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You are spot on Kimbiana, “ the goal is to lessen anxiety, not to improve tonight’s sleep” & thanks for re-enforcing this Chee. I also find that I function well on only a few hours sleep & can find myself sleepy after a night of 7 hours….haha. Very important to remember this & change your perspective on needing a solid 7 to 8 hours sleep EVERY night.
I now go to bed looking forward to resting with no expectation to sleep & even though I still experience some anxiety, I use acceptance & commitment therapy (ACT) to help with this. It’s early days for me (coming to this realisation) & like you Kimbiana, my sleep problems haven’t evaporated overnight but I think the secret could be a combination of Martin’s sleep restriction & ACT.
Many thanks, Martin, Chee, Kimbiana & SkibearCo.Thank you so much SkibearCo, this information is so valuable to me as I also suffer from anxiety around sleep. I am very grateful that you posted it.
Trish
Hi Chee,
You are so right…I need to stop struggling with this, just let it be, be patient & enjoy my nice warm bed during a very cold winter in Australia.Thank you
TrishHi Kimbiana & Chee,
Kimbiana, I can totally relate to what you are saying & I feel exactly the same as you when you feel so many ups & downs with your mood. I to can feel very optimistic but then all that optimism plummets when I have another bad night. It’s like a roller coaster ride. I also have been staying in bed & “resting” when I’m not asleep & I don’t feel that it is creating any anxiety around my bed so I will probably keep doing that. I don’t ever sleep in or have naps though.
Chee, thank you once again for always encouraging everyone & stressing the importance of not caring about sleep. As Kimbiana says, you are totally right but for me even though I am practicing acceptance therapy with sleep restriction, I still lose my confidence about ever sleeping well again. Will I eventually sleep well again if I keep on practicing these techniques? Does it take time to truely accept & truely not worry about sleeping poorly? Do I need to be patient & realise that truely reaching this “not caring” stage can vary from person to person & that with persistence, I will get there? I totally understand what you mean by doing nothing but I am struggling with not being obsessed with sleep.
Thank you Kimbiana & Chee
TrishThank you Chee for your reply. That information is very helpful even though your sleep issue may have been the reverse of mine.
Thanks so much Boylston for your reply. It is very comforting to know that you still had some difficult nights after completing the program. To know that some people still experience “hiccups “, doesn’t mean that the sleep restriction technique isn’t working. This makes me worry less which is key to it’s success along with patience. I think it is important for me to reinforce that “what happened the night before, doesn’t matter”.
Cheers, thanks again and wishing you both continued good sleep.
TrishHi Chee2308,
No I haven’t been sleeping in or taking any naps. I get out of bed the same time every morning. I’ve been very disciplined in sticking to my sleep restriction times. I’m just not getting any consistency with how long it takes to go to sleep. Sometimes go to sleep quickly, other times it takes hours which makes me feel a bit disillusioned. Sometimes I feel hopeful & other times not so was wondering if you ever experienced this, especially in the early days. Thanks
TrishHi Chee2308,
I have read a lot of your emails & you inspire me & give me a lot of hope. I’m using the sleep restriction technique & feel as if my sleep is improving & my anxiety reducing. But just when I think “I’ve got this”, I experience a night of taking hours to get to sleep & even though I don’t go back to square one, I lose confidence & wonder if I’ll ever get to where you are at. Did you ever feel like this? Do I just need to be patient & realise that it probably takes different amounts of time for different individuals to reach true acceptance & to eventually not place so much importance on how much sleep I get?
I really appreciate that you take the time to respond to people’s sleep concerns even though it is evident that you have recovered or are in a “good place” as far as your sleep goes. Very caring. Thanks
TrishHi Elle, so nice to hear from you. Haha…..I know what you mean about the head bobbing! I’m perservering with the sleep restriction but my results are sometimes good & sometimes not so good.? I’ve recently spoken to someone here in Australia who completed this technique over a year ago & swears by it. He has given me a lot of hope especially when he’s told me that it has given him his life back. He told me to be patient & that my sleep will eventually recover. He had all the doubts & ups & downs like me but with perseverance it worked. I think that the whole anxiety thing is the key to this.
I’m so sorry that there could be a potential diagnosis for you. Waiting for that sort of thing is extremely anxiety provoking which never helps with getting a good sleep. I hope you get a good result. ? I love to sleep too…..it’s like a rest from life & when it doesn’t happen, it is hell. Sounds like I’m getting a similar amount of sleep to you. ? I think it would be a great idea for you to sign up. I’ve just recently been speaking to a sleep psychologist here in Aus so I am initially going to see where that takes me. Martin is wonderful & I’m seriously thinking of signing up depending on what happens with the Aus psychologist.
Keep me posted Elle on how you go with everything. And all the best from me for a very happy & pleasing outcome for you.
Cheers. Trish
