How I got my sleep back?

I was working in an MNC in Cyber City Gurgaon and had a very hectic work timings. Starting at 930 AM in the morning and going till 7 PM in the evening. I was doing very well in my career and was generally happy with my life. However nearly couple of years back in 2016, I suddenly started losing my sleep. Initially it was difficulty in getting sleep after being in bed for more than 30-40 mins, then getting sleepless mid night. This erratic sleep cycle became worse day by day. Initially I ignored it but then went to a physician to take sleep medicines.

Medicines were effective initially, however within couple of months they stopped working. Now my situation was really very bad. I wasn’t able to sleep despite in bed for many hours at a stretch, I was sleeping less than 4 hours a night. I was feeling sleepy and stressed out during the day. Sleeplessness drove me to alcohol. I tried various medicines and doctors but nothing helped me.

Year 2017 was possibly the worst year of my life. I was taking frequent leaves from my office, my productivity was down. I started becoming annoyed on every little issue at work and at home. I was aware of the cause of my situation i.e., sleeplessness. However I had no solution in sight. I got my sleep assessment done and found no physical ailment causing sleeplessness.

A friend of mine recommended Elate earlier this year. I took counselling for depression and sleep in Gurgaon from Elate. Counselor used Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Within couple of sessions I realised a big change in my thought process. My negative thoughts were not letting me calm down. I saw that I was personalising and catastrophising many trivial issues related to work place which was giving me serious stress. First thing counsellor told me to start maintaining a thoughts journal. It was a real help. I learned techniques to not connect every things to myself or my performance or my reputation at work place, this is what I was doing earlier.

As soon as I remoulded my thoughts to more positive side, I saw a huge change in my behaviour. I got very good tools for improving my sleep hygiene, such as tips on how to sleep well, mindfulness, sleep music, breathing exercises, and diet recommendation for mental health. CBT combined with these tools I was able to improve my sleep within couple of months. Its 6 months now since I started counselling therapy, and I am able to sleep pretty well at night.

I made some important changes to my life, I am more careful to lead a healthy and happy life. I am also trying to be more mindful of my thoughts. Thanks Elate for giving me proper counselling and mental health support. I am leading the Elate way of life now.

Prabhat Kumar

Gurgaon

https://www.elate-wellbeing.com/elate-sleep

#sleeplessness #insomnia #elatesleep #counselingfordepressionandanxiety