New Program
Site Under Development
Fridays 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Eastern Time
Meeting will be open from 12:15 pm to 1:45 for fellowship.
Zoom Meeting ID: 788 6949 8654 Password: Sleep
Meeting Format
1. We Believe
2. Sleep Education & Sharing
3. Step & Sharing
4. Tools & Sharing
5. Story & Sharing
6. Check-In & Sharing
7. Questions from Newcomers
Site Under Development
We believe . . .
​1. Sleep is a need for all humans.
2. Sleep is essential for health.
3. Optimal sleep is essential for optimal health.
4. Sleep problems often lie at the roots of other emotional challenges.
5. Sufficient sleep and optimal sleep is part of what it means to living a life well lived.
6. In the end, sufficient sleep and optimal sleep lead to a more productive life not a less productive life.
7. Part of the essential pleasure that we get in life is the sensations we get through great sleep.
8. That resolving our sleep problems will leader to personal growth.
9. That resolving our sleep problems will mprove our character.
10. That science, doctors, health care professionals, and experts should inform us.
11. We believe that sleep has the potential to be an addictive behavior for some.
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Suggested Goals for New Members
1. Talk about your feelings about your sleep problem. Having unexpressed feelings about your sleep problems may be contributing to your sleep problems.
2. Develop a recovery network. A recovery network is a group of people who will be supportive to you.
Identify people in the group who appear to be non-judgemental. Ask to exchange phone numbers with them. They will then be a part of your recovery network.
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3. Get sleep buddies. A sleep buddy is someone who helps you stay awake when you need t stay awake and get to sleep when you need to get to sleep.
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4. Get a temporary sponsor. A sponsor is a mentor. In programs like ours we can get temporary sponsors who will fill in while we pursue our long term sponsors. This is a new program. It may be some time before there is people who could be a sponsor or temporary sponsor. Nevertheless, temporary sponsorship is a critical first step to healing our sleep.
Site Under Development
The intent is that tools, philosophy and literature will be developed by group conscience.
Sleep Education
This information should not be understood as medical advice. We are not doctors. Please make health care decisions in consultation with your doctor and health care professionals.
1. Temperature The body needs to cool down in order to go to sleep. Even one degree in the temperature of your room can significantly improve your capaccity to fall asleep and improve your sleep quality.
2. Light Circadian rhythms are synched with sunlight. Sunlight tends to wake you up. Darkness tends to pull your rhythms towards sleep. Screens give off light that tends to keep us up.
3. Eating Circadian rhythms are synched to eating. Generally, eating tells your body that you are up. Finish eating four hours before getting into bed to tell your body that it is bed time and to stabilize blood sugar and metabolization.
4. Activity / Excercise Activity / Excercise is a stimulant. If you want to increase your vitals increase your activity / excersie. If you want to lower your vitals decrease your activity / exercise. Generally, activity / excercise will wake you up.
5. Avoid Napping Increase your bodies need for sleep by not sleeping during the day time.
6. Manage Caffeine Use Sleep Problems Anonymous takes the position that caffeine is a gray area that should be considered carefully by each individual. For some, caffeine use contributed to their sleep problems. For others, it was used as a medication to help them correct their sleep cycle. Sleep problems can contribute to becoming addicted to caffeine. Caffeine then contributes to sleep problems. This is an addictive spiral.
7. Resolve medical issues For example, a high percentage of Americans are pre-diabetic or diabetic. Blood sugar issues could be causing blood sugar spikes and making it harder to get to sleep or get fulfilling sleep.
8. Be knowledgeable about food choices. Carbohydrates will be converted to sugar. Processed carbohydrates will be processed into sugar even faster. This could contribute to blood sugar spikes which could wake you up. Protein is converted into sugar as well. And your body heats up when it processes protein. When the body heats up, it tends to wake up.
9. Write down tasks, decisions, areas of uncertainty Having a cluttered mind makes it harder for your body, mind, and heart to relax and turn off.
10. Make a conscious decision to relax. Sometimes we have never decided to relax we continued to be partially thinking, working, or making some decision.
11. Make a conscious decision to go to sleep. Sometimes we have remained in a kind of limbo where we have never really decided to go to sleep. We don't know whether we want to continue watching sleep or to go to bed for example.
12. Make a decision to not intentionally do any thinking while you sleep. Some people try to get things done even when they sleep. They might be reviewing the days events, making decison, problem solving, etc while they are sleeping!
13. Have a bed time routine Having a routine at bed time we found to be calming and ensure we were truly ready to fall alseep.
14. Regular exercise. Walking, stretching, and lifting weights can significantly improve your sleep quality.
15. Resolve hyper-vigilance. For some, their arousal is related to searching for potential future danger or challenging scenarios.
16. Resolve being on-gaurd For some, their arousal is related to being on guard so they are never caught off guard.
17. Practice meditation One of the benefits of meditation is thatover time we become more comfortable with our thoughts and we learn how to manage our brain.
18. Have a wake-up routine Waking up was easier when we had a routine. We also felt more productive and structured.
19. Pursue a healthy body weight. Obesity is correlated with sleep apnea.
20. Manage expectations about sleep quality. As we age our sleep decreases in quality.
The 12 Steps
1. We admitted we were powerless over our sleep problems—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The Tools
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Medical Evaluation & Consultation
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Sleep Hygiene
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Avoiding Napping
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Manage Caffeine Use
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Task Management & Scheduling
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Hyper-Arousal
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Nutrition
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Relaxation
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Brain Management
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Excercise
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Structure and Routine
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Psychotherapy
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Medication
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Venting & Support
1. Medical Evaluation & Consultation
2. Sleep Hygeine
3. Avoiding Napping
4. Manage Caffeine Use
5. Task Management & Scheduling
6. Resolve Hyper-Arousal
7. Nutrition Heartburn, digestive issues, nighttime urination, irregularity etc can all impact our sleep. Our position is that nutrition can contribute to problems which then impact the length and quality of our sleep.
8. Relaxation Our bodies, emotions, and intellect affect how aroused we are. Relaxation . . . .
8. Change it to whatever Our bodies, emotions, and intellect affect how aroused we are. Relaxation . . . .
New Program Starting - Site Under Development
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What is hyper-arousal?
When we refer to the concept of hyper-arousal we are referring to a psychological and/or physiological state that we get into. It is a reaction to stress.
What does “on-gaurd” mean?
When we refer to the concept of being “on-gaurd” we are referring to a deep motivation that lies behind our thinking. We found that sometimes we were thinking because we didn’t want to be caught off guard. Being caught off guard might mean being asked a question without having an answer, being ridiculed without having a good come back, or a situation without knowing how to handle it, etc.
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What is hyper-vigilance?
When we use the world hyper-vigilance, we are referring to a pattern of scanning our environment or the future for danger. This could mean physical or emotional danger. For example, your brain may automatically start reviewing possible future scenarios where you may be criticized. .
text.
Running a Meeting
Say, "Now begins the Friday 12:30 online meeting of sleep problems anonymous"
Say, "This meeting is run in the spirit of the first 12 step meeting ever created, Alcoholics Anonymous and led to the development of so many other 12 - step programs. The meeting will start with a reading, education, story, check-ins, and time for newcomers for questions.
Let's begin by saying the serenity prayer for those who wish.
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God, Grant me the Serentiy to Accept the things that I cannot change.
The courage to change the things I can
and the Wisdom to know the difference
Let's observe a moment of those suffering from sleep problems.
"Before we begin let's go over the rules of today's meeting.
First, you don't have to have your video on but please state your first name in the chat box.
Second, please mute yourself when you aren't speaking.
Third, this is a no cross talk meeting. Cross talk is commenting on something that someone else shared in the meeting or
asking them questions. Interacting is encouraged at the end of the formal meeting. This meeting will remain open until 1:45
pm eastern time.
The format of the meeting is reading "we believe, tools and reactions, then we will open up the meeting for sharing, the last 5 minutes will be reserved for new comers and any questions they have. Let's beging, I will read one of the tools and then there will be 2 and half minutes for people to share and react to the tool.
SErenity Prayer
Moment of Silence
REading 4 beliefs off of "We Believe 4 min.
Read 4 tools off "The Tool Boxes and allow people to react to the Tool 8 min.
Reading 1 step off of 12 steps and 5 minutes of comments about the step and how to apply it to our sleep problems. 10 min.
Open Sharing 3 minutes per person 20 min.
After one round of sharing open up to questions for newcomers 5 min.
Any time remaining should be used for more open sharing. Remaining Time
Serenity Prayer
When it's the last 20 minutes say, "Now is the time for people to share on whatever they wish.
Now say, "We reserve the last 5 minutes for newcomers." Now is the time for you to have extra time to share or to ask any questions that you have. Is there anyone who would like to share or ask any questions? If there is no one say, "WE have a few extra minutes does anyone have a burning desire to share more?
Group Rules
In our meetings, we speak about our own experience, and we listen without comment to what others share. We work toward taking responsibility for our own lives, rather than giving advice to others. This is why crosstalk is strongly discouraged during our meetings. Crosstalk guidelines help keep our meetings a safe place.
Examples of crosstalk may include, but are not limited to:
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Giving unsolicited feedback
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Advising
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Answering
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Making "you" and "we" statements
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Interrogating
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Debating
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Criticizing
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Controlling
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Dominating
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Minimizing another person’s feeling or experiences
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Physical contact / touch
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Body movements such as nodding one’s head or other gestures
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Verbal sounds / noises
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Referring to someone present by name
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This language is re-printed from coda.org
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Describe the item and include any relevant details. Click to edit the text.
New Program Starting - Site Under Development
FAQ
Is there a charge for attending?
No
Is this group led by a mental health professional?
No, this group is run by its members.
​Am I required to identify myself?
​No, you may remain anonymous.
Are people with sleep problems other than insomnia allowed to attend?
Yes, depression, restless leg syndrome, circadian rhythm disorder, nightmares, trauma, and all others.
We came by different paths and in different places. All were welcome. Our hope is that you identify with where we have been.
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We noticed that people came to us from their pursuing sobriety, resolving emotional issues, insomnia, Trau, fatigue, or health. Addiction
Emotional Issues
Trauma
Insomnia
Fatigue
Health
We came from other 12 step programs sometimes working on sobriety, some through depression or anxiety, still others had insomnia that didn't seem to be connected to any other issue. Then there were those who just wanted to work on their sleep to achieve optimal health.
​Some came to us after working on an addiction to drugs, alcohol, food etc. We were familiar with the 12 - steps and we understood meetings. In our recoveries we struggled with sleep. We knew that it could be part of our post-acute withdrawal and had been warned that it could take up to two years for our brains to heal after getting sober. The sleep problems that went along with the post-acute withdrawal were worse that detox for some of us. We came because we needed to devote special attention to our sleep in addition to our primary program. This place is for you--you are welcome.
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Those who came to with ssues with food were of special note. Those who struggled with food may have used food to help them go to sleep, to deal with loneliness at night, and the frustrations of not being able to sleep to name a few. Obviously, this was part of their addiction because it just then made their sleep worse.
Looking back many of us realized that our sleep problems were the proverbial "canary in the coal" mine warning us of other problems in our lives. In fact, many of us had experiences in other 12 step programs and came to this program because we needed specific help to enrich our recovery from our primary issues. Some realized that sleep was an addictive behavior that hurt their recovery and may have even been one of the underlying issues that led to their primary issue such as alcohol, drugs, food, sex, or gambling. All are welcome.
Others came to us with sleep problems related to their depression or anxiety. All were welcome. These folks were all to aware that their depression and anxiety were a cause of their sleep problems and their sleep
problems were a cause of their depression and anxiety. They came here for answers and looking for people
who would understand. This program is for you. You too are welcome!
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​​Then there were those that were driven to their knees by their seeming inability to have anything resembling sanity in relation to sleep. And then we knew we needed to stay away in order to be sleepy at night, but we couldn’t stop napping during the day time. At times, the circumstances of our lives made it harder, because we really didn’t have any place that we needed to be. We didn’t have the structure of a regular job or kids to take care of.
When we did get to sleep at night, something seemed wrong. Our sleep wasn’t fulfilling or worse. For some, secretly, they were aware that they enjoyed being awake at night forgetting that in the morning we would be suffering at having to get up. But we knew that there was a problem with delaying gratification generally in our lives. It wasn’t just related to sleep.
Spouses stopped understanding years ago and friends no longer seemed to want to hear about our struggles. We were thought to be lazy, weak, or dumb.
Many of us have other emotional challenges. Depression was common. We were told by professionals that our sleep may be related to our depression.
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​Others disavowed our need for sleep, and only found out later its relevance to health and happiness.
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​We seemed to be unable to solve this problem of ours on our own. For others, even medical and mental health professionals seemed to be unable to help us. Granted we had so many challenges at times there wasn’t even adequate time to get help in our meetings with thse professionals. We had to do something! So we began working on the problem ourselves!
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For some, it was as basic as a realization that sleep was a pillar of health, and pursuing optimal health meant pursuing optimal health. And we knew that our sleep wasn’t what it should be. We were looking for information and to connect with others who were pursuing optimal health. All are welcome.
For others, our primary concern was resolving other emotional challenges and we realized that in order to do this.
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​Some held jobs that worsened sleep, or who worked at night and came looking for the best way to cope.
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Some people hadn't experienced a powerlessness over sleep problems, but had experienced the unmanageability as a consequence of their sleep problems.
We had challenges in improving our sleep. There were may challenges:
legal issues, financial instability, potential homelessness, roommate issues, debt collectors, legal problems, divorce, gender identiy issues, addiction, child/elder care. Our problems had cousins, children, and cousins.
We didn’t want to try to do problem solving because then it would mean facing challenges. We didn’t feel that we belonged and felt alone. Some of us have known most shades of darkness.
When we allowed ourselves to think about it some part of us knew that these problems were affecting our sleep and our sleep was affecting our problems. The viscous spiral. Just when we really needed to be at our best, we were at our worst. Just when we really needed our energy, we had none. The viscous spiral!
Overwhelmed we thought, “where do I begin?”
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​Complications: chronic pain, medical conditions, family Still others really couldn't identify any other rpboelsm except their sleep problems. All were welcome.
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Workaholism. Some of us would try to work when we were sleeping! Solving problems, thinking, addressing future potential scenarios while we were sleeping. Many wouldn't even have believed us if we would have told them this!
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Some were raised with the slogan, "I'll sleep when I die!" Sleeping could be equated with sinfulness.
Common Sleep Problems
Insomnia
Sleepapnia
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Nutrition
Carbohydrates are converted to sugar. Blood sugar spikes in attempting to go to sleep or while sleeping can contribute to sleep problems.
Proteins are converted to sugar. Proteins cause the body to heat up. Heating the body up while attempting to go to sleep or during sleep may contribute to sleep problems.
​​Arousal
Arousal at bed time is a cause of sleep problems. A history of trauma and the hyper-vigilance trauma can cause can lead to difficulty in calming and relaxing in preparation for sleep.
Relaxation
Difficulty in relaxing can contribute to sleep problems. The most rapid way to relax is to slow and deepen your breathing.
Difficulty with thoughts at bed time
Emotions and arousal contribute to more thoughts and more difficult to manage thoughts at night.
Restless Leg Syndrome
This is a problem with twitches or creepy crawly sensations at night or even while awake. It can occur in the calves, forearms, or elbows. This can be torturous for people and interfere with sleep incredibly.
Medical Evaluation & Consultation
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We recommend that you describe your sleep problems to your primary care provider and consider seeking evaluation and consultation from a specialist who is trained in sleep medicine.
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We have found that diabetes, pre-diabetes, and thyroid issues can be contributory factors to sleep problems. We think it wise to ensure that we aren't treating physiolgical issues with psychological tools.
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Diabetes and pre-diabetes could be causing spikes in blood sugar or spikes or dips. This is where blood sugar goes up abnormally. This could be
​The sleep hygiene tool box refers to: temperature, light, food intake, and activity. We used these tools artfully in order to give us the best chance to resolve our particular sleep problem.
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Temperature: Our bodies need to cool down in order to fall asleep. Our bodies warm up as we wake up. We can use this information to help our bodies fall asleep or wake up.
Our sleep temperature is also important. We recommend that you purchase a thermometer for your room. Incredibly, one degree of temperature can really make a difference in the quality of your sleep! We recommend that you experiment with adjusting your bedding and temperature to find the optimal combination for you and your sleep!
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Light: Our bodies sleep/wake cycles synch to light. When we want to fall asleep, we recommend t you consider total darkness. That means covering up LED lights that are part of electronics too! We suggest purchasing black out curtains.
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Food Intake: Our bodies circadian rhythms fall in line with our food Intake. When you want to wake up, eat. When you want to fall asleep discontinue eating. We recommend that you discontinue eating four hours before bedtime.
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Activity: Generally speaking, activity is a stimulant. Non-activity is a depressant. We recommend that you have period before bedtime where you greatly reduce activitity. Movement will help you wake up and stay up.
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Nutrition
Carbohydrates are converted to sugar. Blood sugar spikes in attempting to go to sleep or while sleeping can contribute to sleep problems.
Proteins are converted to sugar. Proteins cause the body to heat up. Heating the body up while attempting to go to sleep or during sleep may contribute to sleep problems.
​
Arousal
Arousal at bed time is a cause of sleep problems. A history of trauma and the hyper-vigilance trauma can cause can lead to difficulty in calming and relaxing in preparation for sleep.
Relaxation
Difficulty in relaxing can contribute to sleep problems. The most rapid way to relax is to slow and deepen your breathing.
Difficulty with thoughts at bed time
Emotions and arousal contribute to more thoughts and more difficult to manage thoughts at night.
Restless Leg Syndrome
This is a problem with twitches or creepy crawly sensations at night or even while awake. It can occur in the calves, forearms, or elbows. This can be torturous for people and interfere with sleep incredibly.
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Regarding caffeine we thought it wise to take a thoughtful position. We tried to bear in mind the variety of sleep problems that people suffered with. We tried to bear mind the great variety of circumstances that people were in. We remembered that our program was one of suggestions.
Caffeine was controversial. People had strong opinions. We waited for science to fill in the blanks. We listened closely to scientist, doctor, and expert opinions and listened for to the evidence and their logic and weighed it.
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Certainly, for those who struggled with sleep at night and drank caffeine later in the day common sense dictated that this may be some part of the problem. On the other hand, for those who struggled with daytime sleeping we could imagine that some moderated use of caffeine We remembered that one position at one time in life under one set of circumstances may fit, but the same practice in another time of life under another set of circumstances may be unwise.
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For sure, there were people who had an addiction to caffeine. We were wise to remember how addiction progresses. We were wise also to consider sanctioning addiction generally could lead to more addiction generally.
For sure there were people who were medicating themselves with caffeine.
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These were difficult questions. We recommended a close evaluation of the positive and negative effects along with the risks.
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We suggested to those struggling trying an experiment and recording the results for themselves.
For some attending caffeine anonymous may be a helpful adjunct to their work on their sleep and a close evaluation of caffeine in their lives.
For some of us we found that one contributor to our sleep problems was that we were consciously and/or unconsciously having tasks, projects, decisions, uncertainties on our mind as we laid down. This made it more difficult for us to relax, manage our brains, focus, and devote our energies to trying to go to sleep.
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Sometimes healing our sleep, meant a vision of a wholesale overhaul of how we managed. We can work on our vision, but while we put it together we remember to keep it simple and focus on easy first steps. Just grabbing a scrap of paper and a something to write with can be a revolutionary first step. We write down our priorities for tomorrow. Get them out of our head. Even if we usually don't follow it, we resolve to continue to every day as a practice.
For many of us, we relied on our brains for remembering tasks and our schedules. When we thought about it, some of us exclaimed, “That’s crazy” and laughed. We realized how silly it was trying to hold all of lives in our heads at bedtime. Some of experienced significant improvements just from having a system and relying on it.
Some of us chose a simple approach. A tiny notebook with a pencil.
Transforming our management was a project. A folded up piece of paper and a pen was a start.
As we advanced we developed a vision for our future management. The suggestions we have for you are a: task management program, a scheduling program, and a notetaking program.
We suggest that you have the ability to add and adapt your tasks, schedules, notes wherever you are. We found that someplaces were of particular importance: bedside at night, the car, the location where we do our nightly wind-down.
Task Mangement Program
Scheduling Program
Notetaking Program
Car