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Hello Emma and welcome to the forum. Your story is actually not all that unusual (as suggested by Steve). Sleep disruption is completely normal when we experience a life-changing event or trauma. What you experienced definitely qualifies as both!
Sleep usually recovers once we “get over” or “get used to” whatever the initial trigger was (some other examples might be moving house, changing job, getting married, losing a friend or family member, getting divorced, having a child, etc).
However, sometimes we become very concerned about this sleep disruption even though it’s completely normal because — after all — we rarely (if ever) struggled with sleep before.
When we worry about sleep, we make sleep more difficult. Then, when sleep becomes more difficult, we often implement behaviors to try to improve our sleep or compensate for lost sleep. This can include things like:
- Canceling plans with friends
- Calling in sick to work
- Trying to conserve energy
- Going to bed earlier
- Napping during the day
- Staying in bed later
- Developing sleep rituals
Unfortunately, all these behaviors make sleep worse — and, before we know it, we are perpetuating the sleep issue and this can trigger a vicious cycle of increasing worry and anxiety about sleep, more compensatory behaviors, and worse sleep.
The good news is, you have caught your insomnia relatively early — so it will be easier for you to tackle and get your sleep back on track if you take action sooner rather than later.
It sounds to me as though you would be a good candidate for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia — have you discussed this with your doctor by any chance?
—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’m sorry to hear about your struggles with sleep, Jordan. Do you have any idea what causes these frequent nighttime awakenings? How do you feel during the day? Have you ever fallen asleep without warning or felt yourself drifting off to sleep when sedentary or inactive during the 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 am sorry to hear about your lengthy struggles with insomnia, Kosh62 — but please know that you are still capable of sleep and that your natural ability to sleep has not gone away.
You mentioned that you have tried a number of different remedies and techniques. Have you tried 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 Atkinl and welcome to the forum. What sleeping pills were you taking and for how long? Can you tell us a bit more about your current sleep pattern? When do you go to bed at night, when do you get out of bed to start the day in the morning, and roughly how many hours of sleep do you think 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 warrior (what an apt choice of username!) and welcome to the forum. Thank you for sharing your story and I am sorry to hear about your struggles with sleep.
I see a lot in your post that is quite positive and this makes me feel confident that you will get your sleep back on track. It definitely seems to me as though you are making progress.
You have noticed that CBT is helping but you mentioned that sleep restriction wasn’t helpful — what kind of sleep window were you following when you experienced difficulty implementing that technique? Are you following any kind of sleep window now?
A broken ankle and the discomfort and the trauma associated with this is always going to disrupt sleep, regardless of your sleep history. So, it’s important to recognize sleep disruption that stemmed from this injury as being nothing out-of-the-ordinary.
You also mentioned that, even with the associated pain, you noticed a couple of nights where you got almost a full night of sleep. This is great news because it shows that you are still capable of getting that full night of sleep, it’s just a matter of making those full nights of sleep more common.
Are you currently using a CPAP machine for your sleep apnea?
It really sounds as though you are on the right track and that your sleep is going to improve as you continue implementing the CBT-I techniques you are learning.
—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 struggle with sleep. What do you think caused your muscle pain? Sleep deprivation doesn’t usually lead to muscle pain and soreness so this is probably being caused by something other than sleep (or lack of it). Have you sought medical advice for your sleep or your muscle pain?
—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 Lissy and welcome to the forum. Thank you for sharing your story. I am so sorry to hear about your ongoing struggle with sleep. Suicide is never the answer and I urge you to talk to someone if you ever have suicidal thoughts or feelings:
http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html
You mentioned that you started CBT three weeks ago. This is great to hear. Is it CBT for insomnia or generalized CBT? When you wake during the night, what do you think is stopping you from falling 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.
Falling asleep in 30 to 45 minutes isn’t too bad at all — a healthy sleeper will typically take between 10-30 minutes to fall asleep, so you were not far away from that.
I can’t recall if you’ve mentioned this before, but have you been assessed for sleep apnea or been told that you snore loudly during 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.
Have you asked your doctor whether they think CBT-I might be a good option for you?
—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 told your friends and family about your current difficulties with sleep yet, @Christine? As @delv-x mentioned, it’s usually a good idea to try staying social and sticking to plans rather than canceling them.
That’s because when we cancel plans or rearrange our lives around our sleep, the implication is that we can control our sleep by conserving energy or staying home. Unfortunately, that is not the case — rather, when we cancel plans and stay home we end up feeling more fatigued (due to inactivity) and we are guaranteeing that our bad night(s) of sleep will only ever have a bad outcome.
When we stay home, we are more likely to be inactive, more likely to think about sleep, more likely to worry about sleep, more likely to nap or try to sleep, and more likely to spend additional time in bed. All this leads to more worry and anxiety about sleep and perpetuates the problem.
If you continue to socialize and stay active, you are also far more likely to enjoy some good moments (even after a bad night of sleep) — and this can be a great reminder that the quality of our day isn’t always entirely dependent on the quality of our 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.
You make an excellent point, Edgar.
The diagnostic criteria for chronic insomnia make no mention of sleep duration. Instead, the criteria refer to subjective difficulty falling asleep/staying asleep/poor daytime function.
No mention is made about sleep duration in diagnostic guidelines because sleep requirements vary from person to person (and sleep quality is often more important than sleep quantity).
—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 sleepybre and welcome to the forum.
The TV can certainly serve as a good distraction, but if you are sleeping in front of the TV throughout the entire night, your sleep quality might not be as good as it would be without the TV on.
Since you are watching TV at night to help you sleep this suggests that you are either watching TV in bed, or you are falling asleep on the couch. Unfortunately, both of these strategies are not ideal if the long-term aim is to reduce your reliance on the TV as a sleep aid and to help you associate the bed with sleep.
Do you remember what triggered your nighttime anxiety? Was there a specific event, or do you think this came about as a result of repeated bad experiences trying to sleep at 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.
The problem with sleeping pills is this — when we take them (even for the short-term), every time we sleep we attribute that ‘success’ to the pills, rather than our own ability to sleep.
This can lead to an increasingly strong belief that we aren’t capable of sleeping without the pills, which can make it difficult to regain confidence in our ability to sleep and this often means sleep issues will return as soon as we try to stop taking the pills.
Have you looked into CBT-I, as suggested by @Christine?
—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 sounds as though you are on track and making progress, Steve. You might be finding it harder to fall asleep at night because of conditioned arousal. How did you first CBT-I appointment go?
That’s a great suggestion, Slimon — I do actually have my clients record the quality of their sleep on a 1-5 scale every day since this is a great way of assessing sleep rather than looking solely at sleep duration and time spent awake during 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.
Hello Wasan. The reason I asked about how you think you’d sleep if you didn’t have any commitments during the day was to figure out if your sleep issues are due to a circadian rhythm issue. For example, some people may think they have insomnia because they can’t fall asleep until very late in the night — but if they have days off work and don’t try sleeping earlier than normal and waking at a time to start work they sleep just fine. This would suggest that a circadian rhythm disorder such as delayed sleep phase syndrome may be behind the sleep problems.
You mentioned that you go to bed at 10:00 PM — are you feeling sleepy and ready for sleep at that 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.
