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Accepting insomnia is just letting go of thinking you can control your sleep all the time. I just got back from a vacation beach week and it was wonderful. I did not worry about sleep, I was so busy and was so tired I fell asleep about 9 oclock every night and slept until 6. When I am home I go to bed around 12 but wake up at 5;30 or 6. I found out on vacation I still wake up early which irritates me. I would love to sleep until 7 or 8 but it is what it is. I am just happy to be sleeping all night. I have had to accept occasionally I will have a bad night which I hate but then I get back usually the next night. This is acceptance for me.
I am also trying to appreciate sleeping thru a struggle free night. You see I wake up at 5:30 am which is much too early for me. I want to sleep until 7 at least. I have tried going to bed later and this messed me up and I did not sleep at all that night. I am really trying to just accept this is as good as it gets and be glad I am sleeping from 12 until 5:30. It beats being up all night, that is for sure. I was hopeing I could sleep later in my retirement. I do usually take a half hour nap in the evening but I get so sleepy then. Doing best I can.
yes live tired if you have to! Love that. I go 2 to 3 months and then have a bad night for some reason. I use to never do this but 2 years ago I got insomnia and now it seems I am very sensitive for some reason.
The only time I remember being up in my 70 years was when I went thru a divorce which I only missed one night of sleep and went and took something called sominex and never had any more problems. Also if I drank hot tea at a chinese restaurant I didnt sleep. Otherwise I slept great. But 2 years ago I got on a bp medicine and then must have been allergic and got insomnia. Even after being off the med which I didnt need I still could not sleep for 2 years.
Martin Reed helped me a lot, I quit worrying that I would get a stroke or heart attack if I didnt sleep. I just said I will sleep eventually if not tonight, tomorrow. For some reason this helped me. But for some reason if life happens like the other night my husb asked me a question in middle of the night when he went to the bathroom and I was up the rest of the night. If not that it will be something else. My son called one night at 10:30 and I couldnt get back to sleep. So I agree it is life, but mine is a lot better so I am grateful~
I get so anxious sometimes and this affects my sleep. I will be glad to hear what others say. I know if I awaken in the middle of the night, my husband says something to me or anything that wakes me, phone call late or thunder/lightning, I wake up and cant get back to sleep. Like you, this happens rarely but the next day I feel awful. I know I cant control this but I can control my response. I just say I will do the best I can, it will pass.
I dont know why I am so sensitive now with my sleep, I use to never be. I am way better than I use to be 2 years ago when I had bad insomnia after a medication. I am grateful but these nights when I get anxious I cant do a thing about it but just do best I can. I try to just lay there and relax the best I can. I get so wired up at times and it takes a while to calm down. Now I know I am not alone, there are so many that are like this.
I wonder if after you take lexapro for so long it no longer works. That is the way it was with benadryl, it worked great for a year or two and then I had to up the dose and after a while it seems I got immuned to it and it did nothing for me. It has to be disappointing not sleeping after 6 years, wow. Well you know you can sleep anyway. I have been sleeping good since I found this site a couple of years ago but I know not to get complacent.
The other night I fell asleep on the couch, woke back up to watch the late show, Jimmy Fallon and then was wide awake and could not get back to sleep. Lesson learned. If I fall asleep go to bed dont get up and watch tv. I use to be able to do that, I could sleep at any time but now I am sensitive to it. I am happy though to be back sleeping good. I probably wont ever get back to how it was but I have to accept that and am happy now that I sleep most nights, hardly ever have a bad night. Good luck and you will figure it out! Martin Reed helped so much.
I know when things happen or I am getting anxious when things happen and things are going to happen to upset us like doctor appointments, a flat tire, etc. I say well I probably wont sleep tonight but that is ok because my sleep will come back the next night and it does. I just dont expect to sleep good if something is going on. That is the way it was back when I slept good, I would still get anxious and not sleep as well on that night.
When I got insomnia and started to worry I would never sleep again that is when I had a rough time. All that worrying about never sleeping again was the problem. I cant expect to go thru life and never have any hard times. I use to think I would have a stroke or heart attack or something else bad if I didnt get my sleep. Since I dont have this attitude any more my sleep is so good. Who cares if I dont sleep good one night, I will get my sleep back, go on and enjoy life until my sleep gets really good again. I dont stop living any more.yes definitely do the 2 week free course. I use to feel like you, like I would have some kind of break down, stroke or heart attack. One time I went 3 days without sleep. I am not afraid of it now. You will sleep eventually. All that panic is what makes us not sleep. I finally got to the point of who cares and go on with life. I set my hours from 12 until 7 and go to bed. If I have a crappy night which rarely happens now I say that sucks but I probably will sleep tonight and I do. We might have a bad night just like we have a bad day sometimes.
It definitely was my response to my sleep problem that kept me all worked up. I listened to a lot of the podcast on here and that really helped. So many of us had the problem. It is so upsetting to think you may not sleep again but you will. Martin Reed told me this and it is so true.
well live and learn. I was scared to try something different and for good reason. I was awake all night, well most of it anyway. I have decided what I have been doing for the past year is just fine with me! I hate waking up early at 5 or 6am but it is sure better than last night. I took that nap in the afternoon, probably too long and then last night came and I was glad to not be tired at 9 oclock pm but then I could not get to sleep at all. It was one of those toss and turn nights, probably went to sleep around 4 or 5 this morning. It was miserable. I just could not get to sleep at all. But at least I did not take benadryl like I use to.
Anyway looks like 5 or 6 hours of sleep is the best I can do. I got a touch of the insomnia I had a couple years ago and dont want that again. I plan on getting back on track tonight, hopefully. When something works stay with it and it basically did. I just need to work on that attitude with getting up early and yes I think age has a lot to do with it. I have a busy day today and will power thru, that is what it is all about living not sleeping.
I am a high energy person which I guess is a good thing but maybe not so much in the sleep department. I have been thinking maybe this is all the sleep I need especially since I dont work any more and am not as tired. Getting older they say you wake up earlier and go to bed earlier. I have tried different hours but still wake up early. At least I can sleep now, 5 or 6 hours so that makes me happy. I also take a short nap which I enjoy and it seems to not affect my sleep if it is short. Yes this may be an age thing that I need to accept. I will have to work on my attitude about getting up early. Those morning larks seem to enjoy something about morning hours.
yes my body would love to do a 9 to 4. 4 oclock is like middle of the night to me. I have a friend who sleeps from 9 until 3. This makes me miserable. Yes I am a night owl, I love staying up watching Jimmy Fallon and late shows. I get so sleepy around 9 oclock so I take a nap. This way I can watch the late shows and stay up late which I enjoy.
This may be as good as it gets. I dont like waking up at 5am, sometimes I make it until 6am. Yes I hate going to bed early and I hate getting up early. I guess I want to be a teenager, stay up late and sleep late. Yes I am older now, 72 years old but I could sleep like this up until I got insomnia 2 years ago from some medicine I was taking.
The only thing I know to do is possibly take a shorter nap if I can to build up some sleep drive, maybe an alarm. At one time I could not even go to sleep, wired tired as they say but I can sleep now without tossing and turning. I may have to accept the 12 until 5. I know a lot of people have it worse. I sure had it worse 2 years ago with no sleep for 3 days at one time, that was horrible. Martin Reed really helped me.
That is me, I took the 2 week course and have been sleeping well ever since. I took it last April, yes a year and a month ago. Martin Reed got me past my fear of not sleeping and listening to his other pod casts and utube made such a difference and someone I could relate to like #61 Bryan. I had insomnia for 2 years before I came on here and now I am off benadryl. I kept having to take more and more of that stuff. It feels good to be off of it and know I will sleep.
I know I use to worry about not sleeping and then I could not go to sleep. Now I say well got to get to sleep, I will eventually and got to get up tomorrow and go to the gym, my volunteer work or whatever I have planned. I think a positive attitude helps, planning what I am going to do and assuming I will get to sleep so I can do these things. Sometimes I just say time to go to sleep and I do, shut my eyes and rest and go with whatever happens. It seems simple but when I started ruminating and worry that is when the sleep problem got worse. I need to do nothing and that is what works. Quit trying to fix it. You will sleep when you get tired and eat when you get hungry. Basically it is the same thing.
I think we can tell ourself stuff and actually believe it. I know when I got insomnia I told myself if I could not sleep I was going to have a stroke, heart attack, die. I worried about sleeping and then I didnt sleep. When Martin Reed said I will sleep eventually. My sleep drive would catch up and I would sleep. I think when we just go on with life and quit all that worrying we do fine. I know I have slept good for the past year thank goodness. I thought I would never sleep again after a 2 year struggle, taking benadryl. I dont take it now. I just got myself into a tizzy worrying when there was no need. I picked my hours to sleep 12-7 and that is about it.
Do what is best for you. I know some people have had insomnia for years, some of them says 20 years. I had two years of insomnia before I found the 2 week free course but what a difference it made. I learned to quit worrying about sleep and know now it wont kill me, just go on with life and sleep will come eventually. I also know I will have bad nights from time to time. Martin says we have bad days and we have bad nights. Thankfully I have not had many bad nights now for the past year. At one point I thought I would never sleep again but Martin let me know I am not alone and that yes I would sleep. If I dont sleep good one night, I dont get all crazy about it now, I know my sleep drive will catch up with me and I will sleep.
Dont you hate it when you have a bad night of sleep. It is like having a bad day, every thing going wrong. I guess we just have to not care. It does not do any good to care or worry about it. I know now sleep will come eventually and will come when ever it wants. I know this
sucks.I also know I have had just a few nights over the past year that were not good. But when I quit worrying about it I get back on track quickly. Like so much in life there is nothing we can do about it. We just go enjoy our life and if we sleep we sleep and if we dont, it will come back eventually. When we dont let sleep control us we get better. I am going to have a good life and just sleep when I can. I think it is still a miracle I have slept so well this past year after 2 years of hell tossing and turning.
