Behavioural principle #1 to approach insomnia
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
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Spending more time in bed seems logical when you didn't sleep much the night before, but in reality, it might be one of the reasons why sleep problems persist.
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DISCLAIMER: Not medical advice. Everything on this channel represents personal opinion and experience and is provided for informational purposes only. The author is not a medical doctor, psychotherapist or any other licensed professional. Any information on this channel does not constitute and/or substitute medical, psychotherapy, counselling or any other professional advice and treatment. It is not intended to treat, cure, diagnose any medical or psychological condition or disorder. Always seek professional licensed help if you have any health concerns.
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Your videos have saved me... I suffered for many years but after listening to you, I am making the changes and feeling much better... Best advice is that not to fight insomnia and just take it easy
My sleep is not good. I am trying to make it better by walking. Lately, I have been walking a lot.. Sometimes two hours a day. I even walked in the winter. I sleep for maybe an hour and then I wake up. This happens many times through the night. It is like a nightmare living like this. Magnesium helps. If I was doing more physical work I think I would sleep much better but I find working more is difficult as I am 68 and do not have a fulltime job.
How are you doing now? I work from home too and live alone and having a social life is a MUST for sleep. I didn't think it mattered until I traveled and visited family. Slept sooooo much better. If you are at home a lot by yourself, make socializing a priority. It matters.
How do you know if magnesium is helping? I have been using it for 5 days now but i don't see any effect
@@quickpstuts412 Thank you.
@@kzzs7383 Magnesium needs Vitamin D3. If you have sleep problems and/or anxiety Vitmain D3 with K2 is a MUST. Magnesium alone did NOTHING for me.
Started splitting my dose and taking it with 20K IUs of Vitamin D3 per day....gamechanger for sleep...especially falling asleep. I'm out after 15 minutes of hitting the pillow and I used to stare at the ceiling for 1.5 hours before falling asleep.
My problem is I hardly feel sleepy , I go for days with minimal sleep in fact I know I hardly sleep maybe 1 or two hours of light sleep . I have been suffering for almost two years now nothing seems to change. It’s getting cold now and I much prefer to be in bed than up waiting to feel sleepy . I don’t fear being awake but I hate going night after night with hardly and sleep . I wish I could change the way things are as insomnia is ruining my life.
Thank you Alina for your videos. You really help me see how insomnia has landed in my life. Listening to you and your experience is so freeing. Easily fell asleep 3 nights in a row. I’m so happy.
Thanks so much! I found Alina from your post in Autumn's FB group! Unfortunately, insomnia has always been an issue for me but it's the worst now it's ever been with my 3-5 days in the gym lifting weights! I look forward to better sleep and lower cortisol!
@@Oshinaba You’re welcome. So happy you found Alina. She is like Autumn but for falling asleep 😊. The way she explains things and talks from her own insomnia recovery do it for me. I have watched so many different videos on insomnia and how to have a better sleep and Alina is THE one that makes the most sense to me and she doesn’t talk like a doctor or therapist. I have watched all her videos and liked and commented on 99% of them so you can see how good I am doing following her simple advice. I hope Alina helps you the way she’s helped me. I’ll see you on FB 😉. Good sleep is so important to what we are trying to do over there, I just had to bring Alina’s channel up.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It is so encouraging. I suffered from chronic insomnia this year and it is really painful. Now I am trying to address it the right way. Reading your experience really gives me a lot of courage. ❤
@@pengpengjulian you can do this. One night at a time. Your body knows how to fall asleep. That is what gave me the most hope. It will be a year soon that I discovered Alina and I am doing better and better. Thank you for your nice comment.
What happens if when ever I feel ready for sleep I get a panic attack? My heart rate increases. I’ll be so tired but my body is in fight and flight. I’ll take medicine and I will still be in fight and flight.
Hi! What you are describing is a very common experience that is called Houdini effect. It is when the panic mode turns on in the moment, like out of nowhere. Behind that “mystery” is our safety mechanism. That mechanism triggers in less than a second when our brain registers any potential threat. It is automatic process meaning that we can’t control it in the moment. Insomnia is a learned fear of not sleeping and that sleeplessness becomes the object of fear. Getting sleepy or going to bed might trigger that alarm, when our brain knows that we need to keep an eye on possible threat (which is being awake at night).
The only thing that can turn that panic mode off is our brain seeing that it is safe. So when we stop viewing wakefulness as a threat, our brain stops triggering that panic mode. It is not a simple thing to do of course, this is why that process is long and gradual but education around sleep, awareness and self-kindness can be a great help here.
Can you do a video not on "insomnia" but *somniphobia* - where their is an actual fear of falling asleep (e.g., seems like death, etc.) ?
that sounds horrifying, hope you can find help soon
Thank you!@@cristianzor_scs
you look excactly like my wife and she also has insomnia what are the odds
What about if you feel sleepy because you didn't sleep the night before - you feel sleepy at 8 o'clock which is earlier than 2 nights ago - do you delay the opportunity to sleep or let yourself sleep and wake up at 3 a.m
Did you have health issues besides insomnia? Also did you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both?
Hey Alina been watching your videos. Great stuff btw. I have been experiencing horrible insomnia. And I would like to talk to you. Am pretty scared for my health.
Hi James, thanks for getting in touch and I am sorry that you struggle with your sleep. You can definitely reach me out via my Instagram instagram.com/sleeptalks.ali you can find there more content on sleep or send me a direct message if you need a 1-1 session
Take care!
What if you're already sleep but can't sleep 😔 i used to sleep 9-6 everday I get so down I can't sleep at night almost every night. When it hits midnight, I panic and nervous I won't be able to sleep through the night again 😢 I don't want to drink prescription pills anyomore
Hi Coach,
I’ve been going through all the information but one thing that keeps stopping me and keeps me away from facing my fears is how horrible the situation can get.
I feel like I understand the mechanics but the catastrophizing is what is scary. I understand that these too are intrusive thoughts but they feel super real to me and make me believe that the same will happen. How do I detach myself from these thoughts without forcing them to stop?
You can’t, you have to accept them. That’s the hardest part. You have to become okay with that panic and those thoughts, and let them pass by. (If this is any comfort to you, I’m having a speed bump and have been getting 0-4 hours every night for the last 2 weeks) … but I’m practising being okay with it, and I do eventually sleep. Notice that, that you always do sleep? That’s a comfort in itself.
Have you read Daniel’s books?
@@eleanorrigby5759
I’ve read ‘set it and forget it’
I’m practising acceptance by being okay with all my feelings however the scare of complete sleepless nights on ends is very real.
@@AyeshaKhan-q9s So if you're still scared then you aren't really accepting it yet. Acceptance means when you wake up you are completely OK with it. You get out of bed, go enjoy a movie and you know sleep will come! That's real acceptance. If you are still scared, you aren't accepting.
So you either accept or you don't. If you have anxiety about it, the acceptance isn't there yet.
I think what helped me was just over time I began to realize that I can sleep. I started waking up and going to another room and actually enjoying the TV without thinking about sleep. Then I'd get sleep and get a few more hours. I'd get 6-7 hours broken up but enough to make me relax.
It's a slow process but acceptance is the hardest part. I feel you!
Dear Alina, i started suffering from insomnia a month ago and now on Zolpidem, i didn't want to take any sleeping pills as i was worried about the side effects of it. But i am also a high blood pressure patient, i mean i am taking a highblood medication too but whenever i get less sleep it rises and that was the reason i started taking pills. Started watching your videos now and I am completely understanding things better. I just want to ask if you have met anyone with insomnia and highblood pressure and is the approach to the problem just the same like the people only suffers from insomnia. I really want to hear some insights about this one. At the moment while on Zolpidem ( which i have to take for a month) i make myself busy with excercise, pilates ,hiking ,also reading. My doctor says i have to do things like a habit, sleep at the same time so my brain would remember that at this time i need to sleep.and also if i feel really sleepy at day time can I nap? I am worried that if i take a nap i won't be able to sleep at night even with medicine. I'm a bit confused since I'm a beginner in this journey. I hope you can read this comment
Hi Coach Alina this is my first time watching your video and hearing your voice! First I wanted to say that you eyes are pretty, and then the second thing I like how you simply you explain this concept that sleep comes from no effort, because it seems like we’re all up because when we make an effort to try to sleep that is energy we’re putting into doing something which is the opposite of relaxing and it’s like we’re building up all our energy like we’re going to perform a show. Thank you for the explanation Coach Alina!!!🙏🏽💞
Super glad it helped 🙏 thank you for kind words
@@FearlessSleep No problem!!!😊💞
Dear Alina,
Recently i have been "struggling" with some insomnia and anxiety. Since then every paradoxical aspect of its safety behaviours and deceived perception have taken a toll on me. Now i uderstand it at a logical level as starting to see some improvement since befriending wakefulness. But one thing worries me. I see alot of people complain about the struggling for YEARS and i started questioning myself... Is this just it? Can this aspect may be somewhat so hard to comprehend that people get caught in its web for years? It really can be this deceiving that people stuck in this "chasing" game for years instead of doing the opposite that being complete willingness to accept and befriend wakefulness? And so it all boils to HOW and not HOW long?
For me i don't know that my insomnia can be treated by my self to change some thoughts,such as istopping seeking sleep or something like that, or that the insomnia that i suffer is disease and mast be treated by medication,iam dying
I think we may be able to tell our brain to forget about our insomnia
These videos are fantastic. Thanks from NYC.
Good one
With insomnia my body feels heavy all day, i noticed if i dont lay down to go to sleep when i get sleepy i lose my chance to fall asleep/my sleepiness and i remain awake all night. So i am in bed by 9pm ready to get sleepy at 10. Like clock work. But it is a very regimented way to live 😢
I was the same but I just started distracting myself from when I was sleepy and just went to bed when I wanted and I swear it ended up working. It’s not easy but truly my fix was to keep my mind busy and then hit the sack. It eventually worked and is still working
Hey Alina- I find I’m not thinking about anything but I still can’t sleep/sleep so lightly. Feel like a zombie lol, even sleeping meds don’t always ‘work’. Do you think something is wrong with me?!- my mind is v blank, tired but not sleepy, feel like a zombie, never no idea I am awake or asleep. Is this part of the journey?! Been happening for 5ish months. Pls help!!!! Thank uou
Hey Molly, thanks for your question. I will reply to it at length in my next Q&A video!
@@FearlessSleep did you reply to this question? I'm in the same boat
@@zincerish did u get better
@@mollyreed1859 how are you now
@@mollyreed1859 how are you
The problem is that when it hits midnight, I feel nervous of being not be able to sleep at all 😢
Been there 🫂
Thank you 💗
Hello coach..
When I am very much close to drifting off to sleep..my heartbeat suddenly increases & I can feel palpitations. Is this hypnic awareness or somniphobia? Plz help
That seems like that! I have a video on the topic of hypervigilance, you can try to find it. Hope it will help!
@@FearlessSleep now I occasionally feel it sometimes it stopped & I get hypersleep now a days..plz tell me is that a sign of improvement?
Are you going to make more videos Alina?
Yes :) I am currently working on my website and it takes more time than I’d like but more videos are coming! In a meantime, feel free to check out my Instagram page, I post there once in a while: instagram.com/sleeptalks.ali/
Cheers!
Hello Alina, what should someone need to do when they did feel sleppy and tired during the whole day no matter if i sleep or not. I feel totally fit and that is bizzar!
Hey Maturo, thanks for getting in touch! I know insomnia can feel bizarre because some events just don't make sense. But I find that hyperarousal can play tricks on us and the fact that we feel tired even after a night of sleep, sometimes just shows that the previous hyperarousal has been dropping and all the tiredness it's been covered up is now comes back to the surface!
@@FearlessSleep What should someone do if they do not feel tired? Any advise?
I’ve been struggling with severe insomnia for almost 5 months now and it’s ruining my life . I’ve lost interest and motivation for life . Sleep has became the number one priority in my life but I can’t continue to live like this I just want to feel normal again and not have anxiety about sleeping .
hello what was the reason of your insomnia
and how much do you sleep
@@mohamedelfayda-c5p I’m not sure it suddenly stared happening
@@mohamedelfayda-c5p it depends some night I don’t sleep at all it takes me 4 to 5 hours to fall asleep and when I do usually about 4-5 hours
@@MaryamElsabawi did you had stress
Hey Alina. I have a question! so I remember on your talking insomnia episode with Daniel, you said that you often would hold onto a specific thought/mindset/mantra that would keep you in a good place for a while and then it would stop working.
I do this often too and when I hear something that gives me a lot of clarity about sleep, I exploit it to the maximum (i tell myself it before bed) and I often think I’ve “cracked the code” when it works to help me sleep. But then it stops working after a while, so, I would rather just not latch onto these thoughts that are actually true facts about sleep and just stick with something that is concrete and won’t “stop working”. Because what often happens is I’ll think of a comforting thought, such as, “normal sleepers don’t think about sleep as much as i do and that’s what creates this problem” which is TRUE so I remind myself of it but then a few days later I’ll have an intrusive thought related to it like: “well how do you know they don’t think about it as much?” And it ruins everything. The intrusive thoughts are difficult because of how vulnerable my mind can be with insomnia. So how were you able to give up these thoughts/mindsets that “stop working” after a while?
Hope this makes sense and sorry it’s so long lol
Thanks :)
Hi Ellie, the first thing that came to my mind as I read your message was: we can’t understand the system if we are the part of the system.
And that made me thinking that you already have all the insights needed to cross that bridge where you are immune to insomnia. You see, as you rightfully noticed everything we think or do eventually stops working. And the truth is NOTHING is supposed to work, as sleep doesn’t come because you think a certain thought, sleep always comes on its own terms - we hold no control there.
So what if instead of trying to find the ultimate thought that can’t fail us, we wholeheartedly admit that there is no thought or mindset that can ensure the stable outcome - and kind of become ok with it? This might be scary at first, but it can also be a source of huge relief - we know we are going to be fine anyway (the fact that you are still here, safe and sound, proves it), we no longer need to do anything, we stop playing the game of trying to find THE solution. We are exiting the game, and while those stubborn thoughts “what-ifs” can still persist, we just take it as the residual echo of the game we are no longer playing. And as life goes on, we focus on things that are more interesting, more controllable and more meaningful - and you will see how sleep eventually follows :)
This was my attempt to describe the way how I ended the battle and left insomnia behind :) It might not make that much sense to others, but I do think that you are very close to that point of setting yourself free from insomnia.
@@FearlessSleep you have such an amazing way of describing things and I thank you for sharing this wisdom! It's nice to hear that I appear close to being free from insomnia, I believe I am slowly but surely crawling out of this cave of insomnia and in a more general sense, anxiety. It's kind of awesome because since I found daniel's channel, every day I am realizing a little bit more about this monster I've created haha. 3 years in the making so it's a pretty well-embellished monster.
Hi Alina and ellie, Thanks for great insight. One of my friend is a doctor and he says sleep is must since lot of biochemical reactions happen when we sleep. So not sleeping from insomnia is not a threat? What if our mind is conditioned for months not sleeping due to fear?
@@FearlessSleep also I wanted to say that whenever I think about abandoning holding onto a reassuring thought that has helped me, it kinda feels like I’m taking a parachute off as I’m jumping from a plane, especially if I’m abandoning these sleep-effort-thoughts at night. Like it feels like there’s nothing to keep me from crashing into the ground (not sleeping at all for days). Is it true that when you abandon all reassuring thoughts it won’t make you crash into the ground? Because it kinda feels like it in this stage of my journey
@@jackwil5605 you can unlearn the fear, I’ve had it for 3 years and am seeing the unlearning process happen with my own eyes. You’ll be fine if you don’t sleep, the body always self-regulates it. light sleep is the body’s way of making sure it has just enough to survive so the body looks out for you