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Hello Wasan and thank you for sharing your experience with everyone. I am sorry to hear about your struggles with sleep. I think if you ask your boyfriend, your sleep issues are likely to be less disruptive to him than you think they might be.
If you had no social or work obligations and could go to bed at any time you wanted, and get out of bed at any time you wanted, do you think you’d still find it hard to sleep?
When do you go to bed now, and when are you getting out of bed to start your day? On an average night, how many hours of sleep would you say you’re getting?
—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, Feralcat. Sleep studies aren’t helpful for insomnia unless another sleep disorder (such as sleep apnea) is suspected. Did you talk to your doctor about CBT-I?
When do you normally go to bed at night, and when do you get out of bed in the morning to start your day? When you wake during the night, why do you think it is so difficult 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.
Welcome to the forum, and I am so sorry to hear about your ongoing issues with sleep. If you have chronic insomnia, medication is rarely (if ever) the answer. Certainly, medication is never a long-term solution for chronic insomnia.
What kinds of things do you think about when you can’t sleep? Are your racing thoughts only about sleep, or are other worries troubling you, too? Have you tried simply getting out of bed until you feel sleepy again, before going back to bed in order to prevent the endless tossing and turning throughout 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.
Prescription medication should only ever be taken as prescribed. Unless your doctor has suggested taking the medication contingently (based on how well you are sleeping on a night-by-night basis), then it’s rarely a good idea to do so — for a few reasons.
First, if you take medication contingently you are reinforcing the idea that you are unable to sleep without medication. So, whenever you have a bad night, instead of implementing techniques that will strengthen your natural biological propensity to sleep, you take a pill — and, when you sleep, you reinforce the idea that you would not have slept if you hadn’t taken that pill.
Second, if you take a pill and have a bad night of sleep, instead of recognizing that the pill was ineffective, it’s very easy to conclude that you are incapable of sleep (when this is not true).
Third, if you take a pill late in the night, you risk starting the day with a medication hangover and all the potentially dangerous side-effects that come with that. Furthermore, when you take hypnotics late in the night, you may start the day feeling very fatigued and lethargic. Instead of recognizing this as a symptom of the late-night use of sleeping pills, it’s all-too-easy to think this is a result of your insomnia — and this exacerbates sleep-related worry and anxiety and can lead to compensatory behaviors that make sleep worse.
—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 Penny. Unfortunately, changing your diet is unlikely to address chronic insomnia. You mentioned that you went through a six-week course of CBT-I but it didn’t help. Can you tell us more about that? I think exploring this further would likely provide a better avenue to explore 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.
This is a great discussion. What I will add is that it’s important not to change any prescribed medication regimen without talking to your prescribing physician first.
When it comes to the over-the-counter stuff, none of it is going to cure chronic insomnia.
Melatonin does not cure chronic insomnia, valerian does not cure chronic insomnia, and diphenhydramine does not cure chronic insomnia. In fact, the body builds a tolerance to diphenhydramine extremely quickly (in as little as three nights). So using diphenhydramine for longer than three nights has no effect and any perceived benefit is likely entirely down to the placebo effect.
—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’re welcome, Steve — keep us updated with your progress.
—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’s probably best to discuss your concerns with your doctor. At the same time, I would suggest asking him or her whether they feel you would be a good candidate for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on.
—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 hilarious — where did you find this?! If you wrote it yourself, let me know when your insomnia survival book is published!
—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 urge everyone to avoid changing their routine in order to accommodate insomnia whenever possible. That’s because when we change our life to accommodate sleep, we reinforce the idea that sleep can be controlled — when it can’t.
More importantly, though, is that when we change our lives because of poor sleep, we only ever give insomnia a bad outcome.
If we force ourselves to go into work after a bad night of sleep, the day may well feel more difficult — but, we may notice a few good moments during the day. If we call in sick and stay at home, we are guaranteed to have a bad day — because we will be inactive, spend more time thinking and worrying about sleep, we’ll be more inclined to nap and to spend more time in bed. These are all behaviors that make insomnia worse.
The best thing we can do is make as few changes to our lives as possible. Go out with friends. Go to work. Stay active (inactivity is a huge driver of fatigue — the worst symptom of insomnia). The more active you are, the less power you give insomnia, and the more opportunity you have to recognize that sleep may not be as important as you once thought.
When we live with insomnia for a long time, it’s very easy to blame every bad thing that happens in our lives and throughout the day on sleep — when, upon closer examination, we can often see that this isn’t always an accurate way of thinking.
—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 that you are finding it so difficult to fall back to sleep when you wake during the night. What do you think is stopping you from falling back to sleep when you wake?
—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, Barbie. What kind of ‘sleep deprivation’ program have you done? I am hoping you are not going to tell me that you tried sleep restriction (a core component of CBT-I) because that doesn’t involve depriving you of sleep (even though the terminology implies this).
Instead, it reduces the amount of time you spend in bed to more closely match the amount of time you spend asleep in order to consolidate sleep. This leads to better sleep quality and helps you relearn to associate the bed with sleep rather than wakefulness.
—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 Jcasey. Welcome to the forum and I am sorry to hear about the trouble you are having with sleep. The good news is, there are a few things I notice from your post that could be targeted to improve your sleep.
First of all, you mentioned that you are finding it difficult to nap during the day. This suggests you are trying to nap during the day. If you want to sleep at night, it’s best to avoid napping during the day since this reduces sleep drive.
It also sounds as though you sometimes go to bed before you are truly sleepy. In order to sleep well at night, it’s important you only go to bed when you feel sleepy enough for sleep.
Finally, it seems as though you have associated your bed with wakefulness and anxiety rather than sleep and relaxation — and this is to be expected when we consider the struggles you have faced when trying to sleep.
The best way to break this association and make the bed a strong trigger for sleep is to get out of bed when you can’t sleep. Then, when you feel sleepy again, get back into bed and repeat the process.
What kind of therapy has your doctor referred you to? I am hoping that it is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) because, from what you’ve said in your opening post, it sounds as though you’d be a great candidate and would respond very well to it.
—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 have high levels of arousal, it may well take longer than five days before you notice any change in your sleep. You wrote this post five days ago — are you still implementing sleep restriction and stimulus control? If so, it has been about ten days now. Any change or improvement yet?
—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.
Sleep is like breathing — we can suspend sleep (just as we can suspend breathing), but eventually, the body takes over and forces us to sleep (or breathe).
Chronic insomnia will not kill you. In fact, there is no evidence that chronic insomnia causes any health problem whatsoever. Yes, chronic insomnia feels awful and living with insomnia is not pleasant and it can make the day more difficult and have a very real negative effect on quality of life.
So, it’s important to take steps to get your sleep back on track. However, it’s not helpful to worry about insomnia leading to death — because it doesn’t. Your body will force you to sleep before there is any risk of you dying from sleep deprivation.
—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.
