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Thanks. I have to remind myself that within the last 10 nights, 7 nights I slept all night! So I am getting better. Yes, it’s a test, especially to see if I can do SC and not get discouraged. I’m taking the long-haul view. I remember looking at the account of the guy who had insomnia for 10 years. https://insomniacoach.com/forums/topic/you-can-do-it He said it took 4 weeks before he was averaging 6 hours a night.
Yes, I will get up. It’s hard, but I have to do it.
Yes! Sorry to have to advise you to make yourself more tired, but if it works it’s worth it! You may have to try it a couple weeks to see if it’s making a difference.
You may want to ask Martin. I’ve had my insomnia since late October and just started CBT-I 10 days ago. Things are better but I don’t know what the big picture will be like in a few months. Hopefully a lot better. So far I’ve slept through the night 7 out of 10 nights. Martin told me to make my sleep window just 6 hours. He based this on the average number of hours I was actually sleeping in a week and then added a half hour. Before the insomnia I normally slept 8 hours. So this isn’t quite enough sleep for me and I’m tired a lot. But I think the point IS to be tired so that you’re really, really tired when you go to bed and therefore are more likely to sleep through the night. Then when you’re sleeping consistently at that particular number of hours, you increase the window by 15 minutes. So you might want to try reducing your sleep window and see how that goes.
Had a bad night. Dang it! I’m certainly not cured. The anxious thoughts started creeping in after I went to bed. Time passed and I just didn’t want to get up. I was feeling disappointed and discouraged because I thought I would continue to sleep through the night like I did for the last 5 days. Finally I dragged myself out of bed and it was already almost 2:00. Went back to bed after a half hour and again didn’t fall asleep. Just lay there not wanting to get up again. Before I knew it, it was 4:30. Then at that point I felt there was no point in getting up because if I went back to bed at 5:00, I would just be thinking that I have to get up in just an hour, and then would not be able to sleep.
I knew I should have gotten up instead of lying there all those times because it increases the association of bed with wakefulness. But I just didn’t care. I was feeling frustrated.
Anyway, got to get back on the wagon again tonight and get up if I’m not sleeping. But I’m apprehensive about SC because I didn’t have a good experience with it when I tried it before on my own before I started the program with Martin. But maybe it will work better within the SR program I’m doing. I hope so.
Thankfully I don’t feel like a zombie this morning since I’ve had 5 decent nights of sleep up till now. Going to pull out my book, “End the Insomnia Struggle” by Colleen Ehrnstrom. There’s a whole section in it on attitude and thinking. I could use some help with that to make sure I don’t fall back into the hole.
It’s the opposite for me. During my brief phase of only being able to fall asleep on the couch (which only lasted 3 nights) we had sex in bed where I then promptly fell asleep for 9 hours! My husband’s prescription after that for my insomnia – more sex!
Seriously, sorry you have the opposite experience – must put a damper on your sex drive.
Last week my average was 4.9 hours because one night I slept 3.5 hours and the next only 2 hours. The other days when I slept all night it took me between 15 to 30 minutes to fall asleep, which is no big deal. Because my sleep was so crazy before starting SR, many times sleeping only a few hours or none at all, I’m not ready to say I’m cured. During one 9 day stretch, 4 of the days I was up all night, and the other nights I only slept a few hours. I was miserable. It’s only been 9 days that I’ve been on this plan and the last 5 I’ve slept through the night. So I’m getting better. But I am cautiously optimistic and will make changes slowly. I don’t want to jinx things, thinking I’m cured and fall back into the craziness again. If I continue to sleep this way all week I will increase it by 15 minutes the next week.
Regarding the length of sleep for normal people, I never heard of older people needing only 5 hours. I’m older and so are my friends and family and none of us regularly get by on just 5 hours of sleep. As I gradually increase my sleep time, if I find I only need 7 or 7 & 1/2 hours, then fine, I’ll stick with that. My goal is not necessarily 8 hours, but just to feel well rested when I wake up. I’m not there yet with 6 hours.
Mac, you sound like you’re doing well. I think if you just keep on being consistent, you’ll be fine.
Martin is having me stay on the same schedule of 6 hours for 2 more weeks. Ugh! I’m tired. Before this mess I was sleeping regularly 8 hours every night for years, so 6 hours is not enough sleep for me. Anyway, at least I’m not exhausted, or anxious, or panicky, or fearful, or depressed, or dreading another night, not knowing whether I’ll sleep or not – just tired. I can handle this. This stuff is working. I’ve slept 4 nights in a row now. Looks like it’s probably going to take at least a couple months before I’m back up to 8 hours, but at least by then sleeping all night will have become a habit.
Sorry, realized I didn’t answer your question correctly. The insomnia started for me in October a few weeks after I had surgery. I couldn’t get comfortable one night and didn’t sleep well. So the next night I worried about falling asleep and as a result didn’t sleep well that night either. So the worry started to set in and a few nights later I couldn’t sleep again. Pretty soon I was going days at a stretch with little to no sleep. I reached my limit when I was having emotional meltdowns a couple weeks ago and just wanted someone to put me in the hospital or knock me over the head so I could sleep. I contacted Martin then. He had me fill out the sleep diary for the first week and after that gave me the sleep window of 6 hours. I’m going to bed at 12:00 and getting up at 6:00. The first two nights of SR were a honeymoon period. You know how it is when you think you’ve found the answer so you feel relieved and end up sleeping good for a couple nights. Then reality hit and the insomnia started up again, resulting in 3 & 1/2 hours of sleep on the third night and the next night only 2 hours. But then the conditioning started to kick in and I’ve slept well the last 3 nights. Yay!
Here’s how my sleeping has been going since I started SR a week ago:
Day 1 – 5.75 hours of sleep
Day 2 – 5.5 hours
Day 3 – 3.5 hours
Day 4 – 2 hours
Day 5 – 5.75 hours
Day 6 – 6 hours
Day 7 – 6 hours
So you can see, Mac, that I’m getting better. I just mentioned 2 hours as an example of when I haven’t slept much the night before and decide to take a nap the following day because I’m exhausted. I’ve taken 3 naps this week, on day 3, 4 and 5.
You’re tired, Mac. Hope you have a better sleep tonight!
Sorry you had a bad night, Mac. Maybe consistency will help you. Just watched one of the videos from Martin’s course and he talked about the absolute importance of consistency and commitment. Maybe after you have done this consistently for several weeks the worry will decrease more and more. And then even if you mess up a little, you won’t start worrying.
Yesterday morning I accidentally fell back asleep for about a 45 minutes after the alarm clock went off. But I I didn’t worry about it and slept the full six hours last night. Maybe it’s a little easier for me since I’ve only had insomnia for 2 months instead of 2 years.
Here’s something that might help you today. Martin and others say to never nap, but I break that rule a little when I’m really tired. I find that a 20 minute nap works wonders. I set my alarm clock to make sure it doesn’t accidentally turn into a long nap. I justify it to myself saying, “Well, I only slept 2 hours ( or 3 or 4) last night, so now I slept a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes. That’s still way less the amount of sleep a normal person needs so this isn’t going to mess up my sleep tonight.” I only take one a day. I find that this really helps and then I can make it though the day.
Check out the book, Heal Your Anxiety and Depression by Howard Schubiner, which talks about getting to the root of your anxiety which many times comes from trauma in childhood, and then healing it. Don’t just take drugs. They are just a temporary solution and won’t give you the deep and permanent healing that you need.
Yes! That’s how all this craziness started. I couldn’t sleep one night so I started worrying. That worry resulted in me not sleeping the next night. Then the worry stayed with me and a couple nights later couldn’t sleep again. Pretty soon it was days on end that I couldn’t sleep and I fell into this deep pit of severe insomnia. Crazy! It all started from just one bad night. So learning to brush off a bad night is key.
I’m really surprised how quickly this SR is working for me. Glad it works for you too. It will help that I’m committed to this 8 week course with Martin. I do better when I’m accountable to someone. Hopefully by 8 weeks it will become a habit.
It was so hard to stay up till 12 on the 5th night after getting only a couple hours sleep the night before. But I fell asleep right away! Then last night I fell asleep quickly again. Yay! This stuff is working. I’m feeling so relieved. My anxiety has gone way, way down and I’m starting to feel like a normal person again. I know it’s only 6 nights so far, with 4 good nights out of the 6, but this is the most consistent sleep I’ve had in 2 months. And I’m finally not dreading the nights.
