Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
You’re absolutely right – you can’t control sleep because sleep is one of those rare events that doesn’t reward hard work and effort! The more you try to sleep, the more elusive sleep becomes. Have you considered changing your relationship with your thoughts about your sleep issue? Instead of trying to control your sleep and the unhelpful thoughts related to it, what if you took a different approach? For example, just tell your mind, “Thanks for sharing!” and return to doing the activity you were engaged in when the negative thought arrived. Since we’re not able to control our thoughts, you’ll probably have more benefit from changing your relationship with them instead.
Hope that helps,
Scott J—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.
Can you describe what your sleep is like on an average night? What do you think is causing your inability to sleep?
Scott J
—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.
Since that initial problem is no longer the reason for your poor sleep, what do you feel is causing your sleep disruption now? Are you having anxious thoughts about your sleep? Have you rearranged your daytime to accommodate for less sleep? Have you changed your bedtime routine in hopes that you’ll be able to sleep?
Scott J
—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 like you’ve made tremendous progress with your sleep issue!
Setbacks can be tough and upsetting but it’s all part of the process and says, “you’re still human!”. The only way for you not to have continued success is for you to abandon all of the techniques that you’ve learned and had success with.
What results are you expecting when you get out of bed to listen to a podcast, exercise, etc? The more effort you put into getting a good night’s sleep, the harder sleep becomes, if you’re expecting those activities to generate sleepiness. If you’re looking for relaxing activities instead of sleeping strategies, have you considered watching a non-stimulating tv show, coloring and crafting?
Scott J
—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.
Congratulations on completing Martin’s email course as it sounds like you found some success in restoring your sleep!
What’s going through your mind when you lie down in bed that keeps you awake and frustrated? All your additional daytime worry can make your sleep issue worse by fueling more anxiety and creating a vicious loop. What is your reaction when those unhelpful thoughts arrive?
Melatonin is generally used for those experiencing jet lag and not for allowing you to remain asleep during the night. Plus, sleeping pills and OTC supplements don’t tackle the root cause of your sleep disruption – your thoughts and behavior towards your sleep.
This may sound like a crazy idea, but are you able to sleep in a different bed/room than your partner? When I was experiencing severe insomnia years ago before restoring it with CBT-I, my wife and I slept in different beds because we had different sleep schedules. We found that BOTH of us actually slept better so we’ve since kept that arrangement. It doesn’t mean you’re less intimate, but it’s an idea for you to consider if you’re concerned about having to go to bed at the same time as your partner.
I encourage you to consistently implement the CBT-I techniques and you’ll continue to see incremental successes but it sounds like you may need to evaluate your anxiousness about your sleep that’s causing you continued disruptions.
Hope that helps,
Scott J—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’s not unusual for us to experience some sleep disruption when we have stressful moments in our life but when our thoughts and behaviors about our sleep change, then our sleep issues perpetuates. It’s not too surprising you haven’t found medication or OTC supplements helpful since pills don’t address those underlying thoughts and behaviors. If you’re having anxiety about your sleep issue, what is going through your mind? When those anxious thoughts arrive, do you find yourself trying to get rid of them? Why do you find yourself believing those thoughts but if I said that you’re a rotten banana, that wouldn’t cause you anxiety?
Scott J
—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’s great news! What techniques have you began implementing that has reduced your anxiety about sleep?
Scott J
—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 our world! LOL It sounds like you’ve already made some great progress with the techniques! How do you determine the headache is from too little sleep? I’ve practiced yoga nidra and although they mention that practicing that specific type of yoga is equivalent to “X” minutes of sleep, I wouldn’t consider it the same as taking a nap. It’s a form of relaxation and calm, not sleep. As long as you’re not taking daytime naps that diminish your sleep drive you’ve built during the day, you should be fine.
Scott J
—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.
From reading your post, I’m assuming you began implementing CBT-I techniques? It usually requires a little longer than a few nights to experience any substantial improvement in sleep but if you remain committed and practice those techniques consistently, I’m confident you’ll begin to see benefits. Checking the time to determine if you should get out of bed and when to return can actually cause additional arousal – which isn’t a recipe for sound sleep. Have you considered not clock watching and just get out of bed if you become anxious/frustrated and returning to bed when you’re sleepy?
Scott J
—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.
Congrats, Steve! I think you’ve taken a huge step forward in your sleep recovery. Consistently implementing the CBT-I techniques and being patient with results are critical components of your success, in my opinion. Some of the evidence-based techniques may seem counterintuitive, but stick with them.
Scott J
—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 pages of free resources on this website, Martin’s podcast videos on YouTube and his free 14-day CBT-I program that have helped others restore their sleep. There’s also an option to work directly with him, if you need that type of mentoring, but I encourage you to view the resources on the site, compare them to other CBT-I specific offerings and I believe you’ll find the information beneficial, if you’re experiencing insomnia. If we can help with roadblocks or general questions, I’m sure someone from our forums would be willing to assist or share their success.
Hope that helps,
Scott J—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’s the thing with thoughts – they keep “popping” up, all day, every day, and most of them are unhelpful! We can’t control our thoughts and the only time thoughts are damaging to us is when we start to believe them. When they arrive, acknowledge them (e.g., “hello there!”) and allow them to pass. As I mentioned before, this process, if consistently implemented, takes time to begin seeing positive results but it sounds like you’re heading in the right direction. I think you’ve pinpointed another critical reason why some experience sleep disruption – you’re “putting too much effort into trying to get to sleep!”. If you ask people who don’t have insomnia what they do for sleep, they’d look at us like we’re crazy because they don’t make any effort – it just happens for them.
Scott J
—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.
Starting a new regimen can be difficult sometimes and I relate it to starting a new exercise routine – you usually don’t see immediate results and you’re not sure that what you’re doing is beneficial, but if you remain committed and consistent to the process, you’ll definitely be successful. Having completed Martin’s free email program and hearing all the success stories (on this forum and his podcast), I highly recommend his email program and/or working with him directly. Keep in mind that when we try to control our thoughts instead of welcoming them and letting them pass, it can increase our arousal and highlight the sleep we’re experiencing. Have you considered saying, “oh, there’s that thought about my sleep again” and then re-engaging in the activity you were in when it arrived or letting it pass after saying that instead of trying to change it to a positive thought? Our attempt at changing the thought is a control strategy and is usually unhelpful.
Scott J
—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.
Stressful life events usually cause some sleep disruption but when our thoughts and behaviors about our sleep change, it oftentimes perpetuates the issue. Sleep hygiene tactics are good to follow but usually aren’t beneficial by themselves since, again, they don’t address the root cause of your sleep issue – thoughts and behaviors. It sounds like you may be following some of the CBT-I techniques, correct? When you have middle of the night awakenings, what is going through your mind, if anything? How do you try to manage those thoughts when they arrive?
Scott J
—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.
Earlier, you mentioned that you were seeing some positive results in your anxiety, hopefully from changing your relationship with them and not trying to avoid or get rid of your thoughts. The practice of that relationship takes time though. If it was that easy, we’d all be happy, all the time – none of us would have anxiety but we know that not to be the case in society. Remember, most of our thoughts on a daily basis are usually unhelpful and thoughts can’t hurt us, but our actions toward them can. How have you changed your relationship with your thoughts that saw an improvement in your anxiety?
Scott J
—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.
