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Thanks for the great questions!
You are absolutely correct — the sleep window is nothing more than the period in which you give sleep the opportunity to happen. Since people don’t usually fall asleep the moment they get into bed and stay asleep until the moment they get out out of bed, it will include some wakefulness.
As for feeling sleepy before the sleep window begins and then not sleepy when it does begin, that’s a common symptom associated with your mind firing up to “protect” you from wakefulness.
So, when there’s no concern about the possibility of experiencing insomnia (because it’s not time to go to bed) you feel sleepy. When it’s time to go to bed your brain fires up to protect you from the possibility of experiencing insomnia.
Unfortunately we cannot control the brain to make it switch off or stop trying to protect us (since that’s its main job)!
What we can do is train it that wakefulness isn’t a threat — and we can do that through actions such as practicing experiencing wakefulness with less struggle and putting less effort into sleep and putting less pressure on ourselves to sleep. We’ll explore this in a lot more detail from Week 2 onward.
In the meantime, you have a few options:
1. If your experience tells you that going to bed when your sleep window begins without a strong sense of sleepiness tends to make things difficult, you might want to wait until sleepiness shows up before going to bed.
2. If your experience tells you that going to bed when your sleep window begins without a strong sense of sleepiness doesn’t tend to make things difficult, feel free to go to bed as soon as your sleep window begins.
3. If you are finding it really hard to stay awake and you are within an hour or so of the sleep window starting, you might want to allow yourself to go to bed at that point (you might even want to stop checking the time an hour before your sleep window begins and allow yourself to go to bed whenever you feel ready to go to bed from that point on).
Ultimately, the sleep window is nothing more than a tool that can help us move away from chasing after sleep by doing things like going to bed earlier or staying in bed later. As you know from experience, the more we chase after sleep the more elusive it often becomes!
And yes, every minute of wakefulness build sleep pressure 🙂
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.
That sounds as though it would be a good sleep window to start with, Teresa!
—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 Sophie! I’ve moved your post into the client forum so it might be a bit more visible to others working through the course.
Has sleeping separately from your partner solved all your issues with sleep and moved you closer to the life you want to live? If yes, why change? If not, why continue to sleep separately?
Sometimes when we do things that we’d rather not do in an attempt to fight or avoid things our experience tells us can’t be directly or permanently controlled we can end up making things more difficult because the things we’re trying to avoid will often still turn up anyway.
Then, when they turn up they’re serving no purpose whatsoever compared to when they show up when we do things that matter to us.
As always, you are the expert on you! I know we’ve also communicated privately about this so hopefully others might chime in here, too!
—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’d suggest going with whatever works for you, GenieB! Many people find that setting an alarm is helpful since it is one less thing to have to think or worry about — the alarm is set and you know you’ll be awake when your sleep window ends. Fewer “mental gymnastics” 😉
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.
Hello Howard!
The sleep window should usually start and end at the same time — but that doesn’t mean you will go to bed (or fall asleep) when it starts. The start of your sleep window is simply an “earliest possible” bedtime — it’s perfectly fine (and probably quite normal!) to go to bed after it begins!
What can be helpful is sticking to the end of the sleep window — getting out of bed by the end of your sleep window each day, regardless of when you went to bed or how you slept.
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.
Great question, Sergii — and @otilona has a great answer!
This is taken from the lesson “Sleep Window Questions“:
How do I track my sleep? Do I need to fill out a sleep diary or use a sleep tracking device?
You’ll notice that there are no sleep diaries or sleep tracker recommendations in this course. And, that’s intentional!
A 2018 study split people with insomnia into two groups. Sleep quality and duration was the same in both groups. One group was told they had a poor night’s sleep and the other group was told they had a good night of sleep.
Now remember that sleep quality and duration was the same for both groups. And yet, those in the group who were told they had a poor night of sleep showed lower mood, increased sleepiness, and had difficulty with daytime thinking processes.
Those who were told they had a good night of sleep showed the opposite!
Furthermore, we still don’t know how accurate sleep trackers are for people with chronic insomnia — they can underestimate deep sleep and overestimate light sleep, leading us to believe that our sleep is shallower that it might actually be.
So, if you’ve been using a sleep diary or a sleep tracking device, I’d encourage you to reflect on whether this has helped you shift attention away from sleep.
If it has not, it might be worth setting up an experiment — even if only for a week — to stop filling out a sleep diary or to stop using a sleep tracking device (unless recommended by your doctor or other licensed healthcare provider) and see what effect that has on your relationship with sleep.
I’d also add that there’s really nothing we can do with sleep tracking information since we cannot control sleep (if we could, you wouldn’t be here!) — so why bother, especially when it can have such a strong influence on how we evaluate our sleep and how we might go about our days.
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.
It sounds as though you are struggling a bit less with anger and frustration when you are awake at night — thanks for sharing that!
Since relaxation is a feeling (along with feeling calm) and both are things that happen inside of us and are, therefore, out of our control, perhaps trying to make yourself feel calm or relaxed could set you up for a bit of a struggle since if you are unable to make calmness or relaxation happen you might be tempted to be a bit hard on yourself. That tends not to make us feel any better and it might also make it a bit harder for sleep to happen, too!
An alternative approach might involve allowing yourself to think and feel whatever you think and feel? To give those things permission to come and go. To hold your thoughts and feelings a little more lightly — to practice observing them rather than trying to control them. And, as always, to be kind to yourself when things feel 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.
You’ve got it, Kevin — you are the expert on you 🙂
Feel free to get out of bed if you like, but it’s not “required”. What matters is building skill in experiencing wakefulness with less struggle.
It’s good to have you here.
—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.
Great to hear you’re finding the course helpful, Sergii!
It makes sense that your mind is going to generate a lot of resistance in connection to implementing a sleep window — after all, it’s so familiar with chasing after sleep for 12 hours that feels like a far safer option to continue with!
And yet, even with that, you’ve still managed to reduce the amount of time you allot for sleep down to eight hours — that’s a big change to make! What have you learned from making that change?
It also makes sense that you experience some fear when you think about having a consistent out of bed time in the morning. Have you found that, by not having a consistent out of bed time, you never experience the human emotion of fear? It’s permanently deleted from your mind and never shows up, ever? If not, perhaps engaging in actions in an effort to avoid fear might not be a workable strategy.
You might also want to ask yourself how having an inconsistent out of bed time has helped you up to now — has it been moving you closer to where you want to be? Has it been helping you be the person you want to be or live the life you want to live?
If it has, no need to change anything! If not, perhaps it might be worth making this change (even if only for a trial period of a week or two) even though you might experience some fear (and maybe even a little less sleep at first)?
Finally, since you mentioned that you tend to struggle more with waking before you’d like to, I’m curious to know if you’ve been able to get any practice in with the AWAKE exercise and what that’s been like for you?
PS: If your body needs x hours of sleep, it will generate x hours of sleep — things often become more difficult when we put pressure on ourselves to make x hours of sleep happen, since our experience usually tells us that’s out of our control 🙂
—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.
That frustration can be really difficult to experience. When you say the frustrated part takes over, can you describe that in a bit more detail? When frustration takes over, what happens?
You’re right that it can be really hard to get through the day without any sleep — and yet, you have a 100% success rate of getting through the day. Your experience shows that you are resilient and that you are capable.
You mentioned that you know you’re supposed to tell your brain it’s OK to stay awake all night and perhaps that might be creating some struggle since that implies that you might be trying to control what you are thinking or feeling — something that often creates more struggle, not less.
What might be more helpful is acknowledging wakefulness when it shows up and acknowledging your thoughts and feelings when they show up — and being kind to yourself and continuing to do things that matter.
Finally, you mentioned that you already knew about (and were practicing) the steps outlined in the AWAKE exercise — can you tell us a bit more about how you’re practicing that (or your version of it)? What steps do you follow and what’s your goal — if/when it works, what happens?
—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, I cannot see into the future — if I could, I’d be a lottery winner by now!
Ultimately we cannot control what happens in the future, or what happened in the past. We can only control what we do right now. This very moment. This specific second. That’s it.
If you feel more comfortable sleeping on the recliner sofa and that isn’t an action that you’d rather not be doing then there’s no need to feel guilty or bad about doing that — you are the expert on you, after all!
All I would say is that the body can sleep anywhere — it just needs to be awake for long enough and sleep is always more likely to happen when there’s no effort to make it happen.
Remember, too, that waking during the night is a normal part of 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.
The body can sleep regardless of the temperature — this is one of those things that we tend to see included in “sleep hygiene” lists of additional rules and rituals that are known not help people with chronic insomnia 🙂
Of course, it helps to feel comfortable — and I suspect that’s as far as we need to take it. No need to monitor or adjust temperatures to specific degrees!
—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.
Those “speed bumps” can be really difficult to experience — and, as others have shared here, are totally natural and normal. Have you been able to practice any form of self-kindness when they show up?
Ultimately, they are out of your control — they aren’t your fault and you cannot fight or avoid them through effort. So, please be kind to yourself and perhaps see them as an opportunity to practice what you are learning here.
—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.
Yes, it’s possible to overcome a sickness like the flu or covid while dealing with insomnia.
Insomnia isn’t really a sleep problem since people with insomnia still sleep and haven’t lost their biological ability to sleep.
Really, insomnia is a struggle problem — the more we struggle with sleep (and the thoughts and feelings that often show up when we are struggling with sleep), the more difficult everything can become.
Even if someone is living with the worst insomnia imaginable, their body will still generate — at the very least — the minimum amount of sleep it needs.
—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.
Glad to hear the podcast is proving helpful!
The human brain is a thought generating machine — it pumps out thought after thought after thought. Some are helpful. Some aren’t. Some are important. Some aren’t. Some feel good. Some don’t.
Thoughts are snippets of information that your mind is generating as it does its job of looking out for you. Your experience probably tells you that you cannot control those thoughts (not permanently, at least) — but you always get to choose how you respond.
Typically there are two ways to respond:
1. You can try to fight or avoid those thoughts. How workable is that, according to your own experience?
2. You can practice acknowledging those thoughts and allow them to come and go as they choose. Perhaps, with ongoing practice, that might reduce their power and influence since they might end up creating less of a struggle?
—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.
