Fear of Insomnia.

Occasional insomnia has a very odd effect on me. About once a month I find that my mind goes into overdrive as I try and fall asleep and the distance from mattress to dreams inflates from a typical 20 minutes to a mind-numbing 4+ hours. While the immediate result of these bouts with sleeplessness is Zombie D, the secondary result is a complicated fear of sleep.

After such a night of sleep struggles, I find that I start fearing the sleep process. I don’t want to have to deal with insomnia so I stay up to the point where sleep is all but guaranteed. Let’s call it planned insomnia. It’s 10pm, it’s bedtime, and I’m exhausted but i know I’ll have an easier time falling asleep if I wait until after midnight. On one hand, I’m improving my ‘falling asleep’ efficiency while also getting an extra 2+ hours of productive guitar practice or such. But, obviously I experience a far more debilitating and sustained exhaustion.

Has anyone dealt with this odd fear of sleep symptom? I’d be very interested in learning what techniques you used to conquer it. Do any of the psychology-smart readers have valuable input into why I have adopted this ridiculous avoidance strategy?

18 thoughts on “Fear of Insomnia.

  • 12/22/2009 at 12:15 pm
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    Luckily I only have problems with falling asleep rarely during extremely stressfull times, not every month. My strategies:

    1. Get ready for bed (brush teeth etc) before I get tired
    2. Do a comfort activity before bedtime, for me this is certain TV shows/movies that I’ve already seen- that way I’m not interested staying awake to find out what happens. I also find the sound of the dishwasher running very comforting, so I’ll run the dishwasher in the evening before bed
    3. Bedtime snack, glass of milk, bannana or yogurt are my favorites – oftentimes if I’m having trouble falling alseep I’ll get up and try to have a snack then go back to bed, it helps a lot of the time
    4. Sometimes if I really need to get some sleep I’ll take benadryl 30 minutes before bedtime

    Good luck Mike. It sucks to walk around like a tired zombie all day long, not fun.

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  • 12/22/2009 at 12:37 pm
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    This is me most days out of the year. I do much better when I have nothing looming in the morn. Somehow, the idea of an alarm going off at 6 makes me not fall asleep until 3am. Anyway, best solution? Ambien. Good solution? Two bags of Yogi Bedtime tea. Awesome (but impossible) solution? Quit our jobs and quit worrying about morning wake up times!

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  • 12/22/2009 at 12:39 pm
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    PS planned insomnia has never worked for me. Somehow just lying there makes me feel, ultimately, more rested. But, getting up for 15 – 30 min and writing down everything that’s in my head helps, too.

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  • 12/22/2009 at 1:03 pm
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    I need to get my cat to stop being an insomniac, or at least a loud one, because it leads to zombie Jocelyn.

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  • 12/22/2009 at 1:19 pm
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    It helps to stay away from television and computers for a while before bed.

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  • 12/22/2009 at 1:43 pm
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    I do the same thing! Just last night I stayed up until 2 because I hate staring into the back of my eyelids more than sleep deprivation. I don’t like taking sleeping pills so I find that after a week or 2, my body just hates me enough to crash back into a semi-normal schedule. The only real cure is coffee in the morning and lots of it.

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  • 12/22/2009 at 1:54 pm
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    I used to be a little bit of an insomniac when I was younger. I rarely deal with it now based on my three step plan:

    1. Exercise. Whenever I’m not procrastinating grading or planning for school, I go to the gym at around 9pm and wear myself out.

    2. Routine. Drink some water, take a whiz, and read for about 30 minutes. Works every time. Repeat as necessary.

    3. Don’t think about it. I know this sounds ridiculous. But, a reason for not falling asleep is that you’re obsessing over needing sleep and thereby causing anxiety that prohibits it. When laying in bed think about anything: the plot of a movie, reciting state capitals, exceptional sexual encounters, etc. When you get your mind off sleep, you will fall asleep.

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  • 12/22/2009 at 3:50 pm
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    I don’t sleep when I feel like nothing I did that day was worthwhile, and I keep hoping I can do something that feels “worth it”. This is usually brought on by a LONG day at work followed by the “too tired to do something I know I would want to do otherwise” syndrome. This problem is typical of the days I’m not home, but also often happens when Alicia isn’t around to co-pilot. The solution I’ve found is to accept it was a sucky waste of a day and mentally plan something for the next day to look forward to so that I’ll want to go to bed. Disclaimer: I suck at part 1 of the solution, and somehow the plans made in part 2 most often go awry. But perhaps you can do better.

    Also, my cousin had a REALLY bad insomnia problem. He quit drinking coffee and it disappeared. I’m not talking about coffee in the afternoon either. Even a cup in the morning somehow messed him up. Now he only has it once in a great while, and more for deliciousness than an eye opener, and I think he sleeps much better. How frequent is your caffeine intake?

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  • 12/22/2009 at 4:15 pm
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    I have this problem often, but if I exercise it helps a ton. The other thing that helps a ton? I got this herbal pack thing that I heat up in the microwave and put on my sore shoulder every night before I go to sleep. The smell of it seems to trigger my brain into coma, because I just now put it on during the day, and all I want to do is take a nap. Maybe you could work on figuring out some sensory triggers?

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  • 12/23/2009 at 9:13 am
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    This along with Chris’s second comment makes me realize that I have no night-time routine.

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  • 12/23/2009 at 9:15 am
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    Unrelated:

    This morning I thought of a good cat name: Meowmoiselle

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  • 12/23/2009 at 9:15 am
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    I must agree. Though Jesse’s comment below makes me jittery

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  • 12/23/2009 at 9:16 am
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    I have definitely been drinking a lot of caffeine. Perhaps I’ll take a hiatus and see what happens.

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  • 12/23/2009 at 9:54 am
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    I’ve mentioned this to you before but maybe you need some background noise while you’re trying to sleep. Since you don’t have a TV in your room you should turn on some internet radio or even come up with a “sleepy time” playlist and put it on so that you can just barely hear it. I do this every night and usually pass out within 5 minutes of closing my eyes.

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  • 12/23/2009 at 10:05 am
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    re: #3. I also agree that this is a good strategy but it can be hard to do in practice. I’ve found that I have a few particular memories I can go to that help me out. I focus on a memory that is happy, peaceful, quiet and warm. Like a good sunny vacation beach day memory is great, especially since often at the beach I get sleepy and tired – so a memory of falling asleep happy used while trying to fall asleep is pretty much perfect for me.

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  • 12/23/2009 at 10:18 am
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    To start out maybe just getting a general idea on things to avoid about an hour before bedtime alongside a handful of restful activities to help you sleep. I can’t say for certain but I doubt that guitar pratice is a peaceful activity that helps you quiet your mind before bed.

    I’ve become a huge fan lately of charts and records to help establish good habits. Some people find this extremely demotivating though, so don’t do it if it’s not fun for you, but if you like charts or weekly goals/lists maybe it’s something you could try.

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