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Hey @Dominic-D!
Welcome to the forum! Based on what you mentioned, your sleep has improved and you’re now able to get up to 6 hours of sleep at night. This is evidence that you haven’t lost the ability to sleep! If you feel fatigued the next day after getting 6 hours of sleep, I encourage you to continue to be active and enjoy your day (continue attending social events, have a glass of wine at dinner, avoid daytime naps, etc). When we experiment with ways to correct our sleep by implementing new bedtime strategies (taking a hot shower, turning off lights 1 hr before bedtime, etc) it usually heightens our anxiety towards sleep and makes sleep even more difficult.
It’s helpful to go to bed only when you’re sleepy and consistently get out of bed at the same time each morning, even on the weekends. This behavior builds a strong sleep drive which can make it easier to fall asleep and overcome sleep anxiety. What time do you typically go to bed and start your day the next morning?
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 @janpiet99!
Welcome to the forum! You mentioned that your greatest challenge is falling asleep so when you’re able to, how many hours of sleep are you getting on an average night? Are you only going to bed only when you’re sleepy (head bobbing, dozing off, etc) versus just being tired? When you’re not able to fall asleep, do you get out of bed and do something enjoyable like listen to a podcast, watch tv or read a book or do you continue to toss and turn in bed?
Sometimes when we experience extreme anxiety towards sleep, we’ll change our nighttime routines. Some will go to bed early to compensate for a poor night of sleep the night before while others will start a meditation practice or wear blue light glasses, etc. Try to avoid the temptation to modify your bedtime or daytime routines because any attempt to fix our sleep usually makes it even more difficult for sleep to occur. Also, it’s important to note that one of the keys of having a good night’s sleep is by building a strong sleep drive during the day. You can achieve that by being active and continuing to enjoy your day, regardless of how you slept the prior night.
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.
Hey @LynnS – outstanding news, thanks for sharing your success story. Consistent implementation of the cognitive and behavioral therapy for insomnia techniques has proven to be highly beneficial for you. Stay the course, Lynn!
Congrats,
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 @KateyB88
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the new addition to the family! Having a child can certainly disrupt our sleep but it usually recovers once the child has established a consistent sleep routine. You mentioned that you tend to go to bed when your baby does but are you actually sleepy at that time or are you trying to compensate for sleep knowing she’ll wake in a few hours? A couple of factors of being able to sleep is building a strong sleep drive during the day and only going to bed when you’re sleepy (heading nodding, dozing off, etc).
What were some of the techniques you learned when you were experiencing insomnia in the past? Have you tried any of those since having a baby?
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.
Hey @Kevinsd –
Welcome to the forum!
There’s (3) factors (3 P’s) that influence insomnia:
– Predisposing
– Precipitating
– PerpetuatingFor the sake of this discussion, let’s focus on two of those. Precipitating factors can be stressful events that occur in your life (new job, new baby and, in your case, a new home) that can trigger a difficult night(s) of sleep but once the stressful event passes, so does the poor sleep. It’s completely normal for sleep to be disrupted during stressful events but it’s usually temporary.
However, some continue to experience insomnia after the trigger has passed and we begin to change some of behaviors to compensate for lack of sleep (go to bed earlier, stay in bed later in the am, cancel social events, etc). These life changes are considered Perpetuating factors.
Unfortunately, these changes make sleep more difficult because sleep responds negatively towards any attempt for us to “fix” it.When you stay at your new home, do you find yourself making changes to your nighttime routine or are they the same as when you stay at your other home, where you don’t have any issues sleeping?
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 @Frima!
It sounds like you’ve adopted some proven techniques and are seeing success already! Continue to be committed and persistent with the process and positive things happen!
Scott
—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 Brendan!
Welcome to the forum! Since there’s no pill that is helpful with our thoughts and behaviors that perpetuate sleep disruption, what you experienced the first night of taking melatonin was your natural ability to sleep. I remember having insomnia for months and bought every supplement and “sleep aid” on the shelf and Internet hoping it would solve my poor sleep. As you experienced, I had similar results – first night was good sleep but failed results thereafter. The greater we try to “fix” our sleep, the more difficult it is to sleep because sleep responds negatively towards our efforts. Instead of experimenting with a lot of bedtime routines, what if you just carried on with your life as if you didn’t have insomnia (continue to watch tv, listen to a podcast, didn’t wear blue light glasses, etc)? What do you think would happen if you did nothing and just went to bed when you’re actually sleepy (not tired – there’s a difference)? It’s helpful to avoid anything that might increase anxiety about sleep before going to bed so conducting the behaviors you outlined above will certainly draw even more attention to your insomnia.
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.
@NikkiB – when I experienced insomnia, I researched and implemented ACT in hopes it’d be beneficial for my situation. I gained some traction with this therapy’s concepts but I just couldn’t get over the hump until I found cognitive and behavioral therapy for insomnia. Once I began applying these evidence-based techniques, I found my sleep vastly improving. Regardless of which technique you use, acceptance is key in experiencing progress, in my opinion. Although I don’t have insomnia any longer, I still have an occasional night of difficult sleep and may be fatigued the next day but the major difference between now and when I had insomnia is my reaction (or lack thereof) to it. It’s our reaction to the sleep disruption that can cause greater anxiety about sleep the following day making it even more difficult to sleep the next night.
What time do you usually go to bed at night and when do you get out of bed in the morning after awakening? It’s completely normal to have multiple awakenings during the night, but do you find yourself checking the time or begin to worry about falling back to sleep when you wake? Do you continue to lie in bed until morning or do you get out of bed and do something pleasant (watch tv, listen to a podcast, etc)?
Scott
—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 @Ang!
Welcome to the forum! We’re here to help!
Scott
—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 @Jayrow!
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your story. What sleep difficulties are you currently experiencing? It’s understandable to have some anxiety about returning to poor sleep when you stop taking those pills but medication doesn’t generate sleep. It should be reassuring to know the sleep you’ve been experiencing is proof that you CAN sleep!
A key to overcoming anxiety about sleep is to improve the quality of your day by continuing to participate in social events, introducing some physical activity (nature walk, bike ride), etc. Try to avoid the temptation in making wholesale changes to your existing daytime/bedtime routines. Any effort we make in trying to fix our sleep issue usually results in sleep becoming more difficult.
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 @NikkiB!
Welcome to the forum!
You’re probably not surprised to find out that you’re not alone. The pandemic has caused anxiety in some which has led to difficult night’s of sleep.
Worrying about sleep usually makes sleep more difficult which leads to even more anxiety the following day. Can you relate to this anxiety loop? Usually the best reaction to a difficult night of sleep is to not overreact to it since our thoughts about the situation perpetuates the issue. A main objective during the day is to build a strong sleep drive so that it becomes more prevalent than your anxiety towards sleep at bedtime. This can be accomplished by conducting some physical activity, avoiding daytime naps, consistently getting out of bed at the same time every morning, etc. Are you finding yourself changing your daytime routine to compensate for lack of sleep the previous night? If you improve the quality of your days, regardless of how you slept the night before, there’s usually less effort into trying to sleep at night.
Have you made any adjustments to your bedtime routine (began meditating, going to bed earlier, etc) since you started experiencing insomnia compared to the months prior to March? When we try new experiments in hopes it solves our sleep issue, it usually heightens our awareness of the issue causing more anxiety. If you’ve made life adjustments because of poor sleep, what do you think might happen if you reverted back to the behaviors you knew prior to experiencing insomnia?
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.
@jaylogan – that’s outstanding news and thanks for sharing what techniques worked best for you! Even during your “bad days”, you remained committed to the process. Congrats again!
Scott
—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 @bobwright123,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your story. The good news is that you’ve proven the ability to sleep, albeit, not the 8-9 hours a night you desire. Do you believe you need at least 8 hours of sleep because that’s a popular number found in most sleep related articles or are you experiencing major setbacks the following day if you don’t get that amount of sleep? Keep in mind that sleep is like wearing a shoe – not everyone requires the same amount of sleep just like everyone doesn’t wear the same shoe size. At the time my insomnia began, I was sleeping 6-7 hours a night until I listened to a podcast that mentioned alleged health consequences if I didn’t get at least 8 hours. I began to worry that I wasn’t getting enough sleep, which caused me to experience insomnia for 10 months – all because of what was said on a podcast. I know now that there isn’t anything detrimental about my sleep schedule but something as insignificance as a podcast triggered my anxiety about it.
I’m not surprised you haven’t found Benadryl beneficial since no medication can generate sleep and I don’t see it inducing a wake time in the middle of the night. Based on what you described with your sleep schedule though, have you experimented with a consistent bed and wake time schedule? Since you’re already sleeping about 5 hours a night, you might find implementing sleep restriction therapy beneficial for you, which has been confirmed to work well for insomnia sufferers. You can find more information about this technique here: https://insomniacoach.com/sleep-restriction-therapy/
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.
Hey John!
Welcome to the forum! What have you experimented with to overcome your situation? As @kobalap mentioned, you may find evidence-based techniques beneficial and you can find additional information about them here: https://insomniacoach.com/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-insomnia/
One of the key components of these techniques is creating a strong sleep drive for bedtime. Do you have a consistent bed and waking times each day? Are you compensating for feeling fatigued during the day with a nap?
Scott
—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.
Hey Linda!
Thanks so much for sharing your success story about these evidence-based techniques. I’m glad you’re able to enjoy sound sleep again!
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.
