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I’m a client of Martin’s and he said the minimum should be 5.5 hours. So it sounds like you’re not getting enough. Are you going to get off Ambien? When I used it years ago it knocked me out right way but I was groggy when I woke up even after plenty of sleep. I eventually threw out the pills because I didn’t like being dependent on them.
You’re right, it’s 5.25 hours. I can’t add. So it sounds like at least you’re consistently getting 6 hours of sleep. Is this more consistency than what you had before you started working this program? If so, then it makes sense that eventually you will start getting more confidence.
Sorry you had a bad night, Mac, although over 5 1/2 hours of sleep doesn’t sound so bad. I’ve been surviving on the 6 hours. I’m always tired when I get up though because it’s not enough sleep for me, but it’s not too bad. I can basically make it though the day just fine. Sometimes I take my 20 minute power nap to help. I’m usually always really ready for bed at 12:00.
I wonder if more consistency might work better for you, Mac, where you go to bed and get up at the same time everyday. A lot of my worry has gone away because of the consistency. I just know that I have to wait until 12 to go to bed no matter what. And I have to get up at 6:00 no matter what. So I don’t think about it anymore. It seems to be working. I slept through the night again last night.
I really hope you guys can hire Martin or someone to help you do CBT-I. I’ve been on his program now for a few weeks and I’m getting so much better. Out of 18 days, I only have had 4 bad nights. Much better than before I started the program when most of the nights were bad with an occasional reprieve of a day or two now and then. Drugs or alcohol aren’t the answer. You don’t have to continue to suffer, but you will if you don’t get help. Bite the bullet and spend the $70 per week to start recovering and getting your life back.
I felt pretty pathetic too, with my “stupid” sleep problem. It started last October during some stress. For two months I tried pills, relaxation CDs, hypnotism, etc., but nothing worked. I was miserable and feeling hopeless. I finally learned that insomnia is caused by anxiety. It is a learned condition, where we learn to associate going to bed with anxiety. Therefore, insomnia needs to be unlearned. The treatment for this is CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia) which reverses the negative conditioning. It’s not easy to do so I suggest hiring Martin Reed or a cognitive behavioral therapist who knows how to do this specialized treatment for insomnia.
Get off the pills if you can because they are only prolonging the struggle. The longer you go without proper treatment the stronger the association between going to bed and anxiety is growing, making it more difficult to recover. I started working with Martin a few weeks ago and I’m finally getting better.
Here’s a couple of good books that might help you as well:
The Effortless Sleep Method by Sasha Stephens
End the Insomnia Struggle by Colleen Ehrnstrom
Last night at 12:00 I couldn’t believe that I wasn’t nodding off like I usually am by that time. I did what you said, Mac, and waited until I was really drowsy, which was around 12:30. I hated to cut into my sleep window of only 6 hours, but at least I fell asleep right away.
I think I made a few mistakes that contributed to my not being ready to sleep. In the evening I laid down with the cat for about 20 minutes and maybe nodded off for a few minutes. Or maybe it was the 6 oz of Pepsi at around 3:00. That hasn’t been a problem before. It’s not that much caffeine. But probably the main culprit was this darn computer that I stayed on until 11:30. Too stimulating. Got to make sure to put it down at least an hour before bedtime. I hate that there is no room for error in these early stages.
I don’t know. Maybe ask Martin Reed. He should know since he’s worked with a lot of people. You can email him and ask him if he’s worked with any people like you.
Would definitely be worth a try though, don’t you think? Rather than staying like this the rest of your life.
I don’t experience what you’re going through, but if I were you I would definitely get help for your anxiety, because that’s contributing to the paranoia and staying in the house all the time and not having a life, which is not normal or healthy.
Having said that, if you keep up what you’re doing regarding your sleep patterns, you are going to create a huge, huge problem for yourself down the road when you can no longer sleep when you want to or really need to. That’s what this forum is for – those of us who are suffering from insomnia, which is really miserable and hard to overcome. So focus on good sleep hygiene as well as healing your anxiety, if you don’t want to find yourself in even more trouble down the road. Take care.
Make sure your CBT therapist is trained in CBT-I, which is specifically for insomnia. Otherwise, you’ll probably be wasting your time. CBT-I is very specific and probably most therapists have never even heard of it. I know I didn’t. Since I don’t live in a large city, I figured I probably wouldn’t even find a CBT-I therapist here, so I looked online where I found this website and hired Martin. I’m finally starting to get better.
I slept like a baby for many years, being able to take sleep for granted. Then the insomnia hit last October when I was going through the stress of healing from a surgery. Before I knew it, the insomnia started taking over my life. Very scary. For the first couple months I tried different things like pills, relaxation CDs, hypnotism, sleeping in different rooms, etc., but nothing was working. Finally I realized that insomnia is a learned condition, where we learn to associate going to bed with anxiety. So insomnia needs to be unlearned and CBT-I focuses on this. Get the treatment soon, because the more time goes by, the more the anxiety and fears associated with bedtime and sleep are strengthening, and the harder it is to recover.
Here’s a couple good books to help you understand what’s going on and to give you hope for recovery:
The Effortless Sleep Method by Sasha Stephens
End the Insomnia Struggle by Colleen Ehrnstrom
You need CBT-I, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. It is a very specialized type of therapy and there is an explanation of it on this site. It’s not easy to do though, so it’s best to hire a therapist trained in this or Martin Reed, who created this website. He’s worked with people who have had insomnia for up to 30 years. My insomnia started in October and after two months I couldn’t take it any longer and hired Martin. I’m starting to get better now.
Pills are just a distraction and will not help you. In the long run, they hurt you. This is because insomnia is a learned condition, where we learn to associate going to bed with anxiety. Insomnia needs to be unlearned. But the longer you rely on pills and go without the necessary therapy, the longer you are strengthening the association between going to bed and anxiety.
Here’s a couple of good books to help you get started on educating yourself about insomnia and what can be done about it:
The Effortless Sleep Method by Sasha Stephens
End the Insomnia Struggle by Colleen Ehrnstrom
You need CBT-I, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. It is a very specialized type of therapy and there is an explanation of it on this site. It’s not easy to do though, so it’s best to hire a therapist trained in this or Martin Reed, who created this website. He’s worked with people who have had insomnia for up to 30 years. My insomnia started last October and after two months I couldn’t take it any longer and hired Martin. I’m starting to get better now. I was scared like you, too. Insomnia is very scary because it feels like you have no control over it and it’s taking over your life. It’s extremely lonely too when you’re awake late at night knowing that everyone else is sleeping.
After trying several different things to try to get some sleep (sleeping pills, relaxation CDs, hypnotism, sleeping in different rooms, etc.) I finally learned that insomnia is caused by anxiety/fear. It is a learned condition, where we learn to associate going to bed with anxiety/fear. Therefore, insomnia needs to be unlearned and cognitive behavior therapy focuses on this.
Here’s a couple of good books to help you get started on educating yourself about insomnia and what can be done about it:
The Effortless Sleep Method by Sasha Stephens
End the Insomnia Struggle by Colleen Ehrnstrom
There’s hope for your struggle and it’s definitely not too late! Educate yourself and then please get the help that you need. This will give you back your life.
Wow! What a journey you’ve been on, and painful one at that. I’m “lucky” because it was only 2 months of trying different things before I read about SC in a library book and finally, like you, realized that fear/anxiety caused the insomnia and was perpetuating it. So I had to do something about the fear/anxiety. No sleeping pill, natural supplement, relaxation CD, or hypnotist was going to help me with that. That’s when I started researching SC online and looking for a therapist to help me implement this.
Its great that you finally found the determination, discipline and structure you need to do this work now. It’s better to learn on a daily basis how to deal with the fear and keep going, than to just keep the fear at bay for the weeks during your good phases. This learning will then stick with you.
Mac – I was wondering. Do you feel like since you’ve started SR, you’re getting better overall? Do you keep a sleep log so you can track your overall progress? I’ve been on SR now for 16 days and overall I’m much better than the wreck I was a few weeks ago, with sleeping all over the place (and all over the house) and my anxiety sky high. For myself it helps to look back over the log and see how I’ve improved. Out of the 16 nights of SR, I’ve only had 3 or 4 bad nights. This is a huge improvement over before when basically I was having bad nights most of the time with the occasional reprieve of a couple days. I’m actually writing this for myself as well, to remind myself of my progress when I have a bad night like that a couple days ago.
You need CBT-I, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. It is a very specialized type of therapy and there is an explanation of it on this site. It’s not easy to do so it’s best to hire a therapist trained in this or Martin Reed, who created this website. He’s worked with people who have had insomnia up to 30 years. My insomnia started in October and after two months I couldn’t take it any longer and hired Martin. I’m starting to get better.
Pills are just a distraction and will not help you. In the long run, they hurt you. This is because insomnia is a learned condition, where we learn to associate going to bed with anxiety. Insomnia needs to be unlearned. But the longer you rely on pills and go without the necessary therapy, the longer you are strengthening the association between going to bed and anxiety.
Here’s a couple of good books to help you get started on educating yourself about insomnia and what can be done about it:
The Effortless Sleep Method by Sasha Stephens
End the Insomnia Struggle by Colleen Ehrnstrom
