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Recommended: Go To: Lesson 6 Webpage Contact Dennis: Voice message or text: 408-990-3882 or dennis@sleeptohealthy.com
Lesson Summary:
- Having insomnia, you have built up negative associations with sleep and your bed.
- It is helpful to acknowledge your negative associations with sleep and your bed (see Links for a venting worksheet)
- Bed Buddy: Your relationship with your sleep and your bed. Or how you think and feel about your bed and about your sleep.
- Beliefs lead to actions lead to outcomes. Incorrect beliefs lead to wrong actions lead to undesirable outcomes. Bed Buddy is about changing your beliefs about bed and sleep so you take more appropriate actions with better outcomes.
- Your relationship with your bed and your sleep is like your relationship with a person. You can’t force friendship, but you can make it more likely for a healthy relationship to flourish.
- Rule #1: Don’t try to go to sleep until you are sleepy. Don’t go by the clock, go by cues your body and mind give you.
- Rule #2: If you are not sleeping or sleepy, get out of bed. Michael Swartz gives his 12 step process to follow when you are awake in bed. (see transcript below).
- Rule #3: Get out of bed at about the same time every day to set your circadian rhythm.
- Following these rules will be difficult but the rewards are worth it.
- Dennis’s methods for falling asleep: Think of: a) A memory from today that makes you smile, b) Any good deeds from today or when I helped someone else smile, c) Things I am grateful for, d) Events I am looking forward to tomorrow in detail and e) Any obstacles I can anticipate for tomorrow, to accept what I can’t control and make a plan for what I can. The other method is to pick a letter and think of as many words that start with that letter while enjoying the process.
- Michael Schwartz introduces “Sleep On Cue” – a smart phone app that uses Intensive Sleep Retraining (ISR) to shorten and improve the Sleep Buddy process. This is not part of CBTi (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia) but can help. A complete explanation is at the end of the podcast episode or podcast transcript below.
- You don’t have to follow CBTi for life. Use it to cure your insomnia and then as needed should insomnia revisit you in the future.
- A light alarm clock that wakes you with like might help (see Links).
- Use your bedroom for sleep and sex only. Don’t bring work, screen time, stressful conversations or other sleep killers into the bedroom.
- The CBTi or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia term for “Sleep Buddy” is Stimulus Control Therapy
Assignment:
- Implement Sleep Buddy.
- Let Dennis know how you are doing with the course so far with a voice or text message (408-990-3882), email or filling in the form on the contact page.
Links:
Sleep on Q podcast (Michael Schwartz)
Sleep on Cue app (Intensive Sleep Retraining) (originally available on Android, now iOS only)
About Intensive Sleep Retraining
My full interview with Michael Schwartz (Episode 9 of the original Sleep to Healthy Podcast)
Note: I receive no renumeration for any linked items.
Sleep To Healthy Thoughts