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Welcome to the forum, Emily — and thank you for your post.
Sleep problems are very common among those with high levels of anxiety, so you certainly are NOT alone.
Has your husband told you that you snore regularly (and loudly)? Has he ever witnessed you gasping during the night or noticed that you temporarily stop breathing 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 spoken to your doctor about your concerns? Your doctor will be able to tell you if sleep disruption is a known side-effect of your medication and, if that’s the case, may be able to prescribe an alternative drug.
How are you determining the amount of sleep you are getting each night? Are you using a sleep tracker or keeping a sleep diary/log?
Other than your medication, what do you think is stopping you from falling asleep?
—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 not a fan of consumer sleep tracking devices for insomniacs or other people with poor sleep, mainly because they can increase sleep-related anxiety and make sleep more difficult! I’ve written more about this here:
Most cases of sleep problems are triggered by a specific event (it sounds as though you are able to identify yours). This is completely normal. However, what can happen then is we begin to pay far more attention to sleep than we did before and even implement certain behaviors (such as spending too much time in bed) in an attempt to improve our sleep that actually makes sleep more difficult.
Instead of sleep problems resolving themselves after the event has passed, sleep becomes more difficult because of this increased level of attention.
As sleep becomes more difficult, we become more worried about sleep and this makes sleep even more difficult. As I am sure you recognize, this easily turns into a vicious cycle of ever-increasing worry about sleep and less sleep.
Fortunately, this cycle can be broken using evidence-based cognitive and behavioral 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.
Although the fact you recently started a new job is increasing your anxiety about sleep, it shouldn’t affect your implementation of evidence-based techniques known to improve sleep. Calling in sick because of a poor night of sleep should never be an option anyway because when we do this, we are creating 2 additonal problems:
1. We are giving sleep far more importance than it deserves, which increases anxiety
2. We are teaching ourselves that we can’t have a good day if we have a bad night of sleepThe fact of the matter is, it is entirely possible to still have an OK (if not, a good) day after a night of bad sleep. When we call in sick or change our routine in response to a bad night of sleep, we train ourselves that a bad night of sleep will ALWAYS have a negative outcome because we aren’t giving ourselves the opportunity to experience a positive outcome.
Finally, when it comes to the panic and anxiety you feel as bedtime approaches — these feelings will subside as the techniques you implement to improve sleep begin to work. This takes time, though — so you need to be not only committed and dedicated, you need to be patient, too.
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.
It normally takes a couple of weeks before the effort and commitment required to follow an appropriate sleep schedule and practice stimulus control begin to pay off. Stay committed and, as long as you are following the techniques correctly, you will see results.
—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.
Tell us more about your sleep schedule. Do you typically go to bed at the same time each night? When do you normally go to bed? Are you napping 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.
Hello Karen. What time do you typically go to bed at night? Has your insomnia followed a similar pattern for the past few years?
—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 Claudi. You’ve had some good responses to your post. I would add one question — when does your partner tend to exercise? It’s best to avoid vigorous exercise too close to bedtime since this can make sleep more difficult.
—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.
Your worries are completely normal, Mark — and I am sure many people will be nodding their heads in agreement as they read your post. The fact you don’t wake up early in the morning on weekends suggests that your sleep issues are not likely to be caused by your withdrawal from SSRIs, but rather your stress and worry levels are activating your arousal system and making sleep more difficult.
Many people really struggle with sleep during the week then sleep a lot better on weekends. One reason for this is because they place more importance on sleep during the week because they worry about how a night of poor sleep will impact their daytime performance at work. Once this worry is removed (for example, on weekends), they sleep a lot better.
As for breaking this psychological hoodoo, you will likely find CBT-I techniques to be 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.
Elena — If you are spending all your days in bed, then you are not implementing CBT-I correctly. It is important to note that core CBT techniques such as sleep restriction and stimulus control are not intended to work on the first few nights. They are designed to work over time by breaking the association you have created between the bed and wakefulness, stress, worry, and anxiety. Because of this, it is essential that the techniques are implements consistently. This requires a significant amount of commitment and support. If you go through a course that doesn’t offer one-on-one, personalized support, it is a lot harder to stick with the techniques until you get to the stage where you see improvements in your sleep.
Mark — My Insomnia Coach course uses CBT techniques to improve sleep and graduates get great results.
Although I am not a doctor, I do hold a master’s degree in health and wellness education, I am a certified health education specialist and I am also certified in clinical sleep health. My credentials are recognized by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).
My course uses the same techniques as those implemented in face-to-face therapy sessions but at a significantly reduced cost.
—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 sharing those resources, Mark.
—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 can be very frustrating to deal with nights like these, Jemmie. It’s important to bear in mind that on nights of no sleep (or poor sleep), your sleep drive will increase. As long as you do nothing to reduce this sleep drive (like staying in bed for too long in the morning, napping during the day, or going to bed earlier), you are more likely to sleep on subsequent nights.
—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, CKT53. Did anything in particular happen a year or so ago to trigger your sleep issues? You mentioned that you have tried getting up to do something when you couldn’t sleep but it didn’t work. How long did you get up for, and did you repeat the process throughout the night, and during subsequent nights? Getting out of bed when you can’t sleep does work, but it takes a lot of commitment and consistency.
How do you know you are not getting any deep 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 JT2. Tell us a bit more about your sleep. What is a typical night like? When do you go to bed, when do you get out of bed, and roughly how many hours of sleep do you get each night? Can you trace your insomnia back to a specific time or event?
—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 post. I am sure there will be many people who read your post and immediately identify with the situation you are in and the frustration you feel.
First, please try to avoid using the computer/tablet/cellphone at times when you should be sleeping. Although they can serve as a welcome distraction from wakefulness, they can actually stimulate the mind and make sleep more difficult.
It is worth being reminded that even the best sleepers have the occasional bad night of sleep — so experiencing bad nights shouldn’t be something you dwell on or worry about. Instead, simply recognize that you had a bad night and treat the next night as a ‘fresh start’.
There is little point in analyzing why you may have had a bad night because even if you figure out the answer, it is unlikely you will be able to make any changes that lead to a different outcome. Remember that sleep cannot be controlled. All we can do is set the stage and hope the show goes off without a hitch.
Commit to the techniques you are learning and they will work. This is a key example of short-term pain for long-term gain. Over time, the good nights will become far more consistent and the bad nights will become far less common. Reaching that point does take 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.
