had a study, am fixing insomnia now.
TL; DR: The sleep study only helped in that it ruled things out. Sleep Restriction Therapy helped with showing me I need less than 8 hours sleep and that's important to take down time during the day. This therapy is NOT suitable for ill people. Challenging assumptions about sleep and about life helped. Being more calm overall helps me now sleep. end of TL;DR
I had the study in July. They were able to rule out sleep apneu, restless leg syndrome and snoring as causes for my insomnia. They also determined I cycle through all the stages so that's good. And that's all a sleep study can do for you. Perhaps test hormones too if they have the facility.
Experts don't know much about sleep. They don't know how it works. What it's for.
They hardly know about neurotransmitters or hormones.
But sleep experts do have the advantage of numbers. They see lots of people and a lot of them can be helped by changing their outlook on sleep. Lots of people who worry about sleep have insomnia because of that. They can be educated to think differently. Lots of assumptions about sleep are not correct. Sleep's a very malleable phenomenon.
Also, there's a forceful therapy called Sleep Restriction Therapy. Not suitable for ME people! Too harsh! But in healthy people it has a result score of more than 70%. They don't know why it works. But it does work.
Basically you don't get to bed before eleven and you're to be kicked out at six. That'll teach your body to use those precious bed hours to get some sleep and not lollygag laying awake. Once trained to sleep through the night you can increase the bed hours, by 15 minutes at a time. You'll be sleep deprived during the day in the mean time.
(you see why people with ME shouldn't do this therapy, it's madness.)
I am healing of ME as of May 1st and felt good enough in August to try this therapy. It works for me (although on a much slower rate than for healthy people and I had to be very careful not to wreck my health)
One of the things I learned is that I am a person who naturally needs less than 8 hours sleep. If I sleep 8 hours I'll be tired during the day. If I sleep 7 I feel fresh.
The other thing is that during the day I need to take serious down time. Change pace. Rest up. Healthy people need to lounge about during the day, not run around being efficient all the time.
As a third I have found that for me too, my mental outlook on sleep influences my insomnia. Not that I worried. But during the day I've been too wired, too alert, too adrenal about life in general and this spilled over into my nights. My body never quite relaxed. Always Fight or Flight.
With me there are psychological reasons for this attitude towards life. I lack a basic feeling of safety, as a baby an attachment disorder was created in me by my parents. I'm learning (my body) to feel safe now. Have done EMDR for the sorrow.
Also perfectionist. Urban intellectual. Having too much media and upbeat examples in my life. This is all learned behaviour. Not necessarily indigenous character.
I'm changing these things now, with psychotherapy (DIY. No therapist)
Not saying the psyche causes insomnia. Not saying therapy will cure it.
I'm saying sleep is a fluid thing, connected to your nervous system, to your subconsiousness. It's influenced by the state of wiredness you experience during the day. It can be approached by the psyche, by your consciousness.
As a fourth: I need a happy gut to sleep through the night. Nothing too exciting gets in there. Just chicken soup by the bucket. No vegetables, no grains, no egg whites. Nothing to upset it. Nothing to spike blood sugar. Sufficient supplements too.
But mostly I need a happy mind, a quiet mind full of confidence that I will sleep and I will sleep good.
TL; DR: The sleep study only helped in that it ruled things out. Sleep Restriction Therapy helped with showing me I need less than 8 hours sleep and that's important to take down time during the day. The sleep psychologist helps in that he makes me challenge assumptions about sleep and about life.