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What I found works about it is less rigidity, but also the shift in mindset from doing all the things I needed to do to help create the conditions for sleep to come, compared to now, where I’m being more open and less fearful of being awake knowing I can always still get rest, or shift to do something more enjoyable if the bed becomes a bit of a struggle, and that sleep or little sleep, I’ll still be available and present for the next day. Also just knowing that I don’t have to always reframe everything because I don’t do that when I’m sleeping consistently. Meaning, I can be miserable but also available the next day. I can acknowledge the anxiety at night, I can acknowledge that I feel crappy or that I would prefer to sleep rather than lie awake at night. but not trying to control the conditions for sleep and rather control my reaction to not sleeping has been the shift that has been helpful. challenging but helpful. means giving up some sense of control which is really what CBT provided me at a time when I needed to completely rebuild my sleep foundation. now I’m keen to continue on with the course because it is more about how to live and be grateful vs. chasing something I can’t control.
Isn’t the notion of a sleep window more CBT and less Acceptance? I purchased this program because I’m trying to practice ACT fully having used CBT earlier on in my adult life to help build up my sleep foundation. which it 100% did. and then used the approach again 8 years later when I had a relapse. but recently, I’ve found CBT to be too rigid and all consuming and when I’ve had a recent blip, found ACT was able to get me back on track in a week (vs 4-6 weeks with CBT). And when I look back at how I approached bedtime, it really was to not overthink it. if I was sleepy, I went up to bed. if I was sleeping, I didn’t get out of bed meaning I didn’t set an alarm. but if I woke up and wasn’t falling back asleep, I would get out.
however, where I’m at now is another blip 2 months later, trying to embrace ACT fully. finding it works well one night (deep sleep up to 7.5-8 hours, no sleep window), but then the next night I sleep very little. this has gone on for 6 days now hence why I purchased this program. to better understand the tools and the techniques that are the foundation of ACT. Which leads me back to the sleep window and wondering how withholding sleep if it seems to be knocking at the door isn’t by definition, sleep effort which ACT tries to remove. t
