[Nao]

Thanks very much for your feedback, Martin.
I will continue to try to keep these things in mind!

[Nao]

Hi, I have the same issue. I think part of it for me is that I eat and drink water and a protein shake often late at night and close to bedtime. But even when I don’t drink a lot before bed, I find myself waking more often. When I do, my mind is often on high alert and I have anxiety. I often have to go to the bathroom too every time I wake up, or at least I feel like I might, so I go anyway. Even when my sleep has improved, this is still an issue. I’d love more advice and help on the frequent waking and the psychological anxiety that persists.

[Nao]

Thanks, guys. I’m definitely still tired after waking up after 5.5 hours or so. I slept well for 2.5 weeks or so and then not so well the last two nights (waking up early and not able to fall back sleep, trying SC once). It’s frustrating that I have had this pattern of several good weeks and then several bad nights. I try not to give in to anxiety/obsessive research on sleep/compensating for bad nights, but it’s hard to ignore the fatigue and tiredness when it happens, and I feel like I have several bad nights no matter what. I wish my bad nights didn’t often come in clumps…do others experience that?

[Nao]

Hi, thank you for your post. My problem has also almost always been sleep maintenance, i.e. I almost always fall asleep quickly no matter the time, then wake during the night and often have a hard time falling back asleep or staying asleep. I completed a course of CBT-I with Martin, going from a start of a 5.5 hour window to now an 8 hour window over a series of several months. My sleep improved most nights but I still have had many relapses, lasting from one day to now at least 5 days. It is very frustrating that I’m not fully “recovered,” and the bad nights and following days are very hard for me to tolerate. I am told that it is likely my anxiety that is the problem. I am still using CBT-I techniques to the best of my ability, although I do not implement them perfectly every night and day.

I know that CBT-I is considered the best treatment for insomnia and has overwhelming evidence of working for most people for decades, but I am discouraged and feel defeated by my own brain/anxiety/fears that still maintain my problematic sleep and make me afraid the relapses will just continue or get worse.

Any support/encouragement/suggestions is most welcome. Thanks.

[Nao]

Thanks for your responses, Karen and Steve.

Steve, good luck with the course if you do it! I recommend it for many reasons–Martin is more supportive, clear and communicative than other practitioners I have worked with, and his price is more reasonable for an 8-week course. The course did help me improve my sleep and my sleep thoughts and behaviors, but I still am having bad nights.

Karen, I know you are right that it is an ongoing process and I just need to keep using the simple tools I have learned. What is your current SR? The last several nights I have fallen asleep early without even realizing it was going to happen. When I have consecutive bad nights, it makes me very worried since I “should” be better now that I have graduated. It does help me to know I’m not the only one. What do you tell those anxious thoughts?

[Nao]

Thank you, Karen. Do you have several bad nights in a row, or are they intermittent? How do you stop the worrying and the bad thoughts during the day and at night? I’m trying to stick to my SR and SC too but I often fall asleep early at night by accident during my buffer zone time, which I know isn’t helpful. Not sure how to keep from doing that.

[Nao]

Hi, I was improving in the course overall with occasional bad nights still, but my sleep has gotten worse in week 7. I’m not sure if it’s the anxiety but it’s very frustrating, because this also happened to me when I tried CBT-I in August/September 2018. I had a lot of anxiety then and got panic attacks. I eventually quit at the time and resorted to meds, supplements, and stopped using the techniques.

[Nao]

Thank you for your responses. I don’t feel as refreshed as I’d like with this window, especially after a not great night and fragmented sleep. I worry if it’s not at least 5.5 hours. I also have anxiety and sleep anxiety, and take an ssri and see a cbt therapist for it. I also do a lot of mindfulness, yoga etc. to try to relax more.

I will likely also stay on as a grad student. I wish I were further along at this point and have a hard time not comparing myself to others who cure their insomnia much quicker than I am through CBT-i. What makes them succeed? Just when I think I’ve got it, I have some bad night(s) again.

[Nao]

Hi Martin and Karen,

Thank you so much for your responses, and Martin thank you so much for being a great coach and support system.

It is helpful to know that although each of us have insomnia that takes a slightly different shape and our paths may vary, we are not alone. I too had some great weeks and nights in this program, and then when I have successive nights of “worse” sleep after many weeks of doing this, I find it discouraging. We are supposed to graduate and be “cured” of insomnia in 4-8 weeks of CBT-I, no?

When I did CBT-I for the first time, last August, I ended with a sleep window of 7 hours and was consistently getting good sleep then, so I’m frustrated that I’m not there this time yet.

I’d like to hear from people who didn’t cure their insomnia by the end of this course but kept going with the protocol.

Thank you.

[Nao]

Thanks. Does it get harder the first week of srt ? What’s the average amount of time before people increase time in bed?

[Nao]

And how long does the whole sleep

restriction therapy usually last?

[Nao]

Thanks. During sleep restriction, how many days do the extreme fatigue/loopiness usually last?

[Author]

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