"Linear Progression" for Sleep: a trial of sleep restriction therapy

[Suboptimal]

I'm finally addressing some insomnia that has been bugging me for a long time (most of my adult life?) but has worsened over the last couple of weeks. It usually takes me 30 mins or longer to fall asleep (which I guess is long but tolerable to me), but the worst thing is that I wake up every single night around 3-4am for at least 30 mins (along with several other shorter awakenings). Friday night I was wide awake for two hours between 2am and 4am (and not on purpose), so I decided to do something about it.

I have decent sleep hygiene--consistent bedtime and wake time, blue light filter on screens ~2 hours before bed, cool and dark bedroom, a single "power nap" in the early afternoon for 5-10 mins--and I don't want to introduce pharmaceuticals just yet. So I found that the recommended treatment is "sleep restriction therapy." Basically, you only allow yourself to lie in bed for the average time that you actually spend asleep, waking up at the same time every day. No naps allowed. After two weeks, if you're sleeping through the night and are still tired during the day, you go to bed 15-30 mins earlier for a week. Then you reassess and titrate up each week as needed.

I go to bed around 10-1030pm and get out of bed between 630 and 730, usually waking without an alarm. But I only sleep for an average of about 6 of those 8-9 hours. So I changed my time in bed to 12am-6am, beginning last Saturday.

I started a mini sleep log on my phone but thought my experiences might be of interest to others who want to improve their sleep, hence the current thread.



If anyone has had success and/or failure improving their sleep with this or another method, I'd love to hear about it. I'll update this thread with my own experiences as I go along.

[Charlie Davies]

My biggest sleep breakthrough came from eliminating caffeine after lunch, and alcohol within 2 hours of bedtime.

Also, one particular batch of whey protein gave me rapid heartbeat, and insomnia if consumed in the evening. Maybe it was contaminated with pre-workout at the factory or something.

[Daniel Cavallari]

I've had bad insomnia in the past, and took several steps to deal with it. These are a few I remember:

- Very fixed and regular bed time (that means going to bed every day at the same time. This includes weekends, holidays, vacations, etc.).
- Blue light filter in my computer (starts about 4h before my bed time. I use f.lux)
- No caffeine whatsoever after 3pm
- Training in the mornings as opposed to evenings (i.e. before work, not after work)
- Avoiding heavy meals for dinner. My reflux plays a part in my insomnia
- Waking up at the same time every day, no matter what, even after insomniac nights

These helped greatly, despite the fact that I still occasionally get a bout of insomnia every now and then. Also, FWIW, I've found that taking creatine helps immensely in keeping you mentally aware and productive even without sleep. Not sure if this is purely anecdotal, psychological, or what, but it has been my experience.

Insomnia is usually psychological in nature, so if it happens, get up and enjoy the fact that you just gained 8h to do stuff. Adopting this mindset helps a lot in the future.

[Suboptimal]

Yeah I can't do caffeine after 2pm or so either. I do have an occasional post-lunch coffee but it doesn't seem to affect that night's sleep. And anything more than one alcoholic drink within a couple hours of bed will make my sleep worse too.

[Charlie Davies]

Insomnia is usually psychological in nature, so if it happens, get up and enjoy the fact that you just gained 8h to do stuff. Adopting this mindset helps a lot in the future.

Very good point! There's nothing to be gained by laying in bed worrying about insomnia.

Usually I spend 10 minutes agonizing over everything I've ever done wrong or regret not doing, then remember that cup of coffee at dinner, and realize it's all chemical. Then get up and read something difficult for an hour or so and try again.

[Suboptimal]

Insomnia is usually psychological in nature, so if it happens, get up and enjoy the fact that you just gained 8h to do stuff. Adopting this mindset helps a lot in the future.

I think there is a lot of truth to this. When I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, I get upset that I can't sleep and that it'll make me have a shitty training session the next day, which makes me even less able to get back to sleep. Then I'll try to sleep in to make up for it but as soon as the sun hits the window I'm up no matter what.

[Suboptimal]

Here's what the first few days have been like:

Saturday night, 2/3 (really 2/4 from 12am-6am):
Shitty sleep; woke up several times; tossing and turning. I even woke up a little after 5am and didn't get back to sleep before the alarm went of at 6am.

Sunday, 2/4:
I woke up tired and groggy but after breakfast and coffee I was feeling pretty alright, so I did some log press at the gym. The rest of the day I vacillated between feeling like a zombie and feeling super loopy, almost delirious. My eyes were red, bulging, and watery all day. Just totally exhausted and fighting the urge to nap like I never have before.

Sunday night, 2/4:
Sleep was better but still woke up a couple times. Each time I went back to sleep pretty quickly. The last time I woke up was 530am, and then just started to nod off as my alarm went off at 6am.

Monday, 2/5:
The first half of the day I felt much better; not quite as tired and not weird and loopy like Sunday. Definitely still craving a nap like an addict but pushed through it. Had a few hours between 5pm and 1030pm when I felt really good, and then fighting my eyelids until 12am bedtime.

Monday night, 2/5:
Slept the whole night through. I woke up thinking it was 3am, checked my clock, and lo and behold it was 550am. I slept one whole night without waking up a few weeks ago, but before that it had been YEARS. Hoping that the next two weeks is uninteresting and repeats of last night.

[Charlie Davies]

Why is it important to sleep through the night w/o waking?

I wake at least 2-3 times every night, pee, and go back to sleep easily. Doesn't seem to hurt me a bit. I just schedule a bit more time in bed to get the total amount of sleep I need.

[Bliss]

Very interesting! Hope you keep posting on the experiment.

[dhalli]

Possibly totally unrelated- but I've had sleep issues for a decade or more. I did a sleep study last year... severe obstructive sleep apnea. I had no idea. My wife had said my snoring was bad, but I felt like I spent more time laying awake in bed than anything.

Now I've got a CPAP. It's not the sexiest thing ever, but it has greatly increased my sleep ability. I rarely wake up in the middle of the night anymore, just a solid 5-7 hours of sleep (which is amazing for me) most nights.

So, a sleep study may or may not show anything... but if your insurer covers studies, it might be worth checking out.