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My thoughts on CBTi (pros and cons)
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- čas přidán 22. 01. 2024
- I've been asked why I don't talk much about CBTi and what I think of it. In this video I share my thoughts and opinion on this approach, hope you will find it informative ❤️
👋 Instagram: / fearless.sleep
❤️🩹 Website: www.sleepcoach.sk
💌 Newsletter : sleeptalks.substack.com/
Special thanks to Sarah, Santiago, Gigi, Liza, Anna, Michael, Dragos, Peter, Mark, Liz, Neal, Jane and Guylaine for supporting me on Patreon - you are the best!
If you wish to support my work on Patreon too❤️: / fearlesssleep
Playlist for beginners: • ⭐️ Start here: insomni...
My recovery story and timeline: • 🙋♀️ My insomnia recov...
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DISCLAIMER: Not medical or psychotherapy advice. Everything on this channel represents personal opinion and experience and is provided for informational purposes only. The author is not a medical doctor, psychotherapist or any other licensed professional. Any information on this channel does not constitute or substitute medical, psychotherapy, counselling or any other professional advice and treatment. It is not intended to treat, cure, diagnose any medical or psychological condition or disorder. Always seek professional licensed help if you have any health concerns.
Hi Alina! I have been struggling with insomnia for the past couple months now and this is the first video i have found that really resonated with my personality. I have been REALLY struggling with the behavioral part of CBTi as I am not the type of person to stick with a structured day to day routine. It really did feel like a punishment. I feel like my entire outlook changed by listening to you. I hope I will begin to see some positive results. Thank you so much!
thank you so much ! I feel totally related to this video. I am practicing CBTi for a month and it was a painful experience. Also I am under a lot of pressure if I don’t see much improvement. This video reminds me that I am not alone.
Hi, coach! 😊 I just want to say thank you very much for teaching us here. Your teaching is not just about sleep-related problems, but it's all about the fundamental aspects of how we value our existence. We really appreciated you coach Alina❣️
So glad it's been helpful ❤
I wish I could see you live. Your voice is so calming, and your looks exude honesty - the best combination one could ask for. Also, your thought processes on struggling with insomnia resonate with me. Too bad I live in Prague.
😊
Insomnia is not driven soley by fear but what makes insomnia is a pattern of ongoing sleep disruptions. Fear and anxiety are a sleep disruption with a pattern. Health problems can cause sleep disruptions in a ongojng pattern. Inson is ia is when the brain tries to adjust to this new pattern but we ultimately dont want to adjust but maintain our previous sleep pattern. Anything can cause insomnia not just fear and anxiety
Hi, I wanted to leave a comment regarding your advice and guidance re sleep difficulties/insomnia. I've been struggling on and off with getting over to sleep for the past six months. There would be nights where I would get very little sleep. My wife bought be a book on sleep difficulties using the CBTi approach. I've trained as a CBT therapist so the principles were familiar to me. I began to use the approach they suggested and whilst I had a couple of early successes, there were as many, if not more occasions where it didn't help. I put in a few key words into CZcams and came across your channel. I immediately began to see why the CBTi approach was not for me and was actually working against my recovery. I've implemented the advice and guidance from your videos and have noticed the benefits pretty much straight away. I've had a full week of being able to get to sleep and feel this has been down to your approach. Thank you
Thank you for sharing your experience, it's very valuable
This is my thoughts exactly with sleep restriction and a shortened sleep window it leads to more pressure to fall asleep. I know my sleep drive is fine as I fall asleep on sofa no issues its once I get Into bed I've got that awareness why I'm not sleeping within 20 mins
Thank you, your philosophy gave me my life back. Now I'm sleeping again, like a baby.
I watched a few of your videos before ever hearing about CBTI and I am so happy I did. I don’t think I could have recovered from insomnia using cbti. Too complicated, too heavy on things I would need to do or monitor. My brain would explode! Your coaching has helped me achieve fearless sleep and I will forever be grateful to you for that. I have reached a place where I don’t remember at all when and how I fell asleep. When I think about this during the day I am so happy and relieved and I look forward to the night, to falling asleep again. Thank you for this video Alina, and all your other videos which have helped me identify that I had insomnia and then recover from it. Looking forward to the next one. 🙌🇨🇦
thank you! ✨🙌
My thoughts exactly. For me too the CBT-I techniques became just more round-the-clock stressors. I think they CAN work, but are better for people who love hair shirts. 😂
I agree 100% with this video. I used the CBTI and felt everything that was explained. And I thought I had a problem with myself, that I had simply failed with the process... I'm still looking for how to improve... And luckily I found this channel... By the way, when are you going to make the video on how to deal with the day after a bad night's sleep?
Many people feel like there is something wrong with them simply because CBTi didn't work for them. But CBTi is only one of the tools, and that tool has many disadvantages, and often loses to other approaches that are more based on acceptance and self-kindness.
You know, I should do that video one day! But I did share my thoughts on that in a couple of my newsletter issues:
"Can't accept feeling terrible after not sleeping" - sleeptalks.substack.com/p/cant-accept-feeling-terrible-after
"Afraid of feeling exhausted after a sleepless night?" - sleeptalks.substack.com/p/afraid-of-feeling-exhausted-after
Hope this helps!
Hello Alina! Thank you for your videos! They are so comforting and help me a lot. If you or another sleep coach you know are accepting patients right now, though, please comment back and let me know!
Can we watch these videos without having insomnia? I havent had it in a year and i'm not as scared of little sleep. But how the brain works and how it influences insomnia really intrigues me!
Absolutely, if there is genuine curiosity and interest in this topic I see no reason why one can’t learn about that without having insomnia 😊
Hi I ’ve been suffering from insomnia since last June after a health scare. It’s been awful I can’t function during the day & I have disassociated a lot this past year due to pure exhaustion. Anyways, I came across your channel and Daniels channel around January time and felt hopeful. After months of just 2-3 hours of sleep, in February I started slowly sleeping more around 5 hours after putting in meditative calming sounds to help me relax in bed and hopefully get rid of the fight or flight ( even though it was still taking me hours and hours to fall asleep but I was sleeping more so was happy but still exhausted). Then just this past Wednesday I had my first sleepless night in months. Then again since Friday night I have been struggling to sleep massively again & it now looks like my insomnia has returned with a full vengeance even tho it never completely went in the first place , it just got slightly better. But now the hyperarousals and tension in my chest has returned every night and the fight or flight is getting activated before I go to bed again. Please do you have any insights? I don’t even know if this is a speed bump cuz I never fully recovered from the initial insomnia I just started sleeping slightly better. This has been very discouraging for me😣😣.
I also notice that the night before I have to wake up early for an errand or appointment, my hyperarosual is worse and I can’t sleep because of the performance anxiety from it. This is so annoying as deep down I know that even though I’m on little sleep I’ll still be able to function the next day and I’ll be fine but the anxiety and irrationality takes over and prevents me from falling asleep In that moment. I also keep worrying about what the insomnia may do to my hormones/thyroid see a lot of health experts on social media say how sleep is so important for hormonal balance & to maintain a fast metabolism and how 7 hours of sleep is essential to prevent unwanted weight gain. The thing is after 2/3 months of my insomnia starting , I noticed that my face started to get rounder and I have also gained a lot of weight on my stomach and midsection even despite me eating the healthiest and exercising. I can’t help but wonder that the insomnia has messed up my hormones or thyroid (god forbid) and leading to this unexplained weight gain. This is the main belief that prevents me from falling asleep as I have been really struggling with my body image and my brain fears being awake due to this. 😣 do you have any insights pls?
I’m so sorry for the long comments but if you could reply this would be much appreciated because I genuinely can’t take this anymore and my brain is making my life a living hell everyday😭
Hi Neha, sorry to hear that you are struggling with the fear again. You know, it does sound like a typical speedbump (and I know they can feel very intense!). You don't have to "recover" to get a speedbump, speedbumps happen as a part of the recovery process - there are going to be better days and the days when things get rocky again. I think any content that addresses speedbumps can help navigating them.
Hi! I discovered your videos after having a bit of speedbump in my recovery and they have brought a lot of comfort. I'm curious as to when you can expect the fear and anxiety to go away after recovery? I had insomnia last summer where I couldn't sleep at all on Sunday nights, then I used the ACT concepts which made me start sleeping again. I feel confident in my ability to get through the day no matter what and don't think about sleep at all through the week, but every Sunday that anxiety still returns. And now that the semester has started up again, I've been getting hyperarousal on Sunday nights where I think I slept but my brain still stayed partially aware. I've been doing so well but I still have that fear of Sundays and laying in bed awake all night even though it hasn't happened in months. So I'm curious when that old anxiety really goes away? Or is accepting it the key like with the original insomnia? Thank you!
Insomnia has a long-tail recovery, the fear typically doesn't go immediately away even when our sleep gets better. There is still going to be a little bit of automatic cautiousness that may pop up here and there (the memory of insomnia is still fresh). It's not a forever thing, but it can take a bit longer to fade away than we'd like it to. Normalizing and accepting hyper sleep on Sundays ("It's okay for now that it happens") can help us overcome this issue smoother.
Thank you for your spot-on description of INSOMNIA SUNDAYS…! 🙏
Hi Alina! I just discovered your channel the other day and I find it is very informative with lots of great advice. I've been suffering from some pretty severe insomnia for the past few weeks, caused by a medical condition that I've recently discovered that I have been diagnosed with. Without getting into too much detail, this condition is not immediately life-threatening, but could lead to a few somewhat serious complications if I don't get enough sleep. So my insomnia is actually caused by this worry and additionally puts more pressure on me to get to sleep. I know that your advice is that we need to look at the roof cause of our insomnia and decide whether is actually something that could be harmful to us. In my case it is definitely something that could be harmful. Do you have any advice on how I can better cope with my fear in this situation?
Hi! My thinking here is that no matter what circumstances we are in, treating ourselves gently and kindly is what can make any journey a bit smoother. And of course, as we are navigating anything like that and there is also a separate medical issue, it makes sense to walk this journey under supervision of the doctor who can suggest the best way to integrate your chosen path with the minimal risks to your situation. Each recovery journey is different and each person can adjust it to match their own needs. It can also help to look into our experience and see if what we fear is actually happening despite sleeping less. Of course, I'm not dismissing the need for caution but sometimes seeing that we are still here, safe and sound can help alleviate anxiety. Hope this offers some clarity!
@@FearlessSleep yes, it does. Thanks for that advice.
Hi Alina! Thank you so much for your helpful videos 😊 I have one quick question which is really keeping me stuck, Ive had insomnia for a few months, it was getting better but now I’ve started sleep monitoring/hypnic awareness and it’s lead to completely sleepless nights, I’ve tried ignoring it, tried focusing on it calmly, tried leaving it alone but it just keeps happening and causes so much hyperarousal. I just can’t seem to take my mind off of it no matter how hard I try! Now my nights are a complete pendulum of sleeping well followed by zero sleep the next night. How would you recommend approaching this? Is there a way out? Did you ever experience this? I keep worrying that zero sleep this often must be dangerous some how which i know probably doesn’t help the anxiety haha, I’d really appreciate any advice 🥰
This is a super common experience during insomnia and I did a few content pieces on that topic a while ago:
www.sleepcoach.sk/aware-of-falling-asleep/
instagram.com/p/Cpx3vu6LVpk/
Hope this can offer you some clarity!
Hi! Do you encourage naps during the day? Ive tried CBTI (self researched as yourself) and unfortunately didnt get the results as hoped. I try meditating 20 min a day but allow myself to drift off to sleep (20 min timer). I feel my overall sleep is improving.🙏
Curious, do you consume alcohol?
Thx!
Can you give your insight on quitting meds? I can get to acceptable amount of sleep but I can never quit taking xanax. A few years ago I was taking only a crumb. I cut in half with a knife even the smallest pill and that was enough. But when I didn't take that at all I remained awake, zero sleep. I tried again now after like 4 years. Again zero sleep. Next night I gave up. How do I get rid of this completely unnecessary dependency?
hi, i’m a 16 year old girl struggling with insomnia for about 2 years. i discovered your channel recently and it’s helped me so much! i also learned that in order to get good sleep, you have to fully let go and face the fear, but i just can’t stop being anxious when i’m laying in bed. i think that’s the hard part. do you maybe have any solutions or a way to help fully let go? ty
Me personally, I just let myself feel anxious. It sucks but I let myself feel the anxiety, and let myself be not okay with being anxious. I think just being aware of your anxiety is very very helpful. My therapist gave me the analogy of a screen door, and if there is a strong wind you want the wind to blow through you and NOT blow you over. If it was a regular door, the wind is pushing and pushing. And in this case, I see the regular door of me trying to get rid of my anxiety. Meditations, deep breaths, burying thoughts, trying to distract myself. Instead, I try and be a screen door. I allow myself to feel my anxieties and thoughts. And i’m like - Hey! My brain is doing its job! It may be a bit confused, but it’s just trying to help me
@@alxkzmrz5749 tyy and yeah i see your analogy and ill try to face my anxiety. btw, do you suggest getting therapy because chronic insomnia has really affected my school life and life in general. do you think therapy helps? i feel like it’s just gonna make me think that there’s really something wrong with me. tysm
@@daaaaaaalabsolutely! It is a bit of a scary step to take, and it will take a bunch of bravery. I was very hesitant at first about doing it because I was worried that therapy (with my insomnia) would just be a bunch of sleep hygiene or even sleep efforts (in disguise). And some of the recommendations were like that at first, but if you have discussions about what has worked and what hasn’t - it is a therapist’s JOB to mold their teachings, education, and experiences to meet their client’s needs. So yes, at first sleep hygiene was brought up and it was very quickly established how sleep hygiene was generally harmful (to me, and those with similar situations) and can ramp up hyperarousal, leading to more insomnia, causing more fear, more sleeplessness etc. etc. I was also worried about the sleep efforts too which can be disguised as taking deep breaths, or “relaxing” and one of the big discussions I had was, what are you ACTUALLY trying to do when you take deep breaths, or when you try and calm yourself down? And for me, it was in hopes of eventually producing sleep. And so we talked back and forth, and eventually my therapist got a more holistic understanding of my sleep struggles. I also reminded myself that a therapist bringing up sleep hygiene or these masked sleep efforts was not them trying to harm me. Their understandings and experiences are different than mine, so it took some time to really establish what my situation is like. It will not be easy, but having those conversations (that require a lot of bravery) are worth it.
@@alxkzmrz5749 tysm for your advice! i just contacted a therapist and we should get in touch soon. 🥳🫶
@@daaaaaaal Wooo!!! I’m so happy for you!!! You just took a massive step. I don’t know anything about you, other than you being 16, and your name on YT is daaaaaaal (I don’t know if I got the number of A’s right lol), but reading your comment reminded me so much of how much I struggled with insomnia last year. I could easily see myself writing that exact same comment and I FELT IT. I don’t know you, but the fact that you are commenting on this video and you are worried about sleeplessness, anxiety, and how that impacts your grades and life in general. I feel those emotions in my throat, that awful dread that comes with insomnia. This dark cloud that is consuming your mind, and nobody gets you and will this ever end?? I feel you, and I want to hug you and tell you that everything will be alright. But the best I can do is a comment on CZcams.
As much as everyone hopes for linear progression with insomnia recovery, it often is not linear and not predictable. And that’s okay! I was like you, wanting to get rid of the anxiety that I felt in bed. And I was TERRIFIED of how this will impact my grades. Not just grades, but I had less energy for my social life, was worried about driving anywhere, and I was not eating healthy. I ended up skipping class and I would just have breakdowns in my bed. Night after night of me listening to videos that were “supposed” to calm me down, strict sleep hygiene, all of it. And sleep was nowhere to be found. And any sleep that did happen was very fragile, and full of fear. I kept a diary of my dreams during that time (this was not a sleep effort or anything like that, I did this even before I had insomnia - it’s just a hobby of mine), and my dreams were crazy. I had dreams of me not sleeping! I would have vivid dreams of me crying and crying calling my family members saying I could not sleep and I cannot continue with my life. Only to wake up (yes actually wake up- wait, did that mean I was asleep?), and see I never called anyone. This was all a dream. More of a nightmare really, but you know what I mean. I was thinking about insomnia so much that it came up in my dreams (when I was asleep). I failed my chemistry class but at that point I just had to focus on my mental health because things got so bad.
Anyways things got better for some time and I actually retook that class this year and I got an A!!! But it was not without struggles (like I mentioned earlier, this progression is not linear nor is it predictable). My grandmother died and I was so close to her, I like to think that she raised me. And a lot of sleeplessness came back,and fear, and anxiety, all of it. Maybe not to the extreme that it was originally, but some of it was back. I cried and cried, this person who raised me and helped me during my darkest times is gone, and my insomnia is back. But after some reflection, it was more of a sleep disruption than insomnia. Because it made sense, this was a stressful time so OF COURSE I will not sleep. This is slightly off topic, but I read this book around that time and it was called A Monster Calls By Patrick Ness. It is a great book, and helped me understand grief and many other things. I read it after losing my grandmother because the book is about a boy who is losing his mother and cannot live with that thought. I don’t want to spoil it because I think you should read it (if you haven’t already), but in some strange and subtle way it helped me with my insomnia. Sure, I read it mainly to help me cope with the death of a loved one but I found it helped out so much with my insomnia. It allowed me to feel angry, to feel scared, to cry so much to the point where you cannot even say a sentence without your voice cracking. But most importantly, it helped me learn to let go. It was such a powerful book.
So if you are confused, that is okay. If you are upset, that is okay, if you are scared, that is okay. You took a huge step with reaching out to a therapist. You are facing this monstrous fear, and as a result you will become a stronger person. I’ve never met you, but I am so proud of you, I wish you the best!
Hi Alina I desperately need your help. For the last few weeks I keep making an involuntary noise/grunt right as I am on the verge of sleep. It is like a short 'mmm' sound. It can be quite loud and every time it happens it startles me awake. It is not catathrenia and I am aware I am awake and doing this even though it is involuntary. Lately its been happening through the night, I am so anxious and have not been sleeping much. Do you know anything about this issue
Hi, I was wondering about how to get in touch for some zoom coaching.
Hey Alina! I want to ask you too. Im a person who's struggling with anxiety disorder and insomnia. I was sleeping good for some time and some anxietic thought popped up in my head. It was "What if I'm afraid to sleep from now on and can't sleep properly at all?, is it even possible to be afraid of sleep?" Although i know this is not being afraid of sleep, its being afraid of "not to sleep" because when i ask "what if im afraid to sleep from now on?" It is actually "what if im afraid to sleep and can't get a sleep?" What to do when we have this anxietic thoughts? Is it normal? It feels like my brain is looking under the every stone if there is any threat left and when it finds a threat my brain really sticks to it. I really really need your advice on this. Thank you for this videos.❤
And even i know im not the only one, i say to myself what if this "being afraid of sleep in the future and can't sleep situation" is only my fear. What if other people who have insomnia don't have this fear and im the only one? I just think like this. Did you have the same thoughts too? And is this completely normal?