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Glad to hear you’ve signed up for Martin’s course and I believe you’ll find the CBT-I techniques beneficial. Can you explain what you’re referring to when you say, “physical anxiety”? What’s your body feeling and are there any specific thoughts about sleep or other stressful life events going through your mind at the time you experience arousal?
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.
You achieved 6 hours of sleep – that’s great! Do you have concerns about the amount of sleep you got?
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.
Hi Pattyann, welcome to the forum. I’m glad to see that you’re exploring CBT-I techniques and if you experience any roadblocks or have questions along the way, simply let us know.
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.
The anxiety you’re experiencing is completely understandable. The good news is that we don’t forget how to sleep, just like we don’t forget how we breathe but we need to figure out how to better manage our thoughts. When we try to avoid or get rid of ruminating thoughts, it typically makes our arousal about our sleep issue worse. Since our thoughts about sleep are typically negative and unhelpful for an insomniac and since we can’t escape our unpleasant thoughts, have you considered changing your relationship with them? When you have an unhelpful/negative thought appear, simply tell your mind, “thank you for that thought” and redirect your attention to a desirable activity (watching tv, listening to podcast, doing the dishes, etc). This practice doesn’t eliminate ruminating thoughts from appearing – again, since we can’t stop them from coming – but it does create a better relationship with them when they visit. There’s no reason to engage in a debate with the thought, just let it arrive, acknowledge it and go about your business. Keep in mind that thoughts are simply that – just thoughts and they don’t really cause us any harm until we start believing in them. What is the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen to you a day after a poor night’s sleep or no sleep? You’ll probably be fatigued, that’s understandable, but you’ll be alive, productive at work and have the ability to engage in activities that improve the quality of your day.
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 too surprising that you haven’t found any sleeping pills or OTC supplements to work for the long term since they really don’t tackle the root causes of insomnia – our thoughts and behaviors towards our sleep issue. Secondly, pills and supplements simply can’t generate natural sleep. The cycle we get ourselves into with pills is if we take a pill and we are able to sleep well that night, then we believe the pill resolved our insomnia/sleep issues. If we continue to take a specific pill or a new pill and it doesn’t work, then our anxiety increases and we wonder if something is really wrong with us. As we get older, the amount of sleep we need is reduced. On average, how many hours of sleep are achieving at night? The best determination for the amount of sleep you need is how you’re feeling the next day. If you’ve been exploring sleep aids for some time without consistent results, should you consider a different strategy?
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.
Do you work 3rd shift or is 5am when you finally are able to fall asleep? Are you experiencing any anxiety towards your sleep that could be causing you not to fall asleep at an earlier time? If so, what is going through your mind that would cause that delay in sleep? Lastly, don’t allow insomnia control our life and daily activities. Canceling social events, workouts and other events you enjoy puts a spotlight on the problem and causes additional arousal about your sleep. I know it’s very tempting to cancel those activities because you’re fatigued but staying active during the day improves the quality of your day and assists in building a strong sleep drive for bedtime.
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.
Thank you for sharing. How are you managing the ruminations you experience when you wake at 2/3 am? Do you try to control, avoid or get rid of the thought? If the techniques you’ve been using haven’t been working, it could be time to explore another strategy. What if you viewed thoughts as what they are – thoughts are just thoughts and can’t hurt me instead of trying to fight them when they appear? For example, most of our unhelpful thoughts start with “what if” – “what if I don’t sleep tonight” and so on but if you change your relationship with those thoughts to be more welcoming and say, “thank you for that thought” and redirect your attention to an activity that’s more enjoyable, do you think that would be beneficial for you?
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.
Sorry to hear about your illness and hope you’ve made a full recovery. It’s not uncommon for people to experience sleep disruption when they become sick or have a life changing event occur in their life. It’s when we begin changing our thoughts and our behaviors to the sleep disruption that perpetuates our sleep issue.
We have much less control over our thoughts than we think we do but we can control our actions toward them when they present themselves. Most of the time, our thoughts are unhelpful and should be treated as what they are – just thoughts. Changing how we manage our relationship with our thoughts is a beneficial method of overcoming ruminating thoughts about your sleep. For example, if you begin to have thoughts such as – “what if I don’t sleep tonight”, “if I don’t sleep tonight, I’ll feel like crap tomorrow”, “I won’t be able to function tomorrow without sleep” and so on, determine if the thought is helpful and not simply a true/false answer. If the thought isn’t helpful, then your action/response to it might be, “Thank you for sharing that” and then redirect your attention to something you enjoy or the activity you were engaged in when the thought arrived. The goal is not to get rid of the thought but to see it for what it is – just a thought and not to fight it. Negative thoughts only become a problem when we believe they are truthful and give them our attention.
I hope this 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.
Jess,
I think you shared some good insight into your day and nighttime routines and there’s a couple notes of interest.
I wonder if those bedtime activities are disguised as sleep effort? Sleep is one of those rare things in life that doesn’t reward hard work. The more effort you put into getting a good night’s sleep, the harder sleep becomes.
Do you think you may be forcing sleep to arrive by going to bed at the same time every night or should you consider only going to bed when you’re sleepy?
When you wake in the middle of the night, what is your cue to get out of bed and move to the living room? Do you have anxious thoughts when you wake and become frustrated while lying in bed or do you remain relaxed but just unable to go back to sleep?
Sleep is created by wakefulness (strong sleep drive) and circadian rhythm so naps would greatly diminish the sleep drive you’ve created during the day.
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.
Jess,
Have you made any adjustments to your sleep routine such as going to bed when your daughter goes to bed in hopes to “catch up” on sleep? It’s important to create a strong sleep drive during the day to help overpower sleep related anxiety and nighttime awakenings. Are you taking any naps during the day, being more sedentary or are you staying engaged in activities throughout the day?
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.
Oana,
The speed at which someone restores their sleep differs from person to person and depends on several factors. I compare starting CBT-I to starting an exercise program – at first, you may find it difficult to remain committed, you’re tired, body is sore, and you’re uncertain that what you’re doing has any benefits. If you remain committed to the techniques, you’ll begin to see consistent results from them. Why do you think you feel anxious about falling to sleep and feel agitated when you wake during the night?
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.
Bruno – welcome! The primary role of CBT-I is to address the root causes (and most common causes) of insomnia – our thoughts and behavior towards our sleep. If you’re not experiencing any anxiety about your sleep, especially at bedtime, what do you think is causing your sleep disruption? Have you experienced any major life events that could be causing you stress and poor sleep recently? If you feel sleepy or are falling to sleep while watching TV and then become wide awake when you get into bed, it’s typically due to an association your mind has created between your bed and sleep (or anxiety about sleep). If you don’t believe that to be the case for you, why do you think you become wide awake when you go to bed?
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.
When you establish your sleep restricted window, it’s recommended to select a wake up time and then count backwards to – no less – than 5.5 hours for the start of your sleep window. Have you tried shifting your start window time? Once you change your sleep window, you’ll want to strictly implement your sleep window for 1-2 weeks. If you’re calculating your sleep efficiency and achieve 85%+ efficiency, then you can expand your start time by 15-30 minutes for another 1-2 weeks and re-evaluate at that point.
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.
Welcome! The good news is that we don’t lose our ability to sleep just as we don’t forget how to breathe. Anxiety and arousal at bedtime about your ability to sleep certainly makes it seem like you’ll never sleep again though. Are you experiencing heightened arousal at bedtime and, if so, what is going through your mind? Stressful life events can significantly disrupt our sleep but when we change our thoughts and behaviors towards the change in the quality of our sleep, it can perpetuate the sleep issue.
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.
Sleep is one of those things in life that the more effort you make to sleep, the more elusive sleep is. When we try new experiments to fix our sleep, it usually leads to greater anxiety about it. Martin posted a video that I think you’d find beneficial about anxiety you may be experiencing about your insomnia. Check it out when you have some time – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuAZLX3dK3M
What is going through your mind when it’s bedtime?
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.
