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Thanks for sharing your curiosity and willingness to experiment, @Marjoe!
Drowsiness is going to show up eventually even if you are doing jumping jacks on a trampoline — however, it might take a bit longer if you choose to do that 😜
If your goal isn’t to make sleep happen (it’s just to experience wakefulness with less struggle and less resistance) then it doesn’t matter what you do.
What kind of ideas have you come up with so far?
—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 Thérèse and thanks for sharing that getting out of bed at 7:00 AM comes with the benefit of giving you your mornings back — what kind of things are you doing with that additional time that’s now available to you?
A sleep window isn’t supposed to make sleep happen or get rid of nighttime wakefulness because those things are out of your control. Sleep cannot be made to happen through effort and nighttime wakefulness cannot be eliminated through effort.
A sleep window is more about moving you away from chasing after sleep by doing things like going to bed earlier in an effort to make sleep happen or staying in bed later in an effort to make sleep happen.
A sleep window comes with some additional bonuses that can help set the stage for sleep, too (but there’s still no guarantees!). A consistent out of bed time helps to strengthen the body clock and ensures enough time for sleep pressure to build during the day.
Less time in bed also means less opportunity to struggle with being awake when you want to be asleep and more opportunity to engage in the world around you and do things that matter.
Does this 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.
Hypnic jerks are not unusual and are actually a sign that sleep is happening — they typically happen during the very first stage of sleep (N1 sleep).
How do you respond to them when they show up, Riinuska — and what are you learning from that response?
—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 superpowers of self-awareness and self-reflection are making themselves known!
Although you knew that sleep was out of your control, you weren’t aware that you were actually engaged in sleep efforts until you evaluated the goal behind your actions.
Your newfound awareness offered you the opportunity to change your approach 🙂
—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 what you’ve been learning so far, Andrew!
You’ve clearly found it helpful to implement a sleep window and not check the time during your sleep window. Through that action you eliminated a big source of anxiety (although that doesn’t mean anxiety is permanently deleted from your life!).
As you implement a new approach to sleep you are finding that thoughts and feelings like anxiety are starting to lose their power and influence over you. It also sounds as though there might be the occasional benefit to waking 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.
Thanks for sharing, Rachel!
Your problem-solving brain is still doing its job of looking out for you and generating some thoughts and feelings about sleep (thanks, brain!). And, even though those thoughts and feelings show up, you are still having the best run of sleep you’ve had in 18 months. What does that seem to suggest?
It also sounds as though you suspect your ongoing use of zopiclone when sleep doesn’t happen as (or when) you want it to might be reinforcing the idea that wakefulness is a threat that your brain needs to be alert to protect you from.
Acceptance of difficult thoughts and feelings (and wakefulness itself) is difficult and often requires a lot of ongoing practice.
Acceptance doesn’t mean that difficult thoughts and feelings (and wakefulness) stop showing up — it just means they don’t draw you into a struggle that consumes all your energy and attention. A struggle that might mean you engage in actions (or withdraw from actions) and get pulled away from the life you want to live.
With acceptance, all this difficult stuff starts to become more like water off a duck’s back. It doesn’t disappear forever, though because difficult stuff comes with living a rich and meaningful life.
—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 frustrating when you wake during the night — especially when it seems as though, no matter what you do, you cannot make yourself fall back to sleep.
You might want to revisit Week 2 of the course which really focuses on dealing with waking during the night.
You mentioned that you shouldn’t be fighting it — why is that important?
You also said you tried practicing the AWAKE exercise and it didn’t help. If the AWAKE exercise had helped, what would be different?
—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.
There’s your problem-solving brain doing its job of looking out for you again, Molly! What’s the best way to respond to that?
—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 are where you are now thanks to your superpowers of commitment, resilience, and determination.
You didn’t give up, even when things were difficult and confusing.
You kept moving forward with an open mind.
You continued to practice what you were learning.
You made change happen and you have a different relationship with sleep because of your own commitment to change.
I wish you all the best as you continue to move forward!
—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 the update! You don’t see insomnia as something that’s complex or complicated anymore and, with that clarity, you have a clear and workable way to respond if and when it shows up.
Your response keeps you away from an ongoing struggle and keeps you moving toward the life you want to live. As a result, insomnia loses its power and influence over your life and you gain insomnia independence 🙂
—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 body can sleep when natural light is present and the body can sleep even when thoughts and feelings (including anxiety) are present. Sleep can, however, become a lot more difficult when we put pressure on ourselves to make it happen or when we go to war with whatever thoughts and feelings might show up at night.
How do you currently respond to waking during the night and experiencing anxiety when you see natural light? What have you been learning from that?
—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! I am assuming you’ve been diagnosed with alpha-delta sleep (please correct me if I am wrong). There’s no need to share any specifics here if you would prefer not to, but have you been diagnosed with any other medical conditions such as pain disorders, depression, or an anxiety disorder?
How are you currently approaching sleep and responding to that daytime fatigue? What are you learning from those actions?
—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 must be very difficult to be going through what you are going through without having any clear answers or a specific diagnosis that helps explain why you can get a lot of sleep and still feel unrested.
Unfortunately, I do not believe that anyone here can offer a medical diagnosis (myself included). Home sleep testing might offer some additional insights, especially if done over a period of more than one night.
You are clearly a strong advocate for yourself and your strengths of problem-solving, determination, and resilience are shining through and are assets for you to draw from as you continue on your journey.
I wish you all the best.
—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 — you are not alone!
Your experience seems to tell you that difficult thoughts and feelings (such as worry) come from a good place — your problem-solving brain doing its job of looking out for you and reminding you of what’s important to you.
Your experience also seems to tell you that accepting the presence of difficult thoughts and feelings (such as worry) reduces their power and influence — they become more like water off a duck’s back rather than something that consumes all your energy and attention and can seem to take control over your actions in ways that pull you away from the life you want to live.
Might your experience with difficult thoughts and feelings offer any guidance for how to deal with sleep not happening as you’d like it to happen?
You mentioned that you’ve never struggled with sleep before. When you didn’t struggle with sleep, were you monitoring and evaluating your Fitbit’s interpretation of sleep with such intensity? Were you watching boring shows on your iPad to get to sleep? Were you spending as much time in bed? Were you taking antihistamines? Were you taking supplements and drinking herbal teas to make sleep happen?
—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.
A forum search for acupuncture shows it’s something a lot of people have tried — but it doesn’t seem to be an effective way to solve the insomnia struggle (which is often kept alive by all our attempts to get rid of 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.
