Why do we sleep? We sleep for growth, recovery, cycles, process and rest. There are four main stages of sleep, being;

• Stage 1 - Drowsiness
• Stage 2 - Light sleep, the early stages, where noise can easily wake you
• Stage 3 - Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep
• Stage 4 - Fear and sleep terror

This cycle is repeated 4 - 5 times per night generally. With PTSD, we need to concentrate on stages 3 & 4.

REM Sleep

It is highly abnormal in PTSD to reach the REM stage due to anxiety. Dreaming patterns are disturbed and this is the stage where nightmares are experienced and sleep walking occurs (partial paralysis asssociated to trauma).

Fear, Sleep Terror

Medication and alcohol does help to get to sleep, however; it disturbs dreams and produces physical affects of a hangover in the morning. Sleeping hours may be reduced also.

The Result

Wake up tire in the morning because of bad REM sleep, not feeling refreshed.

What Can You Do?

The doctors will tell you; deal with PTSD by taking medication that affects REM patterns.

Realism

You end up a pill popping junkie, or worse, taking medication to survive the day and night. It can be beat with effort, so you don't need medication.

What Can You Do To Get To Sleep Then?

• Make sure you have a wind down period after working. Say to yourself "I will stop working / studying 1 - 2 hours before going to bed", then actually DO IT.
• Try deep breathing, listen to music, or something that relaxes you.
• Eat less before going to bed, as the digestive system is still working as your trying to get to sleep.
• Don't take cat naps during the day, as it irregulates your sleep patterns.
• Try having a warm drink before going to bed (not caffeine).

What Can You Do If Your Anxious About Going To Sleep?

Identify the fear of not sleeping or needing to stay awake (reassurance). Once this has been identified, there is rapid recovery. Until then, focus on relaxing in bed. If you can't sleep in bed (tossing and turning), get up and do something relaxing. Don't lay awake in bed as this will create a negative association to your sleeping, ie. bed = no sleep / bad thoughts.

Sleep Apnoea

If you think you suffer sleep apnoea, which is simply when breathing stops due to intermittent disturbance of sleep pattern, caused by the closing of the throat, seek medical help ASAP.

Basically, when you go to sleep, you will sleep and breathe normally, then snoring begins, gets louder, louder, louder then stops for several seconds, the body wakes up suddenly gasping for air, then the cycle automatically starts again.

Sleep apnoea is generally tested over 2 nights of bio-physiology and chemistry testing.

Treatment

The use of a sleep apnoea machine, braces that lock the jaw, surgery to remove the tissue from the soft pallet in the throat. All in all, not pretty... seek medical help.

To also help bring yourself back into a normal sleep pattern, you bring your bedtime back 15 minutes a day, or every few days, so that eventually you are sleeping more normal hours, being night hours, and not daytime sleeping. Generally though, as for sleep in general, as you work out all your trauma, normally your sleep will begin to fall into place, and get better as your symptoms get better. One day your not sleeping, then you suddenly begin to realise that your not having nightmares anymore about your traumas, because they are all out and you have forgiven yourself and no longer keeping them secretive. Sleep is one of those things you can work on by itself, but will it really ever improve dramatically if you don't fix the major symptoms first? Not likely.