Fragmented sleep - rapid recovery

I’d been suffering fragmented sleep for a couple of months and couldn’t see an end to it. I would go to sleep and suddenly wake up after only two hours. This was usually accompanied by an urge to urinate. Why was I waking up after two hours when I was previously a good sleeper for at least six hours?

I’ve addressed some of my TMS problems in the past with non-TMS solutions. I’m not entirely sure what category this falls in.

Before the fragmented sleep began, I was having naps in the afternoon. Each time my wife would wake me, I would ask her “How long have I been asleep - one or two hours?” She would answer 5 or 10 minutes. What??! I’d be in shock and check the clock to confirm it. This happened constantly and I felt that I could no longer trust my perception of time.

There had been a disruption to my body-clock and I had to find a way to fix it.

I began counting one minute on a clock. I said to myself “That’s a minute and that’s what a minute feels like. I did another one minute’ count a short while later and recited the same thing.

As I went to bed, I told myself “I don’t want to sleep for 120 minutes (i.e. 2 hours); I want to sleep for 300 minutes.

I woke up 2 ½ hours later! I was pleased that I had progressed beyond 2 hours. The following night, I went through the same routine and I again woke up after about 2 ½ hours.

On the third night, I counted 5 minutes on the clock and said to my brain that this is what five minutes feels like. As I went to bed I told myself “I don’t want to sleep for 30 blocks of 5 minutes (i.e. 2½ hours); I want to sleep for 40 blocks of 5 minutes”. This time I slept for 3½ hours.


The progression continued with the more recent bed-time thoughts being “I want to sleep for 80 blocks of 5 minutes, or when the sun shines through the blinds”

Everything is back to normal. If the urge to urinate ever presents itself, I repeat at least twice “Now is not the time wake up; morning is the time to wake up” and unless the bladder’s full, the urge disappears quickly.

I found hot chocolate milk very disruptive to my sleep and yoghurt very beneficial. Beginning my sleep on the left side also appeared to be helpful. I am posting this thread on both TMS websites.

Cheers,
Gary (aka Jackmat)

 

Awesome post. Thank you so much for sharing. This really is a case of mind over body.

 

I'm a pretty light sleeper and I get this a lot when I'm traveling, especially on planes. Being a light sleeper isn't really something to worry about, just means that your sleep schedule gets interrupted easier.

 

Thank you for this post Gary. It is remarkable how you did this so methodically and with confidence. Great example for all of us.