Questions about sleep restriction
Hello,
I want to get on CBT-i, and I have two worries about sleep restriction.
1. I have to drive two miles to and from work every day (math professor). Does this mean that sleep restriction is not a good idea for me? I have seen people claim that those who work heavy machinery should not undergo CBT-i as the sleep restriction is dangerous for them.
2. I notice that sometimes, I feel overwhelmingly sleepy but successfully fight it off if I feel it's too early to go to bed, only to not get sleepy again and have a bad night. If restriction says I can only spend (say) 6 hours in bed, could it be better to simply go bed whenever I feel sleepy and set a timer for six hours, rather than have a fixed to-bed and out-of-bed time? Is this consistent with CBT-i?
If you can only answer one of these, that's okay.
I believe that any experienced therapist would be able to customize a program that allows you to work safely and still see the benefits. We are all different and therapy shouldn't be a cookie-cutter experience. Stay hopeful and bring your questions to the first appointment. I hope that you can find a way forward and ultimately have successful treatment -- we'd love it if you keep us in the loop! -Melissa, team member
Hi
. I'm glad you are considering CBT-I. It's recently become the frontline treatment for insomnia and it has a huge success rate, so it's worth a try. Though sleep restriction is often at the core of CBT-I, it doesn't have to be. There are other approaches therapists can take if you are uncomfortable with it. If you decide to try sleep restriction, could you Uber back and forth to work for the first week?
I hope you get responses here, but it might be helpful to have that initial meeting with a therapist and talk over these concerns as well. So much will depend on the therapist's experience level and your own unique situation. I wish I had better answers, but insomnia is so different for everyone. It's hard to know how sleep restriction will impact you or whether it's even necessary.
Let us know what you decide, if you don't mind.
Thinking of you. - Lori (Team Member)I can Uber, although I have not used it yet. I started sleep restriction with Stellar Sleep about four days ago, and it's not going well so far because I keep getting very sleepy hours before my bed time, accidentally fall asleep on a chair, and then wake up after an hour and don't get sleepy again. I do sleep again but not nearly as much as I should.
A couple days ago it was weird because I was sitting on the chair with a lamp on near me, and I started having a dream that I was a newly-hired teacher at an elementary school. I thought it was funny to go around the building pulling fire alarms for no reason, and after a while I was going to have a talk with the principal. As I was starting to prepare an apology and a promise not to do it anymore, I woke up and realized I had the dream while sitting up on the chair with a lamp on and a couple books in front of me I wanted to read.Hi
. Dreams like that can be really unsettling because they feel so real. Have you ever had a sleep study to ensure that insomnia is the primary problem? If not, that might be worth discussing with you doctor. Deficiencies in Vitamin D and B vitamins can also cause excessive daytime sleepiness, which can through people wildly off schedule. That might be another avenue to investigate if you haven't already. Your primary care doctor can test levels of both with a simply blood draw. These issues might not cause your insomnia, but they might make it harder to treat it. - Lori (Team Member)
