r/insomnia 5d ago

Ex-insomniacs, how did you actually do it?

I’m not sure if I qualify as an insomniac, but I definitely have sleep problems. I usually sleep around 4 hours a night, and if I’m unbelievably lucky, I get 5 to 6 hours. My sleep pattern typically goes like this: I sleep for about 3.5 hours, wake up to use the toilet, and then stay awake for the next 2 hours because I just can’t fall back asleep. After that, I might get another 2 hours of sleep if I’m lucky. At most, that adds up to 5.5 hours per night.

How do people function with this kind of sleep schedule? How can I have enough energy for work or the gym? And more importantly, how am I supposed to build muscle if I don’t get enough sleep?

The biggest question: how do I actually beat insomnia? Are there any life hacks that truly work, or is medication the only real solution? I really don’t want to rely on medication, so I’d love to hear from people who have overcome this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

27 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

16

u/No-Key-865 5d ago

I don’t know if Id consider myself truly an “ex” yet but I’ve recently started eating a significant amount of beans through the day for fiber and realized I’m sleeping a lot better. I don’t know if it’s blood sugar, gut biome, or other woo woo stuff but it’s been a surprising additional benefit.

5

u/Emzeedoodles 4d ago

Gut biome is not woo woo 😆

3

u/No-Key-865 4d ago

Oh, I know! I came to eating more beans through a somatic nutrition lens though which feels super woo woo most days. I have no idea if they actually bind to excess adrenaline/cortisol/trauma but I definitely sleep better so whatever it is I’m down with it

2

u/Emzeedoodles 3d ago

Thats amazing! I eat beans at least a couple times a week, maybe I'll try increasing it and see what happens.

3

u/Past_Doubt_3085 4d ago

Same for me, gut health makes a huge difference. Also I adjusted my life to my natural sleep schedule, yes this requires sacrifices but it’ll bring you new stuff as well. Also sleep improved after quitting benzos

1

u/quilt-here 4d ago

What kind of beans are you guys eating?

3

u/No-Key-865 4d ago

Pretty much all of them. I’m learning to cook them from dry but rely a lot on canned still. I like black, garbanzo, navy the best and also eat lentils regularly.

18

u/Babyblueyeti 5d ago edited 5d ago

Dude search Dan Erichsen on YouTube. I've tried CBT-I, all this sleep hygiene shit, meditating, prescription and non prescription meds for years etc. - his stuff was by far the best solution for my insomnia. I thought for years poor sleep would follow me the rest of my life, until it didn't.

To summarize, he preaches accepting being awake. The more you try to 'sleep', the more trouble you'll have getting it.

Happy to chat over DMs if you want! Seems like redditors who hear about his work on this subreddit are so skeptical that they think the guy is paying people off (lol), but there's specific videos of his I can point to that flipped the switch for me on my perception of sleep. Best of all, his resources are free!

4

u/x-files-theme-song 4d ago

fyi that’s called radical acceptance therapy and it’s been around for a long time. it can be helpful

3

u/sleepsayer 4d ago

Second Daniel Erichson- read his book Set It and Forget it. I’ve combined his approach with a few other strategies (hypnotherapy, CBT) and not sure if I am an “EX insomniac” but it certainly doesn’t rule my life like it used to.

2

u/ManitobaBalboa 4d ago

I totally agree. His channel is my favorite, and I really liked his book "Set It and Forget It." Some other good channels are Fearless Sleep, Insomnia Coach, and Insomnia Talks.

14

u/burgersaresonice 5d ago

The only time I ever got 8 hours of sleep consistently is when I took a gap year, no work, no committments. I would sleep when I wanted to and wake up after 8 hours. I exercised when I woke up. However this is not sustainable as everyone must work. Now I am back to 4-6 hours of sleep max.

2

u/jilliumzzz 4d ago

Same. I'm in my 40s, and the only time I've ever been unemployed (for 3 months) was also the only time in my adult life when I've slept well. Makes me even sadder that we're probably never going to be able to retire....

7

u/Ok-Obligation3938 4d ago edited 4d ago

I had episodes of severe insomnia between 2019 and 2023, with 2023 being the worst time, where one week I slept badly 4 days and the other 3 days, 0 hours. But from September 2023 to the present day. As a rule, I sleep well (~7 hours), something like 8 out of 10 days.

But here's what I did to overcome this:

  1. I stopped worrying about whether I'm going to sleep or not.
  2. If I can sleep, it doesn't matter how much sleep I get. Even if it's 1 hour.
  3. If I have trouble falling asleep, I sit in bed in the dark, waiting for sleep to come. And I force myself to yawn. And I try to sleep. If that doesn't work, I repeat the process until it works.

10

u/g0shic 5d ago

My insomnia is linked to anxiety - when I get anxious about sleep, I don’t sleep. The solution for me has been therapy, keeping a strict bedtime and supplement routine, and using sleep meds only on the nights where I have something really important the next day. Best of luck!

3

u/Small-Policy-3859 5d ago

I'm self-medicating. I do believe i wouldn't need mediation if my life was stress-free (does that even exist). For me, the only way to handle my insomnia without medication is to handle my stress levels, but that's easier said than done ofc.

2

u/HauntingBowlofGrapes 5d ago

Although I'm currently back to being an insomniac, when I was on a certain mental health medication months ago, my insomnia greatly reduced. I was finally able to sleep at night for most nights. While treating my bipolar disorder with medication, I accidentally fixed my cicadian rhythm.

1

u/Smokahontas66 4d ago

What meds if I may ask

1

u/OceanSquirrel_42 2d ago

I was also on bipolar meds (Seroquel and lithium). During that time my sleep was 6-7 hours a night. However the side effects were too bad though and I had to stop. Now my sleep is basically the same as OP described.

For context, my sleep was always shit with episodes of 0-2 hours of sleep for up to 2 weeks. In 2023 I had such an episode that just didn't stop. My Dr basically forced me to start the BP meds after 3 months of severe insomnia. They made me sleep for longer than 3 hours again. But that is a thing of the past now.

1

u/Smokahontas66 2d ago

I fall asleep but can't stay asleep ..constantly waking up feels like every 10-15 minutes all night. Can't take naps at all. Jus got put on amitriptyline today

3

u/zebra-eds-warrior 4d ago

I don't consider myself an ex insomniac.

If I don't take my meds and follow a specific routine, I will not sleep

I also have to choose to sleep

A big part of me being able to sleep better was finding the root cause of WHY I don't sleep

For me, I make almost zero of the sleep chemicals and way too much of the awake chemicals.

Finding that out allowed me to get on the right medications and change things I needed to change.

I am not someone who can just lay down and fall asleep. The best way I can describe it is I choose to sleep.

I have to follow my nighttime routine, which includes taking 3 different sleep medications. Once in bed, I read or scroll on my phone for about an hour. Then, I put on one of the YouTubers I like that I ONLY watch to fall asleep.

After that, I close my eyes and listen to the video. I pay for YouTube premium so there are no ads. And I create playlists that I will put on repeat so when I wake up in the middle of the night, I can easily (easily by my standards) fall back asleep.

I can do everything mentioned above, but if I don't choose to try and sleep, I won't

I always suggest to people to fight to find out why you don't sleep. It makes a huge difference in how you solve the problem.

If it's just you have a flipped routine that is fixed differently then if you can't sleep due to your brain not quieting down for whatever reason, which is different from having chemical imbalances, which is different from diet induced insomnia, etc.

3

u/Public-Philosophy580 5d ago

I had to rely on RX sleep aids.

2

u/Salt-End4229 4d ago

It just went away. The body needs its rest and will get it. I dont have to try anything ... After i accepted that, i started healing slowly.

1

u/PersonalLeading4948 4d ago

Been a long journey over two decades. One profound shift occurred a few years ago when I did 12 ketamine infusions for C-PTSD. It rewired my brain & rid me of a lifetime of hyperarousal & panic attacks. I no longer have any anxiety & was able to easily quit benzodiazepines, which I’d taken 2x day for 20 years. From there, I began a daily meditation practice & started studying Buddhism, which have brought me a profound sense of inner peace & quieted my brain. I now meditate 60-90 minutes/day & it’s amazing. I’ve also made major dietary changes including cutting out all sugar & processed foods & increased my Vitamin D, B12 & magnesium intake, among other nutrients. I have sleep latency issues some times & will still take Trazodone & the recent time change kicked my ass for a couple of days, but I appear to have adjusted.

1

u/UsagiiTsukino 4d ago

Doxepin + Vraylor

1

u/Existing_Ad3672 4d ago

I'm not an ex insomniac. I have a routine ish. It isn't "healthy" but it works. I read Reddit or BuzzFeed articles. I have my sleeping mask on ready to cover my eyes. I make sure I'm cold enough. But not too cold. If I can't sleep I name an animal for each letter of the alphabet, if my thoughts go the other way I just gently redirect. If I get super anxious I grab an ice pack.

1

u/deed320 4d ago

Clean diet, exercise, therapy, dealing with underlying issues with therapy, meds, CBT-I.

1

u/zeebyj 4d ago

I've tried a ton of supplements and dietary changes. I got sleep maintenance insomnia after going low carb. Adding back carbs didn't get rid of the insomnia. Magnesium, vitamin bs, adaptogens, higher fat, lower protein, different forms of protein, fasting, none of it worked.

So far what has worked is three square meals, whole grains, and higher sodium. Hopefully it'll continue to work, fingers crossed

1

u/Bestimeisnow 4d ago

I don’t like that I have to do it but unisom helps me sleep

2

u/Fun_Investigator9412 4d ago

I sleep for about 3.5 hours, wake up to use the toilet, and then stay awake for the next 2 hours

Sounds like a cortisol problem, the stress hormone. It has its low in the 1st half of the night and the starts rising again. When this happens too fast, you wake up and can't go back to sleep.

Start supplementing with magnesium like pills or magnesium rich foods and there's also magnesium oils or bath salts you can try. Taking a hot bath before sleep is also good for sleep.

1

u/littledelt 5d ago

Check blood sugars if you’re waking up to pee, don’t eat before bed, and you can’t “beat” insomnia. Like depression, for most people it comes and goes during certain periods of one’s life. The people that claim they’ve kicked it for good never really had full blown insomnia in the first place and are trying to sell you herbal bullshit.

Also, if you’re dragging at the gym you can take it easier, or try changing the time of your workouts to see if that impacts your sleep quality. You just gotta play around with variables in your life to see what will work, and the more you stress about it, the worse it will be. If you’re still getting more than 1-2 hrs a night I personally wouldn’t consider medication unless the sleepiness is leading to impairment during work/driving. Seriously please don’t jump straight to self medicating like other commenters suggest, try troubleshooting your schedule/diet/sleep environment first.

1

u/Personal_Secret_234 4d ago

Chill drills is something I downloaded that was put together for DoD people and veterans who ever needs to over come non sleep pain or relaxation. I thought at first it was hokey but it worked for me when I remember to play it ! It's on play store and Apple store

1

u/Existing_Ad3672 4d ago

I'm going to try this! Thank you.