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Hi Pam. Welcome to the club. Yes, if you can’t fall asleep within 30 minutes , you are supposed to get up for 30 minutes or until you feel sleepy and then go back to bed. Since we are anxious about the connection between bed and tossing and turning, many of us become wide awake every time we go back to bed. I was virtually a human yo-yo in my first week of SR as I had to get out of bed and then go back to bed several times during the night. I got very little sleep that week and actually got less than before I started SR. However, that has happened to many people so don’t be surprised if you are getting less sleep also. My window is 11:45 to 5:15 and yes, sometimes I struggle to make the 11:45 window. In the second week, my sleep began to consolidate so I did not have to get up as much. Now I just need to sleep more so I can increase my window but that can take awhile I am told. A long while, as SR is not a quick and easy cure for insomnia, although it beats the sleeping pills which never helped me.
Did you take lessons in CBT-i anywhere? If you didn’t, Martin offers two courses on this site. I took the free one and it helped but I need a little more hand holding so I signed up for the paid course and I just started that. If you haven’t taken any CBT-i courses yet and aren’t sure if you want to take the paid one, make sure you take the free one as it can be very helpful. And stay in touch on this thread as those of us who are on SR like to encourage each other. Good luck to you with your sleep.
Borgesbi – I see you are not a paying client of Martin’s. Where did you learn how to do SR? Martin’s free course? Are you also practicing Stimulus Control where you get out of bed after 30 minutes if you can’t fall asleep?
Thanks Delv and Roy. I know what you mean about thinking about the next night’s sleep after you have a good one. I was warned about keeping active the next day after having a good sleep because your sleep drive won’t be as strong as when you were massively tired the previous night. I did keep active yesterday and even though I was yawning like crazy and had trouble keeping my eyes open, I still couldn’t sleep. It is rather frustrating. I would just like to string a couple good nights in a row. I know I will have relapses but I can handle that as I have been warned about them. But this one night good night and then the next bad and then repeating itself seems like a cruel joke someone is playing on me. Hope you both have better sleep soon.
Hi Borgesbi. Yes, I have heard that relapses will occur even after having weeks or months of good sleep. That’s why part of Martin’s paid course is how to deal with them. I am just beginning my third week of SR and it is frustrating to have a good night of sleep only to be followed by a bad night. And yes, I have done everything right and was exhausted when my SW began and I still couldn’t sleep. So I know what you are going through. The only thing we can do is keep trying. I know that doesn’t help much but try not to let the frustration get to you.
So disappointing. I seem to be in a rut. Good sleep night then bad sleep night then good then bad. Last night was horrendous after a very good Friday night. I stayed active all day yesterday to make sure I built my sleep drive but I hardly got any sleep at all. Maybe an hour. The rest was tossing and turning and doing SC. Anybody else have cycles like this?
You might be right Roy in that I could have been in Stage I sleep. All I know is that when I woke, I was so used to doing SC at that time that I said I might as well get up and do it since I normally have to at this time. But that thinking was while I was in my groggy state.
I always under/over estimate my sleep. I am not a good estimator of time, eith when I am awake or after waking up. Glad you got a good night’s sleep in.
It was a good night last night. I figured it might be as I only got 2 hours of sleep on Thursday night and I was exhausted Friday. I was barely functional at work. I did do some microsleeps while waiting for my SW to begin but I don’t think they affected my Sleep Drive much because when I went to sleep, I was asleep within 15 minutes. I think I awoke once during the night but it wasn’t for long and I then slept straight through to the alarm at 5:15. I can’t remember when the alarm got me up from a natural sleep. Has to be about 8 or 9 months now. I am still a little tired and some of the effects from insomnia remain but I have to remember I only got 5 hours and 15 minutes sleep. That’s way less than I need to get and used to get before the insomnia struck. So naturally I am not refreshed yet. And while I know I am not cured, I am heading in a good direction. I am concerned about tonight’s sleep since my sleep drive is low right now but I am trying to do what Martin said. Remain active throughout the day and don’t rest in a chair as I might fall asleep in it. Hopefully my SD will increase over the course of the day and I’ll get another good sleep in tonight.
You know Padron, Martin asked me a very interesting question about how do I feel when I get out of bed at 3:00 in the morning to do SC. I told him I was half awake and half groggy. He asked since I was still groggy, if I didn’t think I should stay in bed and try to fall asleep. I thought about it and our discussions on SC and I thought maybe I was just getting up a lot of times out of habit and didn’t need to. I will have to think about it more next time I need to do SC at that time.
Thanks for the info obribri. I read about Dr. Rybarcyzk and his methods. I was wondering why in the articles, some of his patients were on a 5.5 hour window and other patients seemed to be on a four hour window. From the articles I read about him, there is one other key difference between him and Martin. In the article, he states he reduces the SW by a half hour every week or so. Or at least that’s what it seems. In Martin’s program, we have to have a 7 night SE average of at least 85% before we can reduce it 15 minutes.(In the Sleepio program, you have to have a 90% SE over 5 nights.) Still, he seems to get results. I just signed up for Martin’s program as I know I need some “hand holding” here as SR and SC are tough.
Padron – Can I have the link to that article? I still have some stress about sleep but not about early morning awakening. If it happens it happens. My heart isn’t racing with anxiety either. But SR has consolidated my sleep. No question about that. But it hasn’t lengthened my sleep yet. And now that it is consolidated, when I wake up, I usually can’t get back to sleep. I am done for the night.
Hi Padron. Yes, this is the toughest thing I ever did as well but I am pretty much used to it by now. The thing I have to watch for is that I can fall asleep watching evening TV too. The longest I’ve ever done it for is a half hour but that’s a half hour that was taken away from my Sleep Drive. I find that if I can get at least 4 hours of sleep, I am okay for work the next day. That doesn’t mean I feel normal as 4, 4 1/4 or 4 1/2 isn’t much sleep to refresh me. But when I get only 2 or 3 hours of sleep, the next day at work can be quite difficult, if not impossible. Hope you get better sleep soon.
I know what you mean delv. I hate to waste my sleep window on SC as well. Last night when I got up, I just couldn’t bring myself to read so I turned the light off and sat in the dark. Three times.It was a bad night where even when I did sleep for two hours, it was a very fitful sleep. What is your SW and your SE? I started my third week of SE last night.
You’re averaging 5 hours of sleep at night and you are on a 6.5 hour SW? Are you going to have to cut it back soon? I know that can be tough to do after you got it that high. In any event, good luck to you.
Delv – You log the number of awakenings in your sleep diary? Are we keeping different diaries? I am using the one Martin gave me from his free sleep course. I have to honestly say that when I do look at the clock, it doesn’t bother me what time it is. No anxiety if I only have one more hour before the alarm goes off. That’s because I usually wake up around 4:00am anyway and can’t get back to sleep so I am usually up at that time. Maybe it would be more of a concern to me if I started sleeping through most of the SW. But at this point I’m not. I would think I would be more anxious if I didn’t know what time it was when I woke up. Right now, once I get to sleep, I can sleep for 3 to 4 hours which is nice. My problem is getting to sleep. If I can’t get to sleep in roughly a half hour, I know it’s going to be a bad night and I will be up and out of bed several times for SC.
I just want my life back. I want to ride my motorcycle again and date again. I can’t meet someone if I look and act like I haven’t slept all night. And it’s tough handling a motorcycle when your extremities have tremors in them from lack of sleep.
