Post
by Guest » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:40 am
Hello Sleepless in California: But the good news is that I went through the program starting in fall 2006, and I have had very few problems since then. It did take a couple months to be able to sleep all night (I started out with only being able to sleep an hour or two every night. I would wake up in the middle of a full blown panic attack! "Sleep panic" my psychiatrist called it. I think I was so over-anxious about insomnia, my body would realize it was waking up and have a panic attack! It was a slow process, but week to week I would sleep a little more each time. Hang in there...there is some good information about sleep scattered throughout the program. And Boon is SO SMART! "If you didn't care one way or the other if you got good sleep at night, you'd be getting good sleep at night. (Read that again.)" Brilliant. Believe me, I know that insomnia sucks, and makes it harder to handle anxiety. But you can do it! Here is what I do: First, try to adopt a "so what" attitude to insomnia. "I am awake, at 2 a.m. So what? I have managed to make it through the day on a very little amount of sleep before, and I can do it again. It's no big deal." Second, when I wake up at night, I do the 2-4 slow breathing cycle. Eight times on my back, 16 times on my right side, 24 times on my left side (I read that somewhere!). I do that whole cycle twice, and if I am still awake I get up. You could try reading something, I channel surf until I am drowsy. Or write in my journal. I had the good luck to see a psychotherapist who works at a sleep disorder center (I found her quite by accident), and she recommends that when you feel drowsy, go back to the bed. You are not supposed to stay in your bed for anything but sleep (or sex), so that your bed is associated with sleep. Good luck, you'll make it.