Having had insomnia for the whole of last year, I’ve started an 8-week on-line course of CBT-i, a key part of which involves sleep restriction. I have to go to bed at exactly midnight and get up at exactly 6 am, regardless of the amount of sleep I’ve had. I know that sleep restriction has proven efficacy, but they didn’t warn me how difficult it was going to be! It’s really hard to stay awake until your allotted bedtime, without the use of caffeine, when the rest of the household is asleep and you have to be quiet! The support team have twice promised to send me links to articles with suggestions on how to stay awake but they haven’t yet been forthcoming.
I know that exercise helps with daytime alertness, so I’ve been doing that, but I’m still struggling. It’s only for another 4 weeks, but in that time, I have to function as normal!
I was wondering if onyone on STW had tried this, and if so, how they coped, especially with staying awake in the last hour or 2 before bedtime? Crashing about doing housework isn’t an option as it would wake the rest of the family. Last night I tried TV but kept dropping off to sleep.

Are there any “rules” about preparing for sleep? For example, are you advised to avoid the blue light from electronic screens?

If so, how about looking at OS maps to plan some new routes?

Or puzzle books such as Sudoku or Codebreakers. The “Take a Break” range (sold in supermarkets) are surprisingly good.

I’ve tried it and gave up, although I don’t doubt that it can work.

What you’re doing sounds a little different – I didn’t go for a set six hours. The method I followed was to work out how much sleep you typically got in total, and start there. Once you stay asleep for the entire time (I have no problem falling asleep, just staying that way), you bring your bedtime forwards by 15 minutes. Equally, if you’re not sleeping, you push it back.

I gave up after a couple of weeks. My usual pattern at the time was to struggle through c.3 nights of awful (4 broken hours max) sleep and then get a broken 6 or so, which I could deal with. Although sleep restriction seemed to be working, neither I nor my job could put up with a fortnight of zombieism.

The doc suggested signing me off work. Maybe if I’d had a couple of weeks where I could zombie my way through the days with no need to function then I’d have had more luck.

I’ve since realised that my insomnia is a result of a bit of a whirlwind in my head and that it’s not going away until I get that sorted.

Trying to stay awake… I went for short walks, fixed bits of bike, played the keyboard with headphones in (any ‘hobby’ basically) or did puzzles as mentioned above. Best for me was watched TV or reading stuff that caught my attention – I know you’re meant to avoid screens but I’ve found that they make no difference to my sleep. I did try to wind down over the last thirty minutes or so though.

Different conditions and reasons for insomnia and I think it would have worked. Hope you have more luck!

Insonia’s fun, isn’t it?

It’s really hard to stay awake until your allotted bedtime, without the use of caffeine, when the rest of the household is asleep and you have to be quiet!

You do know the course is for insomnia, right? 😀

Kind of gets enforced on me through work and changes to early reports – last night was about 4 hours sleep, but tonight will be 7 and tomorrow up to 8.

I think it works fairly well, but I end up at the block of earlies feeling absolutely shattered and it takes a week to get back to normal.

Go for a road ride locally. It should be quiet and reasonably traffic free.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I’m feeling pretty zombiefied but still 1 hour 15 til I can go to bed. I also have to do at least 30 mins intense exercise every day but not within 4 h of going to bed! I managed a bike ride earlier though.
It feels grim, and I have another 8 days of it before they give me another 15 mins in bed 🙁

Vickypea. Stick with it, I sorted my issues with a similar regime. I read before 12 and it has become part of my sleep ritual.

Thanks DavidB, I felt like quitting last night but I didn’t. I feel marginally better than I did yesterday!

Right, that rules out a pootle. How about a gentle stroll around instead, if it’s dry?

Stick with it.

After a decade of terrible sleep patterns (usually in bed for 8 hours and sleeping no more than 4), I did a long course in CBT and sleep restriction featured prominently.

I spent 10 years of my life dreading going to bed.

Now I go to sleep at 11pm and wake up at 6am every day, rarely waking up more than once through the night. I usually fall asleep in 5-10 mins.

“Life changing” is a a phrase that is thrown about quite a lot, but that’s honestly how I feel about getting my sleep sorted out. I love going to bed now and wake up (almost) every day feeling rested. When I look back, I honestly can’t understand how I functioned for so long on such poor sleep.

Good luck!

Yeap I only “slept” for 2 hours just now …

Been having trouble sleeping for the past two weeks and full of energy but now it’s time to work …

😮

Sandwich- a walk is a good idea, the fresh air will keep me awake, don’t mind if it
‘s raining.

Peterfile- thanks for the encouragement, hearing about your success with it will keep me going!