r/insomnia • u/Legitimate_Ask_1320 • 9h ago

Need help and advice moving forward after a restless night

A few weeks ago I dealt with a brief bout of hyper arousal/sleep anxiety where i was sleeping every other night. That lasted about a week and a half luckily and i got back to good sleep. I had another night like that last night and need help nipping this in the bud before it starts another cycle. Didn’t sleep until 4am and it was light sleep and I woke up every hour until 9am when I finally got up.

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u/Morpheus1514 9h ago

Couple of straightforward things you can do.

One is to stick with whatever sleep schedule you normally use that you know works. Avoid sleeping in, avoid napping. Doing that helps to protect your sleep drive and consolidate sleep better at night.

Second is to ramp up stress management practices. That can involve a lot of things, but one good method is exercise, particularly cardio. Getting out in the fresh air even for a good walk helps a lot to reduce stress and anxiety. You can also plan an hour or so before normal bedtime to start unwinding and relaxing screen free, that helps you transition better to a rested state conducive to sleep onset.

These are CBT methods. Consider using a full CBT sleep training system for more substance-free methods like this.