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Hello Dijimena and welcome to the forum.
It sounds as though you’ve found that taking ever-stronger doses of medication isn’t a strategy that’s proving to be effective for you. Have you discussed ways you might be able to move away from medication with your doctor?
There are plenty of success stories on the Insomnia Coach podcast of people who moved away from medication.
You are not alone!
—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 yet to meet anyone who has been able to directly and permanently make themselves wake at a certain time through effort — perhaps it’s that goal that might be creating a bit of a struggle, jts?
—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 difficult, Vonny.
First, it can be helpful to know that waking during the night is a normal part of sleep. What can often make falling back to sleep more difficult is… trying to fall back to sleep — because sleep doesn’t usually respond well to effort.
If we try to make sleep happen, we can start to worry (which is normal) when it doesn’t happen. So then, we can start trying even harder to make sleep happen and we can also start trying to fight or avoid worry — or any other of the natural and normal human thoughts and feelings that can show up when things are difficult.
Before long, we can end up feeling well and truly stuck. And, because the brain’s main job is to look out for us, it’s going to generate even more thoughts and feelings about this — which can make things more difficult and create a distraction during the day, too.
So, now we can see how we might have got to this place of “stuckness” — perhaps the way out of it is to backtrack a little?
* To move away from putting effort into sleep, to move away from trying to fall back to sleep when we wake at night. An alternative might be to do something more appealing at night whenever you find yourself struggling. Not with the goal of making sleep happen, but with the goal of building skill in experiencing wakefulness with a bit less struggle.
* To move away from trying to fight or avoid certain thoughts and feelings. An alternative might be to acknowledge them, make space for them, allow them to come and go. To be kind to yourself when things feel difficult. To refocus your attention on where you are, what you’re doing (and also perhaps what you could be doing).
I hope there’s something useful 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.
There’s always hope and tapering is always possible! You might want to check out the Insomnia Coach podcast since many people there were once taking medication (often for many years). As always, it’s important to discuss any potential changes to medication with your doctor first.
—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 probably feel unsure how to repeat the result you described because, ultimately, you cannot — not through effort, at least! That’s because sleep doesn’t respond well to effort — it cannot be directly or permanently controlled.
For the best conditions for sleep, there needs to be enough sleep drive (we need to have been awake for long enough) and there needs to be an absence of effort to make sleep happen.
If there’s insufficient sleep drive or there’s too much effort being put into sleep, conditions are good for a struggle to happen.
As for the supplements — the human body doesn’t require any supplements to generate sleep. Perhaps supplements might be one of those “efforts” that can end up making things more difficult?
I hope there’s something useful 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.
Welcome to the forum!
Sleep efficiency probably doesn’t matter all that much.
We can live a rich and meaningful life whether our sleep efficiency is 20%, 50%, 80%, or 90%. When we focus a lot on sleep we can get a bit distracted from life, the world around us, and doing what matters — and we can also set ourselves up for a bit of a struggle since sleep itself cannot be directly or permanently controlled.
Sleep restriction is intended to help us move away from the struggle that’s created by chasing after sleep. If it’s used in an attempt to create a certain amount (or type) of sleep, it can actually backfire and create more 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.
It makes complete sense that you’d feel scared of getting sick and not being able to sleep then dying — that’s your brain doing its job of looking out for you. It’s always going to generate the “worst possible outcome” stories in order to get your attention!
You might very well get sick while dealing with insomnia — you might get a cold, for example. However, there’s no evidence that insomnia causes any sickness or any health problem whatsoever.
Furthermore, as you have experienced for yourself, sleep always happens in the end. The longer we are awake, the more likely sleep is to happen.
And, it’s also possible to still be a good parent — even with insomnia and even in the presence of difficult thoughts and feelings. So, please try to be kind to yourself, 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.
Five years of struggle is really tough. It sounds as though your experience might be telling you that trying to distract your brain or trying to fight/avoid certain thoughts isn’t proving to be an effective strategy. If that’s the case, how is that strategy currently helping you?
How might things be different if you didn’t put quite so much energy and effort into trying to control your brain?
—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 glad to know you found the free sleep training for insomnia emails helpful!
I’m interested to know how you define difficult days that show up after you’ve had a run of good days. Do you call those difficult days relapses, too? If not, why not?
If you slept right through until your alarm went off, what would you then be able to do that you are unable to do when you wake before your alarm goes off? Perhaps by figuring out why minimizing that time awake feels important to you, some insights as to why there might be a bit of a struggle could reveal themselves!
—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 so glad to know you’re finding this stuff helpful, Gemini!
If you felt refreshed, what would you then be able to do that you are unable to do when do don’t feel refreshed?
Do you feel there’s any possibility that focusing on trying to eliminate the feeling of fatigue or attracting the feeling of “refreshed” (hmmm is that grammatically correct?) might be setting you up for a bit of a struggle?
I am yet to meet someone who has direct or permanent control over their feelings — yet everyone I’ve met can control their 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.
Yes. It is tough.
I admire your commitment and tenacity, sticking with sleep restriction for five weeks! What time does your sleep window begin, when does it end, and how did you choose those times?
Sleep restriction is just one tool that can help us move away from chasing after sleep — by itself it might not address the struggle that often keeps insomnia alive.
Are you implementing any other changes other than sleep restriction? Are you continuing to do things (no matter how small) that matter to you, regardless of how you sleep? Are you practicing responding to nighttime wakefulness not by battling with it, but by building skill in experiencing it with less 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.
That can be frustrating! Luckily, you can still do the nice things you have planned, even if you don’t sleep the night before (even though it might be more difficult to do that).
And the more you continue to do the things that matter, independently of sleep, perhaps the less pressure you might put on yourself to get a certain amount or type of sleep. And, with less pressure, perhaps there might be less effort and less struggle.
With an absence of effort and struggle, how might things 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.
The body will always generate “adequate” sleep 😉
What’s probably most important with a sleep window is going to bed when you feel ready to go to bed (not because you’re chasing after sleep) and keeping a relatively consistent out of bed time in the morning.
If you start putting a lot of focus on the sleep window, it has the potential to be another “thing” that can end up creating more 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.
It sounds as though you learned that Somulin cannot generate sleep — if it could, you would have slept after taking it, right? With that in mind, perhaps even the difficult nights can bring valuable insights and, therefore, have some value!
—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 Ginte — sleep always happens once we’ve been awake for long enough, no matter how anxious we might feel. And, there’s no evidence that chronic insomnia causes any health problem whatsoever.
As @Time4sumaction shared, often the real struggle comes from all our attempts to fight or avoid insomnia (and the anxiety that can often come with it). The more we try, the more difficult it becomes.
When there’s less struggle, when we aren’t trying quite so hard to fight or avoid wakefulness or certain thoughts and feelings, they can start to lose their power and influence over us. And, when we aren’t going to war with invisible “enemies” at night, sleep might — as a bonus — be more likely to show up, 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.
