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First, let me reassure you that you can sleep — you know this because you have slept in the past so you can sleep again in the future. We never lose the ability to sleep.
It’s also worth being reminded that chronic insomnia has not been found to cause any health problem or shorten life expectancy.
Here’s a video on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoX04HJihNI
Here’s a recent study that found no evidence of a relationship between mortality risk and insomnia:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1087079218300741
I’m glad that you’ve found CBT-I and am confident that you’ll find the techniques to be very helpful. They can be challenging to implement, but they work.
—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 Brendon and thanks for your kind words about the website.
Depending on how entrenched your sleep-related worry and anxiety is, it can take many weeks of consistent implementation before sleep becomes more consistent. It really is a case of just implementing the techniques correctly, being committed, and being consistent.
Are you combining stimulus control with any other CBT-I techniques (such as sleep restriction)? When you are in bed and can’t fall asleep, how do you decide when to get out of bed, and how do you decide when to return to bed again?
—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.
Worry is very common among people with insomnia and is usually addressed using CBT-I techniques. You mentioned that you are currently on meds — is this for anxiety or insomnia (or both)? Did your prescribing physician mention 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 merbear1 — your experience could also be a heightened response to the normal bodily changes associated with sleep. More on that in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owKbQJOHezs
—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 an easy one to answer. CBT-I is an effective treatment for chronic insomnia. It is not intended to be used to treat any other type of sleep disorder and so it is unlikely to be an effective treatment for any sleep disorder other than 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.
Do you feel sleepy enough for sleep when you go to bed at 11:00 PM? When do you get out of bed to start the day in the mornings? Are you keeping a consistent morning ‘out of bed’ time?
—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.
Have you been tested for sleep apnea? Frequent nighttime awakenings, very loud snoring, and finding it relatively easy to fall back to sleep after waking are symptoms more typically associated with sleep apnea than 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.
An alarm clock is helpful to ensure we always get out of bed by the same time every day but the clock really tends to be more of an enemy at night. It’s best not to check the clock during the night since this only usually leads to worry and anxiety and this makes sleep more difficult. I covered this in a short YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHZSyhGZteU
—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.
These are known contraindications — but they are very conservative. In other words, someone with epilepsy, parasomnias, or sleep disordered breathing should only pursue sleep restriction under the direction of their doctor but I don’t know of any reports of ill-effects experienced by such individuals when going through sleep restriction. That’s not to say they don’t exist, but in my opinion, they are likely very rare.
—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.
Unfortunately, I don’t know of any studies that have compared the effectiveness of stimulus control techniques when implemented based solely on the estimated time someone has been in or out of bed compared to getting in or out of bed based solely on how awake or sleepy you feel.
I would suggest starting by estimating roughly half an hour when you are out of bed before returning to bed and repeating the process. If, after a couple of weeks of consistent implementation you aren’t noticing that you are finding it any easier to fall back to sleep when you wake during the night, shift your strategy to one of not going back to bed until you feel sleepy enough for sleep again.
Regarding your question about a “normal” number of nighttime awakenings — I sought advice on this from a couple of sleep experts who have a lot of experience looking at overnight sleep lab data and working with patients in a sleep setting. As suspected, they reported that there is no established normal here — but they did share some observational data that sounds realistic to me.
First, recognize that there’s a difference between an arousal and an awakening. An arousal is “an abrupt shift in EEG frequency for at least three seconds, preceded by at least 10 seconds of sleep”.
For arousals, 10 per hour would not be unusual.
An awakening is defined as something like 30 to 60 seconds of wakefulness. If we’re going to remember an awakening, these are the ones we’re most likely to remember (most people without any sleep complaints don’t even remember these because they pay no attention to them). In this case, 10 to 15 awakenings during the night would be pretty typical.
I will add that it’s important to note that these “normal” awakenings are awakenings that are expected and are part of sleep — they don’t cover awakenings caused by apneas (pauses in breathing that may require medical intervention).
I hope this helps, and thanks for the great 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.
Some posts get held for moderation quite randomly! My apologies for the delay 🙂
—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 excellent advice but unfortunately often easier said than done! Anyone interested in pursuing this approach can look into ACT for insomnia and the book “The Sleep Book: How to Sleep Well Every Night” by
Guy Meadows.—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 long do these awakenings typically last, Martin?
—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, Michaell. Are you currently following any kind of sleep schedule, or “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.
Welcome to the forum, Paul. First of all, those two good nights of sleep last week prove that there is nothing wrong with your sleep system and that you are capable of sleep. So, please bear this in mind!
It sounds as though you have developed some worry about sleep, and unfortunately this makes sleep more difficult. The good news is, there are a number of steps you can take to improve your sleep.
First of all, can you describe a typical night? When do you normally go to bed at night, when do you get out of bed 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.
