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That’s what we are here for, Dart! Can you tell us a bit more about your sleep? When do you 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 a typical 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.
Hello Chelkee and welcome to the forum. Sleep can be disrupted due to pregnancy (or any life change) — however, it’s usually our response to this sleep disruption that determines whether or not sleep is able to recover.
If you have chronic insomnia, bright light therapy is unlikely to be particularly helpful since people with insomnia don’t normally have any problem with their circadian rhythm (other than their propensity to voluntarily go to bed before sleepy and to get out of bed at a different time each day).
Have you looked into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)? You will likely find it 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.
You can enroll in my free two-week sleep training course here.
—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 SilasAlberts and welcome to the forum.
First of all, let me reassure you that you are capable of sleep and you do not need to live with insomnia. Chronic insomnia will not kill you or shorten your life. In fact, a recent review that involved 36,938,981 individuals found no difference in the odds of mortality for those with symptoms of insomnia compared to those without.
You have tried a lot of techniques that are known not to be effective long-term treatments for chronic insomnia. Have you looked into the best 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.
Hello Me79 and welcome to the forum.
You have just described how virtually every single case of insomnia begins — with a period of bad sleep that leads to more time thinking about sleep and perhaps even implementing compensatory behaviors in a bid to improve sleep (but which often end up actually making sleep worse).
The good news is that since your insomnia began relatively recently, it’s very likely that it will resolve itself. The best thing to do is to avoid trying to control sleep or compensate for a bad night (because the body can do that by itself). The more you try to control sleep, the more difficult sleep becomes.
—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 Leila, and welcome to the forum.
It’s unlikely that heavy metals or electromagnetic waves are the cause of your sleep issues.
When you wake during the night, what do you think is stopping you from falling back to sleep? When do you go to bed at night, when do you get up to start your day in the morning, and roughly how many hours of sleep do you get on a typical 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. Your post implies that you are monitoring your body during the night — are you currently being treated for a specific medical condition?
—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 Miya and welcome to the forum. As mentioned by @goldenbayboy night shifts can be very problematic for sleep. If your sleep is disrupted primarily due to shift work, CBT-I techniques are unlikely to be very helpful, unfortunately. You might want to look for someone who specializes in circadian rhythm disorders and/or someone who has successfully helped shift workers.
—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 GILL999 and welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear about your struggles with sleep. The hypnic jerks you describe are likely associated with hyperarousal/self-monitoring and/or conditioned arousal.
In other words, when you get into bed you might be self-monitoring for sleep and when you do sleep (or are about to fall asleep) the brain sends an alerting signal to tell you that sleep was successful! Of course, self-monitoring isn’t really helpful because you need to be awake to recognize that you were asleep!
You may also be more alert to the normal changes that happen in the body as we drift off to sleep — and this may be jerking you awake.
You mentioned that you tried CBT in the past. Was this CBT for insomnia (CBT-I), specifically? I know many people who have gone through CBT for anxiety thinking that it would also help improve their sleep (sometimes it can) — but unless you go through CBT-I, you are missing out on the interventions that are specifically aimed at improving sleep.
You do not need to accept insomnia. You are capable of sleeping better.
—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, Mona. It’s quite normal to feel some anxiety when you start sleep restriction — in my experience, this anxiety is often relieved when an adequate explanation of the rationale behind the technique is offered.
Did your therapist explain why sleep restriction is so effective and how it can help you improve your 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.
Suicide is NEVER the solution. If you have suicidal thoughts, please talk to someone right away or call the emergency services immediately.
I cannot recall exactly where in the world you are. This website seems like it may be targeted at your geographical area: https://www.centarsrce.org/
—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 update — keep going! You’ve got this!
—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 encourage you to give CBT-I a try if you are ready to make the changes needed to improve your sleep for the long-term. Good luck, Paul — do keep us updated with your progress and let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of any help.
—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 again, Victoria. I am sure you will find the free insomnia sleep training course helpful.
If you would like to work with me one-on-one, I currently offer two options — my phone coaching package or my eight-week online course.
With the phone coaching package, we start with a one-hour call (voice or video — your choice) and come up with an initial two-week plan to help you implement appropriate strategies that will guide long-term improvements in your sleep (such as a regular sleep window, getting out of bed when unable to sleep, etc).
During the two weeks you will keep weekly sleep diaries. After the first week, you will email me the first sleep diary and I’ll offer email-based feedback and guidance. After the second week, you will email me the second sleep diary and we will have a half-hour follow-up call. You can contact me via email at any time during the two weeks for questions, support, or additional guidance.
You can book the phone coaching package here: https://insomniacoach.com/phone/
The online coaching course works like this:
1. After enrollment, you will fill out a sleep history questionnaire and watch the first video that covers sleep education. This will help address any unrealistic expectations or beliefs about sleep that can actually disrupt sleep. You will begin filling out a sleep diary each day at this point, too.
2. One week later, when your sleep diary is full, you will submit the diary to me through the client area and watch the next video session. This will teach you how to allot an appropriate amount of time for sleep so more of the time you spend in bed is spent asleep rather than awake. This helps weaken any learned association between the bed and wakefulness, and it also reduces any sleep effort or sleep pressure you are putting on yourself. I will also analyze your sleep diary at this point and provide you with comprehensive feedback, suggestions, and support through email, based upon any issues I see from your initial week of sleep diary data. You will be filling out sleep diaries throughout the course.
3. One week later, you will submit your next sleep diary and watch the next video session. This video will teach you why it’s important to get out of bed when you can’t sleep and the exact procedure to follow. This will also help create and strengthen the association between the bed and sleep and weaken the arousal system that has created an association between the bed and wakefulness. I will also email you another round of personal support and feedback based on your sleep diary.
4. Two weeks later, you will submit two weeks worth of sleep diary data. Your next pre-recorded video will cover relaxation techniques for you to start practicing to help calm you further before bed. I will also be providing you with another round of personal feedback based on your sleep diaries.
5. Two weeks later, you will submit another two weeks worth of sleep diary data. The next video will teach you about sleep hygiene. You likely know many of these tips, but this is a good opportunity for a refresher (note that sleep hygiene comes very late in the course since it isn’t an effective treatment for insomnia by itself). You will also get another round of personal support and feedback based on your progress at this point.
6. Two weeks later, you will submit your final set of sleep diaries and you will learn about relapse prevention. By now you will very likely be experiencing positive improvements in your sleep. The goal of this session is to prevent any one-off sleepless nights that will occur in the future from triggering another period of chronic insomnia. You will also receive your final round of feedback.
You will have ongoing access to me via email and text message throughout the eight weeks of the course. In other words, contact isn’t limited to each round of feedback you get after completing each session. Any time you have a question or concerns during the eight weeks, you can contact me and I will be there to advise, guide, and support you.
You can enroll here: https://insomniacoach.com/enroll/
I hope this helps! Feel free to contact me directly (or post here) if you have any other questions.
—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 only getting around four hours of sleep, spending nine hours in bed each night isn’t going to be helpful and will likely lead only to more time in bed awake and more worry, frustration, and anxiety. All these emotions make sleep more difficult.
I would encourage you to think about following a regular and appropriate sleep window that is closer to your current average nightly sleep duration. You can learn more about this on the sleep restriction therapy for insomnia page.
If you have any questions, please let me know!
—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.
