Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
Yesterday was odd, I fell asleep somewhere between 11 and 12(normally i don't dare try going to bed earlier cause i'm not tired and get rejected but I felt way tired last night) and woke up at 5 a.m! The wake up time was a lot earlier than I wanted however and I felt pretty tired still so I stayed up a little and went back to bed around 8 and slept till 11.
So fast forward to tonight and.we'll see if I even get 1 minute of sleep tonight. It's already 4:55 A.M and I haven't slept a minute. I tried going to bed and couldn't....felt sort of buzzing in the back of my head(no thoughts though). I just didn't feel tired. I got up out of bed for a little bit and when I went back down I felt so tired and my eyes hurt but I couldn't stop thinking. It wasn't anxious thoughts, just random thoughts. I feel like a complete idiot because I can't sleep even though my eyes hurt and I'm dead tired!
I'm so very angry right now. If I have to lose some of my momentum and progress I've made working out because of insomnia, I will be pissed. I'm also going to bed pissed if insomnia ruins my camping trip this thursday through sunday! I'll be up at 5 or 6 every morning fishing so we'll see if I get any sleep at all during this trip. I don't think i'd want to wake up at 5 or 6 consistently, but maybe when I get back from the trip I can use these early wake ups to my advantage and set my alarm clock to 7 or 8 a.m. which would be my desired wake up time. But wow, I started the day out stress free but now I feel stressed and have a knot in my neck probably created from my sleeping frustration of tonight!
Anyway we'll see what my doctor says when I see him this morning at 10 A.M. I'm almost certain he's going to say I'm tense or something but if he does then he's wrong. If anything i've been stress free without working the last month or so and even if I am now, it wouldn't have happened if I wasn't having trouble sleeping! But wow, I felt so bloody tired in bed but after I couldn't take lying in bed anymore, I all the sudden have so much energy which is all in the form of anger! Just want to kick something!
So fast forward to tonight and.we'll see if I even get 1 minute of sleep tonight. It's already 4:55 A.M and I haven't slept a minute. I tried going to bed and couldn't....felt sort of buzzing in the back of my head(no thoughts though). I just didn't feel tired. I got up out of bed for a little bit and when I went back down I felt so tired and my eyes hurt but I couldn't stop thinking. It wasn't anxious thoughts, just random thoughts. I feel like a complete idiot because I can't sleep even though my eyes hurt and I'm dead tired!
I'm so very angry right now. If I have to lose some of my momentum and progress I've made working out because of insomnia, I will be pissed. I'm also going to bed pissed if insomnia ruins my camping trip this thursday through sunday! I'll be up at 5 or 6 every morning fishing so we'll see if I get any sleep at all during this trip. I don't think i'd want to wake up at 5 or 6 consistently, but maybe when I get back from the trip I can use these early wake ups to my advantage and set my alarm clock to 7 or 8 a.m. which would be my desired wake up time. But wow, I started the day out stress free but now I feel stressed and have a knot in my neck probably created from my sleeping frustration of tonight!
Anyway we'll see what my doctor says when I see him this morning at 10 A.M. I'm almost certain he's going to say I'm tense or something but if he does then he's wrong. If anything i've been stress free without working the last month or so and even if I am now, it wouldn't have happened if I wasn't having trouble sleeping! But wow, I felt so bloody tired in bed but after I couldn't take lying in bed anymore, I all the sudden have so much energy which is all in the form of anger! Just want to kick something!
Just pick the right thing. I highly recommend a form of exercise known as gross physical impact activity. This involves physically striking an object like you are describing.
Splitting wood with a heavy maul would be an excellent choice. Very satisfying to pick that tool up over your head and smash it down with everything you've got onto a piece of wood. Feels great when it splinters.
Beating a hanging rug would work too. Punching and kicking one of those heavy hanging cylindrical punching bags would be a real good choice.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, after you spent around 12 hours in bed it is not in the least bit surprising that you had a tough time sleeping the next night.
Good luck with your doc, keep us posted.
On a side note, I wasn't in bed 12 hours yesterday. I slept from close to midnight probably and woke up at 5. That's 5 hours and 3 hours after that. So only 8 hours of sleep. Maybe I was in bed for 10 hours. Besides, when people say I slept 8 hours aren't they referring to time spent sleeping, not trying to fall asleep? Are you saying if I think I need 8 hours of sleep that I should only be in bed 8 hours even though I guarantee not all of that would be sleeping?
The idea is that we can become unintentionally conditioned for insomnia by spending a lot of time in bed not sleeping. We often spend time in bed awake, frustrated, even angry at our inability to sleep. It's a negative experience that tends to produce even more anxiety about the idea of sleep, which makes for a vicious self-reinforcing cycle.
In this way your bed and bedroom can become inadvertent cues for insomnia. This is one reason why many insomniacs can't sleep in bed but move to the living room couch and fall fast asleep with no problem.
In CBT, stimulus control combines with sleep restriction. So you only allow the minimum time in bed that you need for sleep, and no more.
Over time, these methods, combined with addressing negative sleep thoughts, managing stress, and other elements involved with a sleep supportive lifestyle, is very effective at restoring consistent quality sleep.
When I move I'm going to get a punch bag for occasions like this.
Its also a good workout :)