Wot no sheep? – How to get to sleep, part 3

Photo: Ali Taylor, stock.xchng

On 10 January 2010, for the first time in months, I got a good night’s sleep… which I think deserves some applause!
I’ve been following the sleep programme recommended in: ‘Overcoming Insomnia, A Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy Approach’ by Jack D Edinger and Colleen E Carney.  The first step in the programme was to read about sleep to understand it more and then to do a chart to find out how much sleep I actually need.  The second step was to follow a sleep routine, which seemed a bit Stalinist at first, but I was so desperate I thought I’d give it a go.  [I’ve included my sleep routine below but please note, this is not advice.]

Dealing with anxious sheep- how to get to sleep, part 2

Photo: Piotr Lewandowski, stock.xchng

My sleeping patterns remain disturbed, I am usually waking 3 or 4 times a night and if there is anything to worry about I often cannot get back to sleep for up to an hour.  The result is that I don’t feel properly rested and am often exhausted in the afternoons and evenings.  My lack of sleep probably also affects my ability to deal with the anxiety and so is a vicious circle.

Dealing with anxious sheep- how to get to sleep, part 1

Photo from stock.xchng, by Tudou Mao

I am learning to deal with anxious sleep after at least three months of broken sleep.  I have to say that sleeplessness really impedes my enjoyment of life and concentration, so I really want to get back into better sleeping patterns. Initially I wondered if the medication was making thing worse, but one of my friends who works in mental health said that was unlikely that after taking the meds for this long that it would still be interfering.

I’ve tried my first couple of things to help me get a better night’s sleep.  The first thing that worked was to go to bed later.  This is very counter intuitive, because lack of sleep at night means that I often fall asleep in front of the TV or with a book at about 8.30pm!  However, I made myself stay awake until 11pm and then slept through until approximately 5.00am, which is much better than usual.

The second thing that worked was an idea I got from a website, which suggested making sure that the ‘environment’ for sleep was right, so I made a few changes, for example added another blanket and opened the window to get some more air circulating etc.  I know it’s simple, but it did at least make me more comfortable.  It also fuels my hope that I can get better, because recovery has felt, a bit up hill recently.  I’ll provide a further installment when I have it, in the mean time I’ll hold on to hope that things will get better…

“Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself… ‘How did I get through all of that?”

Author unknown

For progress updates on beating insomnia see:

Dealing with anxious sheep, how to get to sleep part 2

Wot no sheep? – how to get to sleep part 3