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Hello Joe. Can you tell us a bit more about what you mean when you say it’s a challenge to wake up at the same time every day? Do you mean that you often wake up early in the morning, before you want to be waking up?
Unfortunately, although we can somewhat train ourselves to wake at a similar time each day, we can’t reliably control when we wake. If we wake and no longer feel sleepy, and we don’t feel fatigued during the day, we may have simply got enough sleep.
If, on the other hand, you often wake in the early hours of the morning, find it hard to fall back to sleep, and don’t feel good during the day, there are steps you can take to improve things.
When do you normally go to bed at night and when do you get out of bed to start your day?
—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 want to offer specific recommendations in your brother’s case since he does have a medical history that includes PTSD, OCD, and bipolar disorder.
I usually suggest implementing cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques as the first step for people with chronic insomnia — but with your brother’s history, I would urge you to seek medical advice before going this route.
If nothing else, a doctor or therapist familiar with your brother’s history should be able to tell you whether or not CBT-I might be a suitable intervention.
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 Julie and welcome to the forum. Did your insomnia return as soon as you stopped taking the antidepressants? If so, this could be because you had come to see the pills as something that generated sleep.
In other words, instead of learning to trust your own sleep system, and recognize that you alone were generating sleep, you might have believed that you were only sleeping because of the antidepressants — so, when you stopped taking them you became a lot more alert at night, perhaps self-monitored for sleep, and this made sleep more difficult.
Have you tried implementing CBT for insomnia techniques? I think you will find them helpful since they will help you regain confidence in your own ability to sleep and help address any thoughts or behaviors that might be perpetuating the 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.
Hello Tasha. Glad to hear you’re implementing sleep restriction for your insomnia!
It’s not usually very helpful to compare your progress with others since everyone is different. Some people notice improvements relatively quickly, while others take longer. However, if you implement CBT-I techniques consistently, you will notice your sleep improve. Sometimes it can be helpful to focus your attention and efforts on implementation rather than monitoring for results.
What is your current sleep window? Do you find it hard to fall asleep at the start of the night, to stay asleep through the night, or both? Are you combining sleep restriction with other 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.
Everyone here knows what you’re going through, Antman455. Why not share a bit more about your sleep with us, so we might be able to offer some additional guidance and support? What is a typical night like for you? When do you normally go to bed, 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?
—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 Sablana
First of all, if you were averaging a sleep efficiency of 87%, I am very surprised that you were advised to reduce the amount of time you allot for sleep. Most of the time, it is suggested that at around 85% sleep efficiency we maintain the current sleep window and above 85% sleep efficiency, we look to slightly extend it.
If you were averaging 6 hours and 15 minutes for sleep, and were given a sleep window of 6 hours and 30 minutes, this suggests your therapist was looking for you to reach a sleep efficiency of over 95% which would be extremely high, even for someone with no problems with sleep! That’s because it’s normal for it to take time for us to fall asleep at the start of the night and it’s normal to spend some time awake during the night.
It’s important to bear in mind that sometimes sleep can initially become worse when you start to implement CBT-I techniques — but if you ride out the short-term pain, you will usually start to notice improvements.
Have you heard back from your therapist yet? Why do you feel that the shorter sleep window (which was still longer than your average nightly sleep duration) led to significantly less 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.
Welcome to the forum, Maggie! It’s not uncommon for people to develop insomnia upon retirement — and that’s often because we no longer have the daytime routine in place that is so important when it comes to regulating our body clocks.
Furthermore, inactivity during the day can make it harder to build sleep drive — so, we might start going to bed before we are sleepy enough for sleep.
Another problem is that we no longer have the daytime distraction that works gives us. So, if we have a bad night, instead of being distracted by the things we need to do during the day, we can spend more time thinking and worrying about sleep, and perhaps even implementing compensatory behaviors in a bid to improve our sleep than can actually make the problem worse.
The good news is that you don’t have to accept a life of insomnia now you have retired! Can you describe an average night for me? When do you normally go to bed at night, when do you normally get out of bed to start your day, 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.
I am sorry to hear about your ongoing struggle with insomnia, java. 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/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.
Aiming for “sleep perfection” is quite a common trait among people with insomnia, so you certainly aren’t alone there! I am so happy to hear that you feel you are making progress — success is influenced very strongly by our attitude. With this in mind, I am confident you will reach your goals!
What kind of techniques have you been implementing in order to 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.
Welcome to the forum. Hypnic jerks are not uncommon and might be associated with high levels of anxiety/arousal and/or self-monitoring for sleep. Did you experience them six years ago, when you had your initial difficulties with sleep?
The good news is that, since you overcame insomnia before, there is no reason to think that you won’t be able to do so again — despite the hypnic jerks.
How did you improve your sleep last time around? Did you implement CBT-I techniques? Sleep restriction, in particular, can be helpful for hypnic jerks since building up high levels of sleep drive can help overpower the arousal system and reduce their frequency and intensity.
—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 recent difficulties with sleep. How are you getting on? Any change since you posted?
You mentioned that this all started a few weeks ago — did anything happen a few weeks ago to trigger your sleep difficulties?
—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, Aga? Are you still implementing CBT-I techniques? If you feel that sleep-related worry or anxiety has a role to play in connection to your issues with sleep, you are very likely to find CBT-I techniques 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.
Hello Macadamia
Since you are a client, I would recommend contacting me directly with any questions or concerns you have as you progress through the online course.
If you are still feeling fatigued after seven hours of sleep at night, this could be a residual side-effect of medication and would be worth discussing with your prescribing physician.
Napping during the day reduces sleep drive and can also prevent sleep drive from recovering to a sufficient level for sleep the following night — so, if you are not satisfied with your nighttime sleep it’s usually best to eliminate daytime naps (or, at the very least, limit them to around 20 minutes and take them as early in the day as possible).
I would not suggest documenting how you are feeling every single day since this can lead to a preoccupation with sleep. When we spend too much time thinking about sleep and evaluating our sleep, we can actually make sleep more difficult.
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 success story — I’d love to have you on the Insomnia Coach Podcast in the near future to spread your message, talk more about your recovery, and provide reassurance and motivation for others who are struggling with their sleep!
Burn — I think @Hppositive did share their recovery story and thoughts on what they found helpful. Specifically, I thought these were key insights:
* “[Even after bad nights] I still managed to go to work, have a social life and look after the kids.”
* “I repeated positive affirmations”
* “CBT techniques do work”
* “Remove any negative thinking in your life”
* “Meditation every day”
* “Remain positive, have faith in your ability to sleep, know that you will get better, never doubt it, relax and try to enjoy life as much as you can”
—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 kind words about the forum, Edgar!
I agree that forums can be a great way of seeking mutual support — but they can also be problematic if your focus becomes reading the negative stories from people who struggle (and often aren’t implementing constructive techniques or they’re implementing them incorrectly and/or inconsistently).
This is why I make the effort to encourage people to share their successes when they get better — and why I launched the Insomnia Coach Podcast!
—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.
