necessarily true. However, if your thoughts about sleep and fatigue are automatic, it will take practice to catch yourself having such thoughts and to actively challenge them. This may be difficult to do, because you may not be aware of your thoughts.
The best way to catch yourself and examine your thoughts may be to notice when your mood worsens—when you become tense or frustrated—and then recall what you were thinking just before your mood changed. Once you identify the thought that is most connected to how you are feeling, ask yourself the following questions:
Is the thought 100 percent true? (Often thoughts are somewhere between completely true and completely untrue.)
Am I discounting evidence that does not support the thought?
Am I jumping to conclusions? Am I creating a self-fulfilling prophecy?
What would I tell someone I loved if he or she was having the same thought?
Does the thought lead to feeling worse?
Does the thought lead me to do something that actually interferes with sleep or makes me more apt to feel fatigued?
Answering these questions and changing your thinking to something more realistic and something that makes you less upset can change your sleep problem. For example, maybe you are used to telling yourself and others, “I don’t sleep.” Such a thought is inaccurate and anxiety-provoking. If you catch yourself having this thought and you stop to remind yourself that you do sleep, albeit less than you would like to, and there are things you can do to sleep even better, this modified thought is more hopeful and adaptive.
Summary
Sometimes the way you think about sleep can make your sleep worse, or at least make it seem worse. This chapter taught you to change the way you think about sleep in several important ways. When you are not overly concerned about sleep loss, refrain from thinking in absolutes such as “I don’t sleep,” set realistic expectations for your sleep, and avoid thoughts that create anxiety and make it difficult to sleep, you are on your way to thinking like a good sleeper. Try it and enjoy the results! Remember the following tips:
Take sleep loss in stride.
One night of poor sleep does not mean the whole week is, or will be, bad.
Saying “I don’t sleep” is inaccurate and increases sleep-related anxiety.
Sleep is not something that can be produced on demand; believing that you must try to sleep will only make it more difficult to sleep.
Stop and challenge thoughts that are unhelpful or untrue.
Chapter 9
Focus on the Daytime to Help during the Night
Y our sleep problems are not just about your nights; they affect and are affected by your days. Most insomnia sufferers complain less about how they feel at night and more about how they feel during the day. Yet preoccupation with sleep during the day, though understandable, does not solve insomnia; it makes it worse and prolongs the suffering. This chapter gives you tools for modifying your daytime thoughts and actions in order to improve your nights; these include methods to reduce worries, promote acceptance, and challenge unhelpful beliefs about sleep. This chapter also teaches you cognitive skills you can use to help reduce your fatigue and suggests some things you can do during the day to minimize the effects of poor sleep.
Challenge the Myth That Worrying Is Necessary or Helpful
As we discussed in chapter 7, worrying at night can interfere with sleep. Daytime worries can carry over into the night. When facing a worry, ask yourself three questions:
Is this worry about something that has a low probability of actually happening?
Is this worry about something that is out of my control?
Is this worry unrealistic or out of proportion?
If the answer to any of these is yes, then your worrying is not constructive and it is time to challenge this unhelpful habit (this is addressed in the next paragraph and in greater detail in chapter 7). If the answers to all of the above are no, then it may be helpful to turn
The best way to catch yourself and examine your thoughts may be to notice when your mood worsens—when you become tense or frustrated—and then recall what you were thinking just before your mood changed. Once you identify the thought that is most connected to how you are feeling, ask yourself the following questions:
Is the thought 100 percent true? (Often thoughts are somewhere between completely true and completely untrue.)
Am I discounting evidence that does not support the thought?
Am I jumping to conclusions? Am I creating a self-fulfilling prophecy?
What would I tell someone I loved if he or she was having the same thought?
Does the thought lead to feeling worse?
Does the thought lead me to do something that actually interferes with sleep or makes me more apt to feel fatigued?
Answering these questions and changing your thinking to something more realistic and something that makes you less upset can change your sleep problem. For example, maybe you are used to telling yourself and others, “I don’t sleep.” Such a thought is inaccurate and anxiety-provoking. If you catch yourself having this thought and you stop to remind yourself that you do sleep, albeit less than you would like to, and there are things you can do to sleep even better, this modified thought is more hopeful and adaptive.
Summary
Sometimes the way you think about sleep can make your sleep worse, or at least make it seem worse. This chapter taught you to change the way you think about sleep in several important ways. When you are not overly concerned about sleep loss, refrain from thinking in absolutes such as “I don’t sleep,” set realistic expectations for your sleep, and avoid thoughts that create anxiety and make it difficult to sleep, you are on your way to thinking like a good sleeper. Try it and enjoy the results! Remember the following tips:
Take sleep loss in stride.
One night of poor sleep does not mean the whole week is, or will be, bad.
Saying “I don’t sleep” is inaccurate and increases sleep-related anxiety.
Sleep is not something that can be produced on demand; believing that you must try to sleep will only make it more difficult to sleep.
Stop and challenge thoughts that are unhelpful or untrue.
Chapter 9
Focus on the Daytime to Help during the Night
Y our sleep problems are not just about your nights; they affect and are affected by your days. Most insomnia sufferers complain less about how they feel at night and more about how they feel during the day. Yet preoccupation with sleep during the day, though understandable, does not solve insomnia; it makes it worse and prolongs the suffering. This chapter gives you tools for modifying your daytime thoughts and actions in order to improve your nights; these include methods to reduce worries, promote acceptance, and challenge unhelpful beliefs about sleep. This chapter also teaches you cognitive skills you can use to help reduce your fatigue and suggests some things you can do during the day to minimize the effects of poor sleep.
Challenge the Myth That Worrying Is Necessary or Helpful
As we discussed in chapter 7, worrying at night can interfere with sleep. Daytime worries can carry over into the night. When facing a worry, ask yourself three questions:
Is this worry about something that has a low probability of actually happening?
Is this worry about something that is out of my control?
Is this worry unrealistic or out of proportion?
If the answer to any of these is yes, then your worrying is not constructive and it is time to challenge this unhelpful habit (this is addressed in the next paragraph and in greater detail in chapter 7). If the answers to all of the above are no, then it may be helpful to turn
Similar Books
