Thanks for asking, and yes, it's improving. I'm doing everything the sleep therapist suggests, including increasing "sleep pressure" by lopping 2-1/2 hours off my time in bed, which means getting up at 6 am instead of my usual 8:30.
It's awful. I'm so sleepy during my quiet hour before bedtime that I have to fight to keep my eyes open, but when I get into bed, I go to sleep right away. No lying awake worrying. When the alarm goes off, I drag myself out and sit in the living room, zomboid, for an hour before I rally and begin drinking hot tea. Before I started this therapy, I had nights when I tossed and turned until 5 am.
I've cheated once each week, sleeping an hour or two later in the morning because I'm exhausted, can't concentrate, have something going on the next day that requires some sharpness. But then I have to come clean to the sleep therapist. He's not entirely happy. We spar.
I'm tired! I can't think straight! I have things to do that require concentration!
He blocks every exit. Plenty of people are underslept (long-haul truckers, for example), he says, and life goes on. New parents are chronically under-slept and cope. Surgeons are exhausted, and what about pilots? This is an investment in my future quality of life (even though I feel like hell now). We're "re-regulating" my sleep.
This week I may not even bother to cheat, because I'm too tired to explain myself.
Three more weeks. In the meantime: no naps, no TV or computer before bed, no reading in bed, no excuses. I think it's working. If only I weren't so damned tired.
2 comments:
Glad you're sleeping better, but now I won't sleep worrying about the truckers, pilots and surgeons. I feel a bout of Agoraphobia coming on.
I know--that line of thinking didn't do much for me, either.
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