... and that 'sleep experts' and the NHS don't acknowledge this.
I say this after reading a self-help book from a sleep expert, after reading advice from sleep experts online, and after trying an online 'sleep programme' recommended by my GP. In all cases the assumption was that I was going to bed and struggling to fall asleep then waking one or more times in the night and taking a while to drop back off to sleep again. The proposed solution was to go to bed later, so I was 'more tired' and, on waking, get up and do something else (e.g. read a book), until I felt tired again, then go back to bed.
My insomnia doesn't follow that pattern. I fall asleep quickly when I first go to bed around 11, then wake up around 4, and don't go back to sleep. If I go to bed later, I miss out on my best quality sleep. If I get up at 4, then my body clock assumes its morning and I'm just more likely to wake at 4, or earlier, on subsequent nights too.
The sleep programme was very frustrating. It involved filling in a questionnaire every morning to track my sleep experience. It had multi-choice questions, but 'none of the above' wasn't an option, and there was a 'rule' about not ever checking the time during the night, so it tracked inaccurately, and then generated an inaccurate report to send to my GP. I eventually gave up on it.
Anyone else had a similar experience?