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I do the noticing and welcoming 3 to 4 times a day. But when I am out walking or on the motorcycle, I will “notice” a lot then. It keeps me centered and keeps my mind off of the bad thoughts. I don’t think you can overuse the tools. it’s always good to notice what is around you. Now as for the body scans, I usually only do those twice a day. Once during the day and once after I get into bed. And as for the everyday mindfulness, I just do that once a day during a repetitious activity. The breathing exercises help me because they slow my breathing down which can promote sleep. Otherwise, I would be in bed quickly breathing in and out which can cause anxiety.
Hi Bluesky. Welcome to this thread in the forum. SR stands for Sleep Restriction which is what you learn in CBT-i. Act stands for Acceptance and Commit Therapy. That is an alternative to doing SR and SC (Stimulus Control) for those of us who have high anxiety. The best way to learn about ACT is to order the book The Sleep Book by Dr. Guy Meadows. It’s a quick read and has helped a lot of us with our anxiety that has resulted in our insomnia. If after reading the book you have any questions, you can ask them here in this thread. Good luck to you.
Hi gsdmom – I’m glad you are getting better. At least it sounds like you are. I think I am too as I am getting mostly in the 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night, with a couple of wake-ups in there, although the wake-ups might be just normal ones that even good sleepers get. I try to do my breathing exercises but I find a lot of times I am tired enough that I go to sleep while doing them! Therefore, I do them but for short periods of time. I concentrate mostly on welcoming during the day as well as Noticing My Senses and Noticing My Sensations & Urges. I also do Everyday Mindfulness but probably not as much as I should as I work during the day and it’s hard to do that when I’m working. Anyway, glad to hear you are getting better.
Deb – Glad to hear you are continuing with sleeping well. It must feel great. While I think I am getting better, I still do need more sleep. The 5 to 6 hours I am getting is better than my last couple of weeks using SR and SC alone but I am still getting lightheadnesses and having trouble concentrating when I only get that much sleep. Hopefully, I can continue toward that 7 hour mark.
Hi burn – Sorry to hear about your roadblocks you have been having. I think we are prone to regression every now and then after having some good weeks. We all want to steadily progress towards being “cured” but it is really not a straight line. We will have some setbacks. But it sounds like you are still on the right path so stick with it. Once you reach a certain point, you will probably “break out” for good like Deb did. When you talk to that sleep doctor and ask if you can do ACT with SR, please ask specifically if it’s okay to do a Sleep Window with ACT, such as a 5.5 or 6.0 hour Sleep Window. That is what featherly and I are wondering about. Thanks for asking this question for us. And hang in there. You will continue to get better like you were doing. Sometimes stress just happens on any given night.
Glad to hear everyone is doing well. I had a decent weekend myself. I expected to sleep good Friday night as I usually do since I am tired from the long work week. I ended up sleeping about 5.5 to 6 hours and the alarm actually got me up. It wasn’t a straight 6 hours as I slept through the first 3 or 4 hours but then had a a couple of wake-ups in there. But it was enough so that Saturday I was able to take my motorcycle out for a long ride. Saturday night was almost as good as Friday night. I woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm went off and it was the same 3 to 4 hours straight sleep and then a couple hours of broken sleep. Last night was a little rougher as I expected it to be as getting ready for a Monday and the first day of the work week is a little rough for me. It always has been. I slept for about 5 hours with two wake-ups in there and then woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was really calm though when I woke up and wasn’t tossing and turning at all. I did use my tools but realized I didn’t really need them. So I just lay peacefully for about 2 hours until it was time to get up. I just have to keep remember to practice my tools during the day this week and hopefully things will get better. On the positive side, I am starting to go right to sleep again.; Also, even though I do wake up about an hour after I first go to sleep and have other wake-ups during the night, I usually can get back to sleep pretty quick. Hope this coming week is good for all of us!
Burn – Actually, I Don’t keep a sleep diary anymore. I just write it in from memory as to what happened last night. I stopped with the sleep diary because I agree it was stressful. It was also notable in that it was the first really bad night since I started ACT.
Debt – Thanks for the support. I know from Martin’s course that you can never predict what will happen for that night’s sleep. I look forward to see what happens tonight.
I have to agree with you Burn. There is something biological in all of this. Last night was a really bad night for me since I started ACT and I really don’t know why. I went out with some friends and when I got home, I had to kind of rush around to do things to get ready for bed. As it was, I was probably 15 minutes late getting into bed from my normal time and I really didn’t have my usual wind-down period. Maybe that’s why. Anyway, it took me awhile to fall asleep and then I only slept for two hours. I was able to refrain from tossing and turning by using the tools but for some reason, the bad thoughts kept coming back even after I made peace with them initially. So, after about 3 hours of lying there, I started to address my insomnia directly and “get to know it” rather than just lying there and letting my mind wander. That seemed to work and I got two half hours of sleep between 3 and 4. But then I was awake again. It has to be something biological with this and I just need to overcome it. I will say this. Being able to stay in bed with ACT has given me more energy. If I was still doing SC, I would be dead tired today after last night. I just hope that I don’t start stressing about going to bed again like I did months ago. That just led to the worse insomnia.
Hi Pam. Welcome to this thread in the forum. How long have you been practicing ACT? Did you do CBT-i and SR/SC before that? Most of us who have been practicing ACT notice a quick reduction in the amount of anxiety that we have. But as for sleep, it does take awhile for the sleep itself to turn around. I have read that it takes some people two or more months to show improvement so don’t lose hope. Just keep practicing the tools both day and night and thinking positively and your sleep should get better. After awhile, the tools will come naturally to you and this will help you stay asleep. Also keep posting to this thread for support. We all help each other on here. Try not to get frustrated over your sleep as that will just prolong the insomnia. Learning to accept it for what it is will make your doubts start to go away. That’s when the healing will begin.
Thanks Deb. I do overthink a lot of times. I just have to realize that this may take a couple months since I am an anxious person. It won’t happen overnight. I do wonder what the difference is between Sasha;s two books The Effortless Sleep Method and The Effortless Sleep Companion. The latter is newer and costs a couple more bucks. But if it’s the same as CBT-i without the SR, then that would be old news and a waste of money. Time to practice my ACT tools! Have a good sleep tonight everyone.
The one thing I am having trouble with is acceptance. I believe that I will get better one of these days and every night when I go to bed I believe I will get a better sleep. But is that acceptance? Am I just replacing true acceptance of my insomnia with wishful thinking? I know I don’t have to be resigned to it, but if I believe I am going to get better, is that negating the acceptance I should feel towards it? I think we should feel positive but does feeling positive mean that we don’t accept our insomnia?
I have been doing ACT now for about two weeks and I keep feeling like I am on the verge of a breakthrough. Last night I got 2 hours of being in and out of sleep and then after going to the bathroom and getting my favorite pillow for my back, I got about 4.5 hours of deep sleep. But I was really tired last night so I don’t know if I got that much sleep because my sleep drive was so high or because of the ACT tools I am using.
Deb – Do you really recommend Sasha Stephens book? Can you give me the complete title of it? Thanks.
gsdmom – I am glad the ACT system is working for you. If nothing else, it’s nice having the stress levels down, isn’t it?
Have a question for those of you recommending Sasha Stephens book. I see she published two: The Effortless Sleep Method and the Effortless Sleep Companion. Which one are you recommending? And isn’t it just a rehash of SR with some positive thinking thrown in or am I missing something? Thanks.
I don’t blame you. Going off of them could cause rebound insomnia so it’s better to make sure you are sleeping well.
Glad to hear it Deb. By the way, are you still on your anti-depressants? Are you going to quit them soon?
Hi featherly. I read your post about your aches and pains and I had a thought on it. With ACT, you are now spending more time in bed but not sleeping for all of that time period. I know in my pre-insomnia days, I sometimes developed aches and pains due to pressure points against the mattress from staying in bed too long. Since you are not in a deep sleep, you could be developing the same thing. Just a thought.
I finally had a deep sleep last night for about 4 hours. Then I woke up around 2:30 and started to stress and toss and turn for two reasons. The first was that I was getting nervous about going back to work after my vacation. I kept calming myself down using the tools but that nervousness kept coming back. I probably won’t have to deal wit that tonight as I will know that nothing bad happened from my return to work today. The second reason was that I think I told you in my e-mail that I had to take the day off to wait for the telephone repairman. Well, he never came so I have to call them up today and try to resolve the issue as I can’t take another day off from work for this. I suspect that will resolve itself tonight as well. Sometimes, even though we use the tools, the stress keeps coming back.
How is your sleep doing? Are you sleeping longer? Are you keeping a sleep diary? How long are you sleeping now compared to when you were doing SR?
