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Welcome to the forum. The good news is, you can get back to the point of no longer thinking or worrying about sleep — we just need to work on getting that sleep confidence back!
When do you normally 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 a typical night?
Do you tend to have more difficulty falling asleep at the start of the night, or sleeping 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.
Welcome to the forum — unfortunately, I am not surprised that all the things you listed in your post didn’t work. That’s because there is no evidence that any of those things are effective treatments for chronic insomnia.
Have you looked into CBT for insomnia (CBT-I)? There is overwhelming evidence to support CBT-I as an effective long-term treatment for 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 and I’m sorry to hear about your sleep difficulties.
First of all, it’s important to highlight the fact that neither melatonin nor lorazepam are generating sleep for you. Nothing can generate sleep apart from our own biological sleep drive — so the four-and-a-half hours you got after taking melatonin, and the nine hours you got after taking lorazepam was sleep generated by you and not whatever you took.
Supplements and medications can help us get over whatever the initial obstacle to sleep might be (often high levels of arousal/anxiety/worry) and that can make it easier to sleep — but they are incapable of generating sleep. Any sleep we get is being generated by our own body.
Many people experience a string of poor nights followed by a “recovery” night — and this is a sign that sleep drive is working as it should be. We can only stay awake for so long before sleep drive becomes so strong, we simply cannot stay awake.
The key to evening out these highs and lows is often the implementation of a consistent (and appropriate) sleep window. This helps build sleep drive (and sleepiness), leads to less time awake during the night, consolidates sleep, and improves sleep quality. It’s also helpful to get out of bed whenever you find yourself struggling with sleep.
As suggested by gsdmom, I think you would find cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques very helpful if you are ready to make the changes necessary to improve your sleep for the long term. The techniques can be challenging in the short term, but they almost always lead to significantly better sleep for the long term.
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 Amberlynne and I am sorry to hear about your ongoing struggle with sleep. Have you looked into (or tried implementing) cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques? They are far more effective for insomnia over the long-term than sleeping pills.
—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 AnnMarie and welcome to the forum. If CBT-I techniques worked for you in the past, they can work for you again!
If and when you wake sometime between 3:00 AM and 4:00 AM, why do you think you find it hard to fall asleep? Are you consistently getting out of bed to start your day by the end of your sleep window and avoiding sleep before the start of your sleep window?
What kind of activities do you pursue during the day? Are you keeping active?
—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. Let’s get to the bottom of this!
When do you normally go to bed at night, when do you get out of bed in the morning (great to hear you are observing a consistent out of bed time, by the way!), and roughly how many hours of sleep would you say you are getting on a typical/average night?
Do you tend to have more difficulty with falling asleep at the start of the night, or waking during the night and finding it hard to fall back to sleep (or both)?
You mentioned that you tried sleep restriction in the past. Can you tell us a bit more about that? How long did you try sleep restriction for, and what was the start time and end time of your chosen sleep window?
—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 Mona and welcome to the forum. I have yet to come across someone with chronic insomnia who doesn’t experience rumination of thoughts and sleep-related fear and worry. This is completely common and when it occurs just prior to bedtime, it’s usually an indicator of conditioned arousal.
In other words, because you have experienced so many nights of struggle, you have learned to associate bedtime with unpleasantness — so when it’s time for bed, your body starts to worry about the upcoming night and this can lead to symptoms similar to the sensations we associate with the body’s “fight or flight” response.
The good news is, you can address this conditioned arousal by implementing cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques. You aren’t alone, and you do not need to live with your insomnia or sleep-related worries.
—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.
Thanks for the additional information.
Since you currently seem to average around six hours of sleep, I think you would find it very helpful to allot a bit less time for sleep. This should lead to less time awake during the night, more consolidated sleep, and better sleep quality.
If you are currently in bed and switching the lights off at around 11:00 PM, and you get out of bed at 7:45 AM, you are allotting almost nine hours for sleep.
Since your current average sleep duration is around six hours, you can see that — by allotting around nine hours for sleep — you are almost guaranteeing yourself around three hours of wakefulness during the night.
I think you would find it helpful to allot an amount of time for sleep that more closely matches your current sleep “capability”. Starting with a sleep window of around six-and-a-half hours might be more appropriate and a good starting point.
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 really appreciate the kind words — do keep in touch!
—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.
“Sunday night insomnia” is quite common and is usually the result of weekend lie-ins and/or a stressful job.
Do you follow a consistent sleep schedule every day of the week?
—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 is it, specifically, about the sleep window that causes you anxiety? When you start to feel anxious, what is going through your mind?
Identifying the underlying thought that is triggering the anxiety is the first step towards addressing the anxiety.
—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 not sure it’s biologically possible to average one hour of sleep every night for nine weeks. I suspect you may be getting a little bit more sleep than you think you are — it might be worth considering whether you are experiencing paradoxical 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.
Great to hear that you’re no longer checking the clock when you wake! I think the fact you no longer worry about your nighttime awakenings is key to your recent improvement.
As you have also experienced, sleep restriction can really help build sleep drive and observing a regular (and appropriate) sleep window also helps the body clock follow a predictable rhythm. The result is less time awake during the night — and this means less time available for worrying about sleep, too!
Going to bed after the sleep window starts isn’t a big deal, and in fact it can be a good idea if you don’t feel sleepy enough for sleep when the sleep window begins. The real key is to try making sure you are always out of bed by the end of your sleep window so your body clock has a consistent morning anchor and you allow enough time for sleep drive to build during the day.
To answer your final question, you might find it harder to fall back to sleep when you wake between 4:30 AM and 5:20 AM because sleep drive is low by this point. When you combine a significantly reduced level of sleepiness with any remaining sleep-related worry or anxiety, it can be hard to fall back to sleep.
Finally, it’s important to bear in mind that it’s completely normal to wake during the night — it is our response to these awakenings that determine how easy (or hard) it will be to fall 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.
Hello Tracy and welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your 22-year history with insomnia and anxiety. As you have experienced for yourself, medication isn’t a long-term solution for insomnia!
Have you tried implementing cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques?
You might find it helpful (and reassuring) to listen to Episode 2 of the Insomnia Coach Podcast — in that episode, I talk to Ann who had insomnia for over 30 years and managed to get her sleep back on track using 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 your struggles with sleep since you were prescribed BP medication (to clarify, are you referring to blood pressure medication)?
How long ago were you prescribed this medication and when did you stop taking it? Have you spoken to your prescribing physician about the insomnia you have been experiencing since they issued you the prescription?
—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.
