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Help with sleep restriction

Posted , 8 users are following.

Alisonsarah13
Alisonsarah13

Hi, I've been suffering severe insomnia for about 3 months. Have been following a sleep restriction programme on the advice of a CBT therapist, but not very rigorously until this past week. I'm having 2 problems with it. Firstly,  every other night I only sleep between zero and 2 hours, but I've been recommended not to have a sleep 'window' of less than 4.5 hours, which is way more than my weekly average amount of sleep. Secondly, when I get up because I can't sleep, I never feel sleepy. In fact, I have hardly felt sleepy for 3 months despite appalling sleep. I feel exhausted, but never sleepy. So during the night I'm always getting back into bed as alert as when I got out of it. If I stayed out of bed until I felt sleepy I'd have to stay awake all night. 

Any advice? Thanks! 

1 like, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • tabitha05933
    tabitha05933 Alisonsarah13

    Posted

    Hey Alisonsarah I wish i can give you advise but i need some to. I been having trouble to and it was couple days then beens months now its been going in since september so its like 4 months going on 5 months. I spoke to one of my frienda she said thag it happened to her for longer then that and it then went away. I have never experienced this in my life i usuallt would sleep 8 to 10 hours a day. I do known when i use ro sleeo all those hours i would wqke up to pee at least 6 times a day. I dont have diabetes or anything. People are twlling me its from stress thats why i cant sleeo. But i always was alittle stress and was able to sleep so i dont know whats going on with me im trying to keep positive ans i started ro reas the bible. But im thinkingita anxiety that im having when i lay down for to long i start thinking of rhings my mind tends to wonder and then i dont feel sleep any more.
  • NECKBONE
    NECKBONE Alisonsarah13

    Posted

    Hello, very sorry to hear about your trouble sleeping.  I too have been working on SRT and have the same problem you do in that I sleep much less than the recommended 5 hour minimum.  However, I believe that time window is the minimum amount of time you need to spend in bed whether asleep or not.  I'll be honest in that I ignore that advice most nights. I only sleep 2-3 hours and laying there an extra two or three hours with my thoughts swirling around in my head exhausts me more than simply getting up and doing something. I am finding the key to SRT is not staying in the bed and trying to force sleep when you just arent naturally tired. I obviously won't contradict the advice given to you by a trained therapist, I just know what seems to be working/not working for me.  Good luck with your journey. 

    • Alisonsarah13
      Alisonsarah13 NECKBONE

      Posted

      Thanks for this. The problem is that the advice is to get up and only go back to bed when you feel sleepy. But I never feel sleepy. 

      Are you able to work on 2-3 hours a night? I'm starting to struggle - have mangaed it by working from home and hiding away but I have a big meeting to chair next week. 

    • NECKBONE
      NECKBONE Alisonsarah13

      Posted

      I have functioned on 2-3 for a long time; I know what you are going through for sure.  It's a difficult and lonely spot to be at 3AM wanting to sleep and knowing that you have a presentation in 6 hours!  I had a very stressful job as I'm sure many of us do, one that required daily meetings and addressing groups, etc.  At first, I didn't think I would be able to manage all the responsibilities but found out over time that you can do pretty well even if you are less than 100%.  

      I feel like I have made a couple of breakthroughs recently with sleep just by taking the advice of so many, to not lie in bed awake with your thoughts zooming about.  One of my keys is not stressing over or trying to force myself back into sleep.  I typically wake up within 2 hours of falling asleep and I used to toss and turn all night until I had to get up the next day.  This behavior only compounds the problem.  Now I have a good book handy and I simply get up and enjoy my time reading.  If I fall back asleep fine, if not that's fine too.  Over the past few days, I've actually gotten sleepy enough after reading to fall back asleep within a clouple of hours and sleep until maybe 5AM.  Not ideal and it doesn't happen every night, but any improvement is welcome!  I know it's the hardest advice in the world to follow, but try not to get stressed or frustrated with yourself when you can't sleep.  Just occupy your mind with something you enjoy and is relaxing and I think you will start to see some benefits.  

      In terms of your meeting, just make sure to start preparing early and know your agenda well in advance.  Preparation puts meetings on autopilot and that helps so much when you may not be at your best due to lack of sleep.  That's advice I would  give to anyone, sleep deprived or otherwise.  Once you get things kicked off in the meeting, you'll start to forget about how bad you may feel and things will move along nicely.  

  • puzzler123
    puzzler123 Alisonsarah13

    Posted

    Believe it or not anxiety can play a big part in not sleeping you may not feel anxious at first but the less you sleep the more anxious you get and I should know as I have had a major sleep problem for 2years and I have to say it has been hell. Have you tried cbti it is supposed to help treat insomnia directly instead of cbt which is for general anxiety and depression unfortunately this did not work for me. Try to stay off the pills if you can as they don't always work for everybody and you can get addicted to them

  • denisita
    denisita Alisonsarah13

    Posted

    Alisonsarah13, I totally feel where you are coming from and I had the same problem for like 6 months.

    I feel like specialists are not prepared for these extreme cases. I was not showing any progress at all whatsoever until I saw like a 5th specialist. I first took sleep aids like ziploclone and then ended up on an antidepressant along with melatonin.

    So far this has been the biggest help. I didn't feel depressed. The only thing that was making me feel so down was my lack of sleep. Like you I wasn't feeling sleepy even if I only got 20 min to 2 hours a day. So I was useless to get anything done and I always got anxiety and felt out of place.

    I hate to suggest Meds, but in extreme cases they can seriously improve your quality of life. You need sleep to be active and healthy. You need a new doctor who will take your case very seriously and lay out different options with you. Try a psychotherapist or a psychiatrist. You probably need something a little stronger at the beginning to change the bad cycle.

    Best to you. You will find a method for you.

  • suella46323
    suella46323 Alisonsarah13

    Edited

    I, too, have chronic insomnia (10 years, seems to be getting worse). I'm using Sleepio at the moment, a CBTi app that includes sleep restriction. I've tried doing the SR without any assistance, and it was a failure, similar reasons to the difficulties I'm having now: Fighting not to nap early in the night, as I'm exhausted (average 4 hours of interrupted sleep a night). I end up dozing, sometimes for an hour or so. I know this is not helpful, but I'm unable to stop napping when I'm so exhausted. I'm supposed to be waiting till 12:30 pm for my sleep window. When I get to bed at 12:30, I've got better at falling to sleep, most nights, but wake up after 2-3 hours. Exhausted, hate getting up. When I do, I can't tell when to go back to bed. I often fall asleep (if I put TV on), and wake up again later in the early morning. Bad strategy, as it's not reinforcing the idea of bed = sleep.

    I'm thinking now of trying: go to bed when I start to want to nap, say 8pm. Sleep for as long as that happens, then get up. Be prepared to stay up for a couple of hours. Colour in, embroider, jigsaws. Then, when I get sleepy tired again, go to bed. I may, that way, get a few hours early in the night, then some more later in the night, and I won't have been reinforcing my bad habits of lying in bed awake or napping on the couch - both of which are counterproductive to healthy sleep patterns.

    I'm interested if anyone has tried this approach.

  • Taddjo
    Taddjo Alisonsarah13

    Posted

    Try drinking a glass of hot adult formula milk 1 hour before sleep. It might help. If you could drink 2 glasses a day but space it out or you end up going to the toilet middle of the night.

    Google how digital devices have blue light which disrupt sleep. Try install apps like twilight to switch your phone to block blue light and see if it helps. You could also try not to look at digital devices 1 to 2 hours before bed. It does disrupt your sleep. You might want to try getting a pair of block blue light glasses and wear it few hours before sleep. It will help.

    Soak your feet in a small basin before bed in slightly hot water. It helps too.

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