Anyone received therapy for sleep problems?

[insomniacforever]

Hi I didn't know what board to post on so I hope this is okay.
I have woken in the night for many years, I don't remember when I last slept through. I wake for about two hours in the night. I have tried all the things like melatonin, magnesium, lavender, no screens etc.
Has anyone had a therapy that worked to help with this kind of issues or knows why I might do this? I'm very fed up of it now.

My husband did some kind of course through the doctor (not sure if it was a trial though). He had to record every day what he'd eaten, the amount of exercise he'd done (which a minimum recommendation anyway - an hour I think). He started off having to go to bed at midnight and get up at 5am - no napping, not going to bed a bit earlier if you're tired. If diet/exercise is the issue, he got feedback. From memory he did it a few months, and basically just got so tired he'd sleep properly for five hours - slowly the time was increased (as fed back to him) until he got to the point he wasn't sleeping again and adjusted the time to suit him - he goes to bed around 11pm, gets up 5.45am now (needs to do this for work anyway). He does wake up a couple of times in the night (partly my fault as I go to toilet and fidget in bed), but he sleeps a lot better.

Thanks, so it helped him? I have been to the gp years ago but they weren't that helpful really

What helped me a bit was to understand it’s normal to wake in the night. In the Victorian era they used to get up in the night and do chores etc. So it is part of humans biorhythms.

Knowing that can take a bit of pressure off the whole ‘sleeping all night’.

What really helped me and I saw it recommended in here was ‘The Women’s guide to insomnia’ as it is often a hormonal issue so this book is very targeted towards women.

Things the helped me from the book: get up and go to bed at the same time each day. You need to create a hunger for sleep. So no lie ins. Don’t go to bed until you’re really tired. There’s even a program where you use sleep restriction (go to bed really late) but it does work and is often used in sleep therapy.

If you do wake you are supposed to get up and go and do something (after about 20 mins of no sleep) none screen related until you’re tired again. Then go back to bed. The book suggests not even reading in bed. Get up the minute you wake in the morning.

These things helped more than the no screens, hot baths etc.

I still wake in the night but I don’t get stressed about it.

The post above sounds like it’s similar to the book with the sleep restriction.