Has anyone tried a light box/light therapy to regulate sleeping hours?

Just an update re: how things are going with the light box. It was going fairly well, or at least working, but there are a few flies in the ointment, now. The fact that my sleep is broken into two parts lately has made things a bit tricky.
I've been getting tired and going to sleep around 1am, which is earlier than I used to, but in the past, I could sleep for hours (couldn't do much else!), but now I wake up after about four hours. I'm still tired after four hours, so I know I haven't had enough sleep, but I can't go back to sleep either. For the last 2 or 3 days, I've been staying in bed after I wake up, and eventually going back to sleep at about 8.30am for another two hours or so of sleep. I feel like I've had enough sleep then, but it makes it very late when I use the light box...but I've been figuring it's better late than never, and just hoping it will sort itself out eventually. It probably will...but it's taking longer than I would like, or at least, not working as well as I would like, I guess. This morning, I woke at about 5am as usual, and decided to use the light box soon after, then went back to bed and eventually had a few hours more sleep like I've been doing the other days, but at least the light box was done earlier. I'm not sure if going back to sleep after using the light box is going to do anything weird, or if it will work better since I used it earlier....or what.
I'm only on a low dose of Melatonin, so I think it might help if that was increased, but I'll stick with the current dose until I see my sleep doctor next. Not sure what else he might suggest, but I hope he has a few good tips up his sleeve. I think, and hope, he will!
Anyway, just thought I'd give an update. I was hoping things would be going a bit better by now, but I suppose the fact that I'm consistently going to sleep at about 1am is a start.
I'll give another update if anything changes. Hope it does!

You might look into the melatonin that is sustained released as opposed to the dump you get with regular dosage.
It's available in the US...I would assume it should be available in your country.

You've got what we call sleep maintenance insomnia which means trouble staying asleep or waking sooner than you want and not being able to go back to sleep. It's a bitch to deal with because often we don't know what the cause is and it's really hard to fix a problem when we don't know the cause of the problem.
I have it myself...and I know the problem (not airway related) and it's still hard to deal with but you have to bear in mind that cpap only fixes airway problems...it can't fix a problem caused by something unrelated to the airway.
We just have to keep trying various things to fix the problem though....once you identify the problem or cause.

Your body needs more than 4 hours of sleep but can't get it. Figuring out the why you can't go back to sleep in a timely manner and get the needed amount of sleep in each sleep cycle...it's a challenge for sure. Google "sleep maintenance insomnia" and the causes and take a hard look at things to see if you spot anything you might be doing that is playing a part in your problem. The list is quite long.
Finally do have a chat with your doctor about it....he/she might have some additional ideas to try.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 08, 2020 7:47 am

You might look into the melatonin that is sustained released as opposed to the dump you get with regular dosage.
It's available in the US...I would assume it should be available in your country.

You've got what we call sleep maintenance insomnia which means trouble staying asleep or waking sooner than you want and not being able to go back to sleep. It's a bitch to deal with because often we don't know what the cause is and it's really hard to fix a problem when we don't know the cause of the problem.
I have it myself...and I know the problem (not airway related) and it's still hard to deal with but you have to bear in mind that cpap only fixes airway problems...it can't fix a problem caused by something unrelated to the airway.
We just have to keep trying various things to fix the problem though....once you identify the problem or cause.

Your body needs more than 4 hours of sleep but can't get it. Figuring out the why you can't go back to sleep in a timely manner and get the needed amount of sleep in each sleep cycle...it's a challenge for sure. Google "sleep maintenance insomnia" and the causes and take a hard look at things to see if you spot anything you might be doing that is playing a part in your problem. The list is quite long.
Finally do have a chat with your doctor about it....he/she might have some additional ideas to try.

Thanks a lot for the info., Pugsy. Much appreciated! Sorry to hear you have this crappy condition, too! Very true that CPAP can only fix airway probs.
I googled 'sleep maintenance insomnia' as you suggested, and got a lot of good info. and tips. Some of them, I can do. Others, I don't think I can bear to follow. I often play a game I'm addicted to on my phone when I wake up, and it might be hard to give that one up. Got to keep the chooks laying and the sheep producing wool and the crops growing, etc.. One thing I CAN do, though, is get an app on my phone that gets rid of the blue light. I don't think the game is the real main reason I can't go back to sleep, but it probably does contribute to it. I'll keep trying to work out the main reason/s, though, now that I have the info. you directed me to.
I'll definitely ask my doctor about slow release Melatonin. Great tip there, too, thanks a lot. We do have it in Australia...unlike quite a few of the electrical gadgets that you have over there, it seems! Thank God we have CPAP machines, at least.
One thing I changed last night....I usually wait until about 1am to go to bed, even though I sometimes get tired earlier lately (because of the Melatonin &/or light box, I assume), but last night, I decided to go to bed as soon as I got tired, at about 8.30pm. I've been figuring that it's better to wait until later so I won't be waking up at 2am or whatever, but I've realised that it's probably no worse to wake up at 2am than to go to sleep at 2am. Anyway, last night, when I went to sleep at 8.30, I slept for about five hours, got up and watched t.v. (and played my addictive game, of course), used the light box at 6.30am, then had another hour of sleep around 8am. It was good, because my sleep was all out of the way by about 9am. I might stick with that idea, as long as I continue to be able to get tired early. I think this whole new system will take a while to fall into place, but I do have hope now. I'll have another look at the sleep maintenance insomnia sites again before I go to bed tonight. Finding the main reason I can't go back to sleep will be the key to the problem, for sure.
Thanks again very much for the info..