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NikkiB I hope you had good night sleep these past couple of days. Happy to report the last two days has been relatively good nights especially last night. Slept from 11 to 4:30 waking up once in between and light sleep till 6:15. My doctor did not give me ambien saying I was more likely to use it chronically for sleep instead of working on my sleep. He pushed me to keep working on the mindfulness. He recommended Trazodone 50mg to keep it as backup in case it got really bad. In heavier dosages it’s an anti depressant. I haven’t used it. Just his words gave me the encouragement to push past my tiredness. Been practicing mindfulness tools especially during the day. I feel like i try them on only bad days and not good days. In fact yesterday, my wife got laid off from work. Normally this would have made me anxious and not sleep for 2 or 3 nights. But I guess practicing mindfulness seemed to give me the strength and I slept better than I ever did in more than a week. I hope you had good sleep. Hang in there. 2021 will be a good year where we Crack through this. I am also taking and Eastern meditation/yoga class this week.
Sorry to hear that NikkiB. I hope you will be able to get over it. I will be rooting for you today. it’s been 4 days since I have deep sleep. I feel like i have not slept in 4 days or just light sleep. I have never been in this situation before. usually couple of nights and I am able to get over it. I feel like i am able to sleep when I struggle but when I try to be calm i am not getting it. I don’t know if that makes any sense. Seeing my doc today for some ambien but still trying to not take it and see this through. During the day i am able to manage till evening time and evening time i am too exhausted to relax and wait till 10:30pm to go to bed. I try not to think of the past or predict future but i feel like i am in zombieland right now. Daytime i am able to welcome and accept my anxiety and not indulge in them. its stronger at night. I still try to accept and welcome and not engage but its getting too much in the night. Earlier i would get out of bed be frustrated and after 2 or 3 hours of fighting with myself i would sleep. THis is keeping me calmer but i feel like i am not progressing. I have an appointment with Dr Kat on the 27th. I am thinking of taking a sleep pill for a night or two. i know this hampers the progress but i see no way out unless i get some decent quality sleep.
Here’s to us hanging in there.Just when I was getting used to it life throws a curve ball. Had some personal issues crop up which screwed with the sleep as I was anxious and stressed out all day and that remained at night. Last night I feel like I didn’t sleep at all but there must have been some light sleep. Even though I tried to calm myself I felt the days stress beat my efforts at calming down. Hoping to be able to cope tonite. Been able to do mindfulness little bit in the morning but not as much I would like to.
NikkiB,
First 3 days were a nightmare but I stuck on. Next couple of days were easier. The sleep was still light but I made peace with it. I pretended to enjoy my insomnia and not minding it and that seems to have worked.blast couple of days I had deep sleep on the sofa before my sleep window. For an hour and then went to my bed. I feel I am getting deep sleep for an hour and light sleep for the rest of the night. I definitely see the benefit in not fighting the insomnia and accepting the thoughts and emotions as they come. Let’s see how it goes. So far I have been able to avoid taking pills. But feel I am in a better place this week than the previous week.Thank you for the advice and sorry you had to go through the Trauma. Glad to hear you are doing so much better.
I feel like I am calmer. Maybe subconsciously my mind still dwells on sleep in the evening. I felt really sleepy and kind of dozing off at 10:45pm. My normal mindset was to drag till 1130 and then go to bed. But yesterday I went straight to bed and used the tools to feel touch of the pillow and bed and comforter. I believe I went to light sleep immediately. My wife told me she heard me snoring at 1230. I felt I went in and out but from 3:30 to 545 I kind of stayed in bed and being calm about it and accepting my wakefulness. I am tired as hell but feel that long term this is the right step. I just wish I got like one or two good nights just 4 or 5 hours of deep sleep. It’s sometimes harder to practice it during day but I try to persevere. Hope 2021 turns out to be the year I beat insomnia. Keeping that belief. In the short term it is hard. I will try melatonin to see if it helps with sleep onset just for the short term when I have gone through 3 or 4 nights with no deep sleep at all.
Thank you NikkiB for taking the time to encourage me and talk. I am glad you persevered and its working out for you. I am trying to persevere also. I will keep practicing mindfulness and the tools. Whenever discomfort or anxious thoughts or emotions come I talk to it and accept it. Only thing I am doing differently now is as I am lying in bed I focus on my touch points with the pillow, bed, and blanket. And if anxiety creeps in I acknowledge it. I also keep my eyes closed the whole time as I thought that will rest my eyes. Even though I didn’t sleep much these past 2 days I feel calmer but tired. I might experiment with melatonin just to see if I can go to sleep faster but not depending on it. Will check in a few weeks to give an update
Thank you. I will read it when I get a chance. I am tempted to take pills which I have never just to get a couple of days break but I am saying in my mind, Hey Pills thought thanks but no thanks.
Deb – thank you for starting this post. It has been very informative to read your and other people’s comments. I have had insomnia for 2 years now and recently it has gotten bad to a point where I have not had deep sleep in 2 weeks. Sleep onset was initially the problem but now its both onset and staying asleep.. I tried SR/SC 4 weeks ago. First two weeks I felt I made progress with going as much as 4.5 to 5 hours of sleep. But then SC got to me. My body got used to SR and I feel like now I don’t have time to even rest as SR is 5.5 hrs and supposed to consolidate sleep. Past two nights I have been trying to go to bed at 11pm and get up at 6pm. Before insomnia I used to go to bed around 10:30-11 and get up at 6:30-7. So kind of keeping 11-6 sleep window. I am able to be calm about it but both nights I have had only very light sleep.i don’t even remember how long I was awake and how long I drifted to sleep. During the day I read work, read books, try to practice mindfulness. Started to practice mindfulness during the day and acknowledging my feeling both positive and negative. Would you encourage me to keep at it even though its light sleep only right now? I don’t want to stop trying but I feel like a zombie especially after 4pm. Unable to engage in activities. I feel I lost ability to sleep.
It was working well where I was reaching 80% of sleep efficiency. But then life threw a curve ball. My 8 year old son had a nightmare 3 days ago and has been waking up multiple times during the night until last night. I therefore had a rough couple of nights with only 2-3 hours of sleep.
Quick question. I understand these factors are not my doing so I am not frustrated. But is it ok to adjust my sleep window to earlier by an hour or two and have an alarm earlier also. Is it ok to nap for 30 mins or so at night just to get some relief?
The DARE response has decreased my frustration remarkably but I suspect sleep restriction will take a couple more weeks for me. Another problem I have is I wake up an hour or half hour before my alarm. I think it is close to my wake up time so check the time and just lie down till alarm rings off. Is my checking the time preventing me from going back to sleep? I feel I am close to achieving the sleep efficiency of 80-85% and shouldn’t worry about how long it takes. Am I doing it right?
Merry Christmas to everyone and hope folks having success with their sleep. That is my wish and prayer.
Thank you Martin for getting back to me. After than initial rant, I am actually doing much better now. I read the DARE book and using the DARE app. The DARE approach has helped significantly with the anxiety issues. My sleep window is 12-6. I kept half hour more because I usually take a long time to sleep. I don’t get into bed earlier than 11:45 and always get out of bed no later than 6am. I have to say the past 2-3 days I have been falling asleep in 15 or 20 mins and wake up maybe once and able to go back to sleep in 15 mins. So averaging anywhere between 4.5 to 5 hours. I feel groggy when i have to get up at 6 but force myself to get up at 6. I find that this limited sleep is so much more refreshing than the same 4 or 5 hours but sleeping from 10pm-7am. I sleep in a much more alert state back then. The getting out of bed everytime i am very anxious was tough in the beginning but I realized after repeatedly doing it that it was much better to get out of bed and do something than lie in bed and think about sleep. It took my brain a few attempts to realize that.
What I notice now is that there’s tremendous sleep drive around 10:30-11. often times I find myself dozing when watching TV or doing a lying down mindfullness yoga. I can barely stay awake till 11:45 and then get to bed after 11:45.
I am noticing two things. I get up 15 or 20 mins before my alarm afraid I will miss my alarm because i kept a very soft tone so as not to wake up my wife. I just lie down and wake up when alarm goes off. Any tips for the alarm 🙂
I have done the following that is helping me with the sleep restriction:
1. MBSR 8 week program based on technique invented by Jon Kabat Zinn. In week 6.
2. DARE book is definitely a major help with the anxiety
3. During the day am able to not obsess over my inability to sleep.Question is how long do I keep my sleep window? Until i sleep atleast 85% of my sleep window for 2 week? A little worry that if I extend my sleep window will i falter.
Thanks to you andthis site especially the podcasts, I am applying techniques that resonate with me based on the people’s efforts.
