Hi there! Debunking common fears and paradoxes can help us move on our paths to peaceful sleep. If we don’t know where a particular fear or other emotion comes from, it is difficult to overcome it. Today I want to talk about the common but difficult-to-spot fear during insomnia – the fear of sleep efforts.
Recently I've been facing a speed bump of both sleep initiation and sleep maintenance insomnia. When I lie in bed and close my eyes, I have trouble falling asleep. Even if I do fall asleep, it would be for a short while and I will not be able to go back to sleep easily after I have woken up. It does feel frustrating, but thankfully I'm at the point where I am not longer fearful or anxious about such things (though annoyed and somewhat discouraged at times)
I've been trying to more accepting of the waking hours, and would just turn on the TV and watch some Youtube videos when I wake up in the middle of the night. More often than not, I would just nod off halfway, but would wake up some time later (not sure how long because I usually don't check the time), and would have trouble falling back asleep again. I would then load another Youtube video to watch, and try to allow what will happen, to happen.
However, sometimes when I feel sleepy while watching TV in the middle of the night, I would turn it off and then lie down and close my eyes, but then still would not be able to fall asleep. It does feel like the only way that I have been able to 'initiate' sleep is through fully committing to watching the TV, and letting sleep come naturally as it will, nodding halfway through the videos.
Can I know if you have any advice for me, about how I can move towards allowing sleep to come when I lie down and close my eyes, without the need to nod off halfway while watching TV? Thank you!
Hello Coach Alina,
Thank you for all your letters!
Recently I've been facing a speed bump of both sleep initiation and sleep maintenance insomnia. When I lie in bed and close my eyes, I have trouble falling asleep. Even if I do fall asleep, it would be for a short while and I will not be able to go back to sleep easily after I have woken up. It does feel frustrating, but thankfully I'm at the point where I am not longer fearful or anxious about such things (though annoyed and somewhat discouraged at times)
I've been trying to more accepting of the waking hours, and would just turn on the TV and watch some Youtube videos when I wake up in the middle of the night. More often than not, I would just nod off halfway, but would wake up some time later (not sure how long because I usually don't check the time), and would have trouble falling back asleep again. I would then load another Youtube video to watch, and try to allow what will happen, to happen.
However, sometimes when I feel sleepy while watching TV in the middle of the night, I would turn it off and then lie down and close my eyes, but then still would not be able to fall asleep. It does feel like the only way that I have been able to 'initiate' sleep is through fully committing to watching the TV, and letting sleep come naturally as it will, nodding halfway through the videos.
Can I know if you have any advice for me, about how I can move towards allowing sleep to come when I lie down and close my eyes, without the need to nod off halfway while watching TV? Thank you!