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I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your brother, Moyo. It is absolutely no surprise that such a tragic event had a negative effect on your sleep.
The good news is that no evidence exists to support the idea that chronic insomnia causes any health problem whatsoever. I spoke about this briefly in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoX04HJihNI
Can you tell us a bit more about your current sleep pattern? When do you go to bed, when do you get out of bed in the morning, and roughly how many hours of sleep are you getting on an 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.
Hello again, Alan. I wouldn’t come to the conclusion that you don’t have sleep apnea based on your unprescribed use of a CPAP machine since there are a number of variables involved when it comes to making effective use of CPAP (such as pressure settings, pressure variability, mask/interface fit, etc).
There is a helpful (and clinically validated) tool call the STOP-Bang that you can use to help assess sleep apnea risk — here’s a link:
http://www.stopbang.ca/osa/screening.php
I am in the US, but I’m a British expat so I know what you’re referring to when you talk about Deep Heat. I’m not sure that exact brand exists here, but a similar brand is Icy Hot.
When are you due to have your X-rays and MRI? Have you asked your doctor if they think your sleep issues could be caused by a head, neck, or back problem?
—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 Donna and welcome to the forum. What kind of sounds are waking you during the night? Have you tried any techniques to mask these sounds to help improve your sleep? Can you explain what you mean when you say that you are “so aware of your surroundings” in a bit more detail?
—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 melatonin is helping you, it’s entirely down to the placebo effect. The only evidence supporting melatonin use is some weak to moderate evidence that it can help with some circadian rhythm disorders — and insomnia is not a circadian rhythm disorder.
There are a number of additional reasons why melatonin is not an effective treatment for insomnia. In fact, I hope to record a video of this soon and I’ll put it on the YouTube channel when it’s ready.
If you think melatonin is working for you, by all means, stick with it — but try to avoid the temptation to attribute any success you have sleeping to the melatonin, because the melatonin pill is not what is making you 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.
Hello Steve and welcome to the forum.
CBT-I techniques are effective for people with chronic insomnia who take sleeping pills and they are effective for people with chronic insomnia who do not take sleeping pills.
To answer your question, yes — eventually you would have fallen asleep without pills. That’s because nobody can stay awake without sleeping at some point. Sleeping is a bit like breathing. Just as we can hold our breath, we can temporarily suspend sleep (usually due to worry about sleep). However, eventually, the body will take over and force us to sleep, just as it will take over and force us to breathe.
If you aren’t sleepy, then you probably aren’t going to sleep. However, it’s important to bear in mind that it is very easy to forget the cues of sleepiness when you have been living with insomnia for a long time and you have very high levels of arousal.
You might find this quick video I recently recorded to be helpful (check out the comments section, too):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjWdsuOsTt0
—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, Sailguy.
I can certainly offer you some guidance points, based on what you’ve shared.
First of all, I would recommend reserving the hour before the start of your sleep window as your buffer zone. When the buffer zone starts, you no longer check the clock until your alarm goes off in the morning and you only go to bed when you feel sleepy enough for sleep.
If you have to, remove or cover the clocks in your house and move your phone or alarm clock to the other side of your bedroom and turn the face away so you can’t see the time.
If you find that the radio helps you fall asleep, then that is fine (although not ideal). However, what I would suggest is seeing if you can run the radio on a timer so it switches off after a certain amount of time. That’s because the changes in volume that are typical during broadcast programming disrupt sleep and even if you aren’t consciously aware of this, this will be reducing your sleep quality and increasing the likelihood of nighttime awakenings. If you need some sound as a distraction, a white noise machine is usually a better option.
If you are taking Ambien and Restoril at 3:30 AM it is little surprise that you feel so lousy when you get out of bed at 7:00 AM. Did your prescribing physician offer you any guidance as to when to take these drugs?
Nothing you have described so far suggests that CBT-I would not be an effective option for you. Have you discussed CBT-I with your doctor?
—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.
Can you tell us a bit more about your sleep, Jax? Maybe we can share some tips or offer some guidance or even just some reassurance!
—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 spoken to your doctor about CBT-I to see if it would be an appropriate option for you?
People with chronic insomnia do not have a problem with melatonin production or regulation, so melatonin supplements are not an effective treatment for chronic insomnia. Furthermore, in the United States, the sale of melatonin is not regulated and research has found that many times the contents of the bottle are not the same as what is described on the label.
—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, CBT-I is unlikely to work for you because your sleep appears to be disrupted primarily due to shift work. Ultimately the best option is to seek alternative employment that doesn’t involve working night shifts. A very distant second option would be to seek the help of a sleep disorder specialist who may be able to help reduce the havoc that shift work has on the circadian system.
Here are a couple of resources on Shift Work Sleep Disorder (which, unlike insomnia, is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder):
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12146-shift-work-sleep-disorder
http://sleepeducation.org/essentials-in-sleep/shift-work/treatment
—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 lie down on your mattress during the day without the intention of sleep (for example, to read a book) do you still experience the same symptoms (muscle tightness, breathing issues, etc)?
How are you feeling during the day? Do you feel extremely sleepy? Do you ever feel as though you might involuntarily fall asleep (or has this actually happened)?
—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 your kind words about the forum, Edgar!
Sleep restriction works because it makes sure that sleep drive can build and reach a point that sleep becomes inevitable. However, sleep restriction doesn’t work if combined with naps, because naps reduce sleep pressure.
The body makes up for lost sleep itself (in other words, sleep becomes increasingly more likely the longer we go without sleep). Problems only tend to occur when we try to intervene and control sleep.
Usually, the best thing we can do is set the stage for sleep (for example by allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep and getting out of bed when we can’t sleep) but give up any attempt to control 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.
Hello Edgar. I am so sorry to hear about your ongoing struggles with sleep. It is no surprise that you are feeling very depressed and frustrated by these issues you are facing.
Waking during the night is actually not uncommon — so this, in itself, is not unusual. If you wake during the night and find it hard to fall back to sleep, then that is something that can be addressed and tackled.
When you do 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.
Welcome to the forum, Diesel! From what you’ve said, it looks as though you are allotting five-and-a-half hours for sleep at night, but only managing about four hours. Is that right?
If so, where are you ‘losing’ the additional one-and-a-half hours? Are you finding it hard to fall asleep at the start of the night, or do you wake during the night and find it hard 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, Sheila! @SleepWellAZ123 gave some good advice — when you wake during the night and find it hard to fall back to sleep, it’s usually a good idea to get out of bed until you feel sleepy again. The activity you choose doesn’t have to be boring, though.
It’s also important to make sure that you are allotting an appropriate amount of time for sleep (if you are spending too much time in bed you will spend a lot of time awake in bed), that you are always out of bed by the same time every day, and that you only go to bed when you feel sufficiently sleepy.
I hope this gives you some things to think about — let me know if I can be of any further 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 Louise. I am so sorry to hear about your husband’s accident. It is no surprise that your sleep has suffered as a result of this trauma and upheaval.
When you wake during the night with a racing mind, what kind of thoughts are putting your mind into overdrive? Are they about sleep, or something else?
According to the FDA (PDF), Phenergan can be useful for “the production of light sleep from which the patient can be easily aroused”. So, it might not be very helpful if your problem is waking during the night (and there is no evidence that antihistamines are an effective treatment for chronic insomnia).
How long have you been experiencing 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.
