Clinical psychologist Steve Orma was in his early 40s when he developed insomnia — difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
He couldn’t stop obsessing over it. “I started to enter the mental state that most people get sucked into. I worried: ‘What’s happening? Is something wrong with me?’”, he says.
This fear of not being able to sleep is a phenomenon called “sleep anxiety,” says Orma, who became an expert in treating insomnia. If untreated, this anxiety can prevent people from actually falling asleep.
“The more you focus on it, the less chance you have of sleeping, which then makes you more anxious. That’s the cycle that spins,” he says.
One of the most powerful ways to overcome sleep anxiety is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). It is well-studied, does not rely on sleep medications, and has been shown to be effective for clinical insomnia. Orma used this treatment to cure his sleep, and now it is the main focus of his therapeutic practice.
Normally, a CBT-I program lasts about six to eight weeks, and each week, you and a provider work on a strategy to redefine sleep behaviors and restructure your thinking around rest.
But you don’t need to be in an official program to benefit from CBT-I. Whether dealing with some sleep stress or just an occasional bad night, these CBT-I practices can help.
Wake up at the same time every day
Having a consistent wake-up time helps your body know when it’s time to get sleepy, says Aric Prather, sleep scientist and author of The Sleep Prescription: 7 Days to Unlocking Your Best Rest. Sleepiness signals are managed by your circadian rhythm, or the body’s internal clock. A fixed wake-up time keeps your internal clock running on time.
Prather uses the analogy of a “sleep balloon.” When you wake up, your sleep balloon is empty. Your balloon fills with sleepiness throughout the day. Once full, you feel ready to sleep. Waking up at the same time every day, including weekends, keeps your sleep signals consistent.
Focus on a wind-down time, not a bedtime
Instead of trying to force yourself to go to bed at a specific time, even without sleepiness, focus on winding down to sleep earlier, says Dr. Ravi Aysola, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Choose a time to transition from daytime activities to nighttime ones. This can include disconnecting from screens, putting on comfortable clothes, and dimming the house lights.
He says that having a wind-down time instead of a rigid bedtime can help reduce the feeling that you must sleep immediately — and can reduce the anxiety that occurs when you can’t.
Schedule your “worry time”
If all your stress comes flooding in at bedtime, schedule a dedicated “worry time” in your agenda during daylight hours, says Prather. “Use the space in your brain when you’re more rested to do some worrying.”
That way, if your brain starts to wander to tax season, childcare issues, or that big mess in the garage while you’re in bed, “you have a way to say: ‘I already did that worry,’” he says.
Try reserving just 10 or 15 minutes at the same time every day to jot down what’s bothering you. This can help your brain relax when your head hits the pillow, says Prather.
Be mindful when tracking sleep
Managing sleep anxiety also means being mindful of the amount of information you’re absorbing about your sleep.
The prevalence of sleep-tracking devices and wearables has led to the emergence of orthosomnia, a type of insomnia developed from the anxiety of wanting to achieve perfect sleep data, says Aysola.
Sleep trackers can provide useful information about how you slept, but it’s important to have a healthy level of skepticism about the data and a plan for what to do with it, he adds.
If you use these devices to track your sleep, he says to ask yourself: “Is this information helping you make changes in your behavior or lifestyle, or is it stressing you out and worsening your insomnia?”
If you notice that you’re waking up feeling more rested, for example, that may indicate that your new wind-down time and earlier morning alarm are starting to work for you.
If you tend to fixate on your sleep tracker’s data, try tracking your sleep with pen and paper instead. This can help you focus on how your sleep is feeling for you rather than the numbers.
Remodeling your sleep habits is only half the battle, says Orma. The rest of the work comes down to changing your mindset. Sleep varies from night to night and everyone has a bad night of sleep from time to time, so adjust your expectations accordingly.
“When you have that mindset, your sleep starts to improve,” he says.
Source: npr.org by Andee Tagle & Lennon Sherburne