Sharing something that helped me

[Guest]

Hello, I've been doing much better OCD wise and just wanted to share something that really helped me...

I used to be a champion ruminator and it was such an intrenched thing for me I couldn't comprehend how I was supposed to live without thinking in this way.  However, one of the best things I did to help was to make my bed a rumination and worry free zone. I cant stress enough how much difference this has made. I used to wake up throughout the night with intrusive thoughts and I would then lie awake ruminating, or I would put music on as a distraction. I would also go to bed during the day when things were bad as a form of avoidance.

So as an experiment, I tried sticking to a strict sleep schedule (ie getting up and going to bed at the same time everyday as far as possible as well as following the nhs sleep advice I was given in therapy - I can share the details if anyone wants them.), I didn't allow myself any form of distraction such as reading or listening to music in bed at all, and I used mindfulness to stop myself from ruminating (I constantly return my attention to my breath) while I was in bed waiting to fall asleep or having just woken up. I gave myself permission to ruminate as much as I wanted when I was out of bed, that way I didn't panic about having to cut out the compulsion altogether.

I had a few tough nights at first, but now I sleep pretty much all night, and it's amazing how much easier it is to cope with life after a proper night's sleep. I also found that once I stopped ruminating at night and first thing in morning, I naturally stopped ruminating during the day without having to put in any purposeful effort at all.

[gingerbreadgirl]

That sounds like a great piece of advice wren, sounds like it has worked really well for you. Thanks for sharing

[taurean]

That's great Wren. I too use mindfulness a lot and it really helps, because in a true state of mindfulness we don't obsess or compulse. 

[Andrea]

Hi Wren

Having a proper night´s sleep it is really important  . Congrats for stopping ruminating, that is fantastic and thank you for sharing

[leif]

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing that. I notice I don't have the best sleep patterns and yes interesting to see always what a difference proper sleep makes!

i always seem to need noise to sleep to; it would be an interesting experiment to try and break that habit and see if it makes a difference like it did for you!

 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, leif said:

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing that. I notice I don't have the best sleep patterns and yes interesting to see always what a difference proper sleep makes!

i always seem to need noise to sleep to; it would be an interesting experiment to try and break that habit and see if it makes a difference like it did for you!

 

I would recommend googling 'sleep hygiene' for tips on doing things like not exposing yourself to blue light a few hours before bed etc. I was quite sceptical about some of the advice but I thought, as an experiment, I will follow all the recommendations to the letter for a month and see what happens - and it worked! (that just shows how arrogant I am for not believing people ;-)) Not listening to music at night was a form of erp so it did mean I got worse before I got better, so you might need to be aware of that. 

Ps did you know that your brain only grows new neurons during sleep, so if you don't sleep you can't form long term memories! (I like to bombard people with sleep facts ;-)). Because of this, sleep is a vital part of the learning process so it's probably partly why it's helped me so much to put therapy into action. 

Edited April 4, 2019 by Guest