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Deb – I’m surprised you gave up on SR and SC. You seemed to be doing well on it. How much are the sessions with Dr. Kat costing you? Are they by e-mail or phone or what? ACT is an interesting method but it never really worked for me so I started SR with Martin.
So how is everyone doing? It’s been over a week since anybody posted here. As for me, I graduated from Martin’s course and while I am not “cured”, I’m glad I took it. I will probably be signing up for the maintenance course of four weeks for the support he gives me. At least for one more month, maybe two. But after that, I will be on my own as I have no support elsewhere. My SW is now at 6 hours and my SE is at 85% of that. Some nights I sleep a little more than that 85% and other nights a little less than the 85%. It’s strange. When I first started the course, 3 hour sleeps were bad nights for me and I was glad when I got 4 as I felt better the next day. Then as I started sleeping more, I recognized that 4 hour sleeps were poor for me and I was glad when I got 5 hour sleeps as I felt better the next day. Now I recognize that sleeps in the range of 4.5 to 5.0 are poor nights for me and I’m glad when I get in the 5.25 to 5.5 hour range as I feel good the next day. Once I started sleeping better, the formerly “good” nights became poor nights. As I continue to progress, I hope that these 5.5 sleep nights will be considered poor for me and the 6.0 nights will seem good for me.
I strongly urge all of you considering SR to enroll in Martin’s course. While I still suffer from insomnia, I have made a lot of improvements and don’t think I would have without Martin’s knowledge and support.
Mac – I didn’t realize you weren’t doing a SW. Do you still go to bed at relatively the same time though and get up at the same time? I am not sure what I need to feel good. The best I have been able to do is around 5.25 hours and while I didn’t feel refreshed, I wasn’t falling asleep at my desk. I am curious to see what 6.0 would do for me. Before insomnia, I needed 7.5 to 8 to feel refreshed. Not sure if it’s less now since my sleep is probably more consolidated. I just finished pedaling my 10 speed 5.4 miles and I am really tired because I just started riding the bike a very short time ago. I figured I needed the exercise so I started it up again. As for work, yes, it can be added stress. I just hope I can start next week with a more positive attitude towards it. That would certainly help the stress. Hope your sleep picks up soon.
Mac, I think I misunderstood what you are asking. Yes, I have the alarm for work and I think it has affected me some. My workplace is a bit rough right now with the insomnia and is probably leading to some of the stress I feel. So knowing I have to go in and there is an alarm set for it, it does affect me some in a negative way. I have to try to keep a more positive attitude knowing if I sleep better, the workplace won’t be so tough.
Yeah Mac, I know what you mean about the titles. Some of them can really make you remember the anxiety which is why I am avoiding them for now. Well, there is no alarm for me during vacation but I still have to get up at the end of my SW. As for work, I set the alarm to make sure I am up but I haven’t slept to the alarm since I developed the insomnia so it hardly ever goes off. Usually, I am out of bed doing SC or did SC and there is so little time left it isn’t worth going back to bed. These last 4 nights though, I have been in bed at the end of my SW either just waking up or waking up not too long before it. In fact, one of those mornings I slept for 15 minutes beyond my SW. That is a good sign I think and I should probably set the alarm so I make sure I am up at the end of my SW. The only problem I had is that since I didn’t have to get ready for work, I would go sit in a chair. And these last two mornings I noticed I fell asleep in the chair. I have to stop that. I think the same thing is happening on the weekends and that is why I feel relatively good after I get up on the weekends and so tired at work, because on work days, I can’t take those early, short naps after I get up.
Hey everyone. Doing okay here. I got three relatively good nights of sleep but then had a bad one last night but I’m not stressing about it as I know it’s going to happen. I’m also on vacation this week and so have been trying to fill my days with relaxing activities instead of the work routine. I think that’s why I had those three good nights of sleep. In fact, I had a very enjoyable last 4 or 5 days and I am starting to see how a positive attitude and going out and having fun and living my life can help beat this. Martin has been a big help in making me recognize this and I’m glad I took the paid course. Now I just have to stay positive when I go back to work after vacation is over. This is actually my first time on the forum in a couple days as I am trying to avoid everything on here except for this thread. It’s hard to keep a positive attitude after reading some of the posts but I do want to support everyone doing SR in this thread. Mac, I think you know what I mean as you have avoided the forum on occasions as well. Going to eat breakfast and then get out there and ride my 10 speed before the rains come. Take care all.
Hi Alison. Yes, many of us start to worry here when we get the bad nights. I was just talking to Martin about this and I am just as guilty. Who are you doing your SR with? Are you taking Martin’s free course? According to the rules, since you are above 85%, you can increase your window by 15 minutes. How long is your window now? If you are uneasy about doing that, you can always wait a week before you increase. That way, you will make sure that you are above the 85% line and not pushing it just because you reached 85%. It also might push your bad nights numbers up some. As you said, don’t get caught up in the numbers. That is a sure way to start worrying about your sleep and returning to insomnialand. Keep us posted on this thread as to how your doing.
Hi Ron. In answer to your question, no. The minimum SW you should be observing is 5.5 hours. That is so it’s possible to get the core amount of sleep that you need, which is 5 hours (the extra half hour giving you time to get to sleep). It’s true that you aren’t getting it now, but the possibility is there for you to get it with the 5.5 hour window. If you go less than that, you have no chance f getting it.
Glad to hear you are more relaxed about sleeping Deb. Things are progressing for me. Last week, I regressed to where I was only getting 3 to 3 and a half hours of sleep which was killing me. These last 5 nights though have been progressing in the positive direction again. I am getting in the high 4’s and last night I got 5 1/4 hours of sleep. I felt better today although that amount of sleep is still not enough for me. Therefore, I am still suffering from slight dizzyness, trouble focusing my eyes and brain fog. Still, it’s not as bed as when I was getting in the 3’s. And at least I am not fighting off the urge to fall asleep at my desk at work. I am hoping that now that I broke the 5 hour sleep barrier, I can build upon that. Have fun on your vacation. I don’t know how you have the energy to do all of that.
Glad you are getting the sleep you need now Karen. I went into a slump but over the last three nights, had a 5.25, a 4.5 and a 4.75 hour sleep. I am starting to crack the 5 hour sleep barrier, even if I’m doing it slowly. I am just so tired in the morning though only getting mostly sleep in the 4 hour range. My biggest problem is nodding off during the day. I was so tired yesterday (Sunday), that every time I sat down, it went into a microsleep. I finally nodded off for about 25 minutes later in the evening. I know these naps are killing my sleep drive but it’s hard to avoid them. I have to work at doing a better job at that.
Hi gsdmom. If you want to know more about Sleep Restriction and Stimulus Control, go up to the top of the page and click on the Resources tab in the menu. You can then click on either category and it will explain it to you in more detail.
Hi Gill. First of all, I would say that CBT-i, SR and SC do work if done constantly and not just on an intermittent basis. As I mentioned to you before though, it can take some time and just because the course lasts 8 weeks, doesn’t mean you will be “cured” in that time period. I think that in comparison to doing nothing, CBT-i is a better bet if for one reason only. And that is that after a couple weeks, you may be getting less sleep than before you started SR, but it will be more consolidated and therefore you will feel better. As an example, I was getting 4 to 6 hours of sleep before I started CBT-i but it was over an 8 or 9 hour period of staying in bed. That means I was constantly waking up throughout the night and my sleep was not a deep one. After about 2 weeks of SR, I was getting 3 and a half to four hours of sleep but that was in a 5.5 hour period so it was more consolidated. I was still tired when I got up, but not as bad.I recognize that it will take time to get more sleep but I am prepared to stay the course because I know CBT-i is better than pills. The sleeping pills they gave me never worked and as for the anti-depressants, if you look at the side effects for them, you will see most of them have insomnia as a side effect. That’s why doctor’s usually prescribe a second med to help you sleep to counteract the anti-depressants. So, try sticking with the program and see what happens. After all, SR isn’t all that bad. Look at it this way. You are only getting 2 hours sleep now. So if your SW is 5.5 hours long, you won’t be losing any sleep in the beginning. And once your sleep starts consolidating, you will feel better and start to get more sleep. Feel free to ask in this thread any questions you may have.
