If you habitually are awake for hours at night and don't want to be

[Laura Corin]

I just wanted to mention that sleep retraining works for some people. The description of one typical protocol is below. I have done it over the past few months and it has worked.  I still sometimes wake up and can't get back to sleep - after a nightmare, for example - but otherwise I'm averaging a solid 7-8 hour sleep window. A couple of caveats

- the first few weeks were brutal, as you can't catch up on sleep by going to bed earlier or sleeping late, and I gave up driving for a while as I didn't think I was safe

- at one point I started waking up in the middle of the night again, and had to go back a couple of weeks in the protocol to fix the problem. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.healthcentral.com/amp/article/the-secrets-of-sleep-restriction-therapy-for-insomnia

[Kassia]

Thanks for sharing.  Glad you found something that works for you - sleep is so important!  I never sleep and should try this.  

[Melissa Louise]

How were you able to function at work?

I am always trying to catch up somewhere along the line on sleep, because when I work with a sleep debt, it's brutal.

[Laura Corin]

7 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

How were you able to function at work?

I am always trying to catch up somewhere along the line on sleep, because when I work with a sleep debt, it's brutal.

It was hard. I picked a less busy time to do it, hoping to be finished before the semester started. Because of setbacks, I didn't quite get it done before then,  but my sleep deficit wasn't so bad by that stage. 

Summer was a good time for me to do it, because I  took long evening walks to stay awake.

[TravelingChris]

I don't need so much sleep.   Which is really good since I often wake up too early.  I have lots of medical issues that make me wake up too early,.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I am glad that they had this caveat attached to the article:  "If your insomnia is the result of a physical or mental condition, sleep restriction therapy may not work for you. However, if your insomnia is the result of bad sleeping behaviors that you are unable to break on your own, it could be worth your time to go through these steps.

 

 

[Melissa Louise]

Thanks for pointing that out Jean.

[dsmith]

Thanks for the link! I had been meaning to try this and completely forgot where I saw it. This looks much more doable than what my pediatrician had me do when I was 8. I ended up being awake for over 48 hours and needed to be medicated to finally fall asleep.