place for sleep is to make sure that the only thing you do in bed is sleep — and the only place you sleep is in bed.
This means that you use your bed only for sleep, and that when you are awake and anxious, you get out of bed until you feel calm and sleepy. You then get back into bed and repeat this process as necessary.
Since sleep drive builds with every minute of wakefulness, if you stay committed and consistent, you will eventually sleep in your own bed. And, every minute you spend asleep in your own bed, the more you relearn that your bed is a place for sleep rather than wakefulness.
You might find the page on stimulus control for insomnia 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.
Insomnia can definitely make it harder to stay active — but it doesn’t prevent you from being active! If you allow insomnia to control your daytime life, you are effectively feeding your insomnia, making it stronger and giving it more power over you and your life.
You might find this video helpful: Every time you feed your insomnia, you make your insomnia more powerful and more demanding.
It’s also important to recognize that activity is the best way to combat fatigue. Staying sedentary and avoiding activity doesn’t alleviate fatigue — it actually makes it harder to get rid of.
Pushing through the day and trying to go about your daily routine as normal is really the best way to reduce the power of insomnia and help get your sleep back on track.
—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 issues with sleep. If you’d like some suggestions, I would need to know a bit more about you and your sleep.
What time do you normally go to bed at night, and what time do you get out of bed to start your day in the morning? On a typical night, how many hours of sleep would you say you get?
Finally, why do you think you find sleep difficult?
—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 struggles with sleep. How long has this been going on for?
When do you normally go to bed at night, when do you get out of bed to start your day in the morning, and roughly how many hours of sleep do you get on an average night?
Do you typically find it hard to fall asleep at the start of the night, or do you usually find it harder to stay asleep through the 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.
What medical condition(s) did your doctor diagnose you with, Lauriso?
Short awakenings without any accompanying worry or anxiety are often associated with sleep apnea, but you will likely need an overnight sleep study before a diagnosis can be made.
Here’s an online test you can take to help assess sleep apnea risk: http://www.stopbang.ca/osa/screening.php
—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 little wonder that your sleep was disrupted after such a dramatic experience. It is completely normal (and to be expected) that sleep would be disrupted after an experience like this. Normally, sleep recovers by itself once you have processed the events and are starting to feel better — however, sometimes it doesn’t and that’s because of our response to the initial sleep disruption.
When our sleep is disrupted, we can start to think and worry about sleep more than we ever did before. We might spend a lot of time researching sleep. We might also do things like spend more time in bed, go to bed earlier, stay in bed later, cancel plans, call in sick to work, try to conserve energy during the day, nap during the day, etc.
Unfortunately, all these things perpetuate the problem and make it very hard for our sleep to recover — and this is how short-term sleep disruption turns into a longer-term problem.
The good news is that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques help address all these perpetuating factors — and that’s why CBT-I is such an effective long-term solution for chronic insomnia.
So, I would encourage you to try CBT-I to get your sleep back on track. Nothing you have described is particularly unusual when it comes to the development of chronic insomnia, so I have no reason to think that you wouldn’t find CBT-I to be 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.
This is completely up to you. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques are effective regardless of whether you are taking medication or not.
You might find this video helpful: Does cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) work if you are taking sleeping pills?
When I work one-on-one with clients, most start to taper-off (or eliminate) their use of sleeping pills as they start to regain confidence in their natural ability to sleep as they progress.
It’s important not to make any changes to your medication regimen without talking to your doctor first.
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 can be very helpful to identify and then evaluate the thought that is causing anxiety. So, next time you feel anxious, ask yourself what is going through your mind to see if you can identify the underlying thought. Then, evaluate it. Think of evidence that supports the thought and evidence that refutes the thought.
When you do this, you will often see that the thought creating the anxiety isn’t very accurate — and this can reduce the power of that thought.
This video might be helpful: What to do when anxious thoughts are making sleep difficult and leading to insomnia.
A short sleep window can heighten sleep drive and help you get past the anxiety that is proving to be an obstacle to sleep. Every time you find it easier to sleep, and every night of slightly better sleep helps increase sleep confidence and this can reduce worry and anxiety and make sleep a bit easier.
Mindfulness is a very high-level skill that requires a lot of practice — especially if you have a high level of anxiety. I would suggest observing sleep restriction (to build sleep drive) and stimulus control (getting out of bed when you feel anxious and wide awake to help you relearn that the bed is a place for sleep and relaxation only) since these typically produce results a bit faster than building skill in mindfulness.
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.
Hello Nora. If an external sound is waking you, you might want to try something simple like a pair of earplugs.
—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.
