Say Good Night To Insomnia Paperback – September 15, 2009

CBTI is indeed the recommended means for curing insomnia. This book explains the problems with sleeping meds, and exactly what to do instead, step by step. Note, however, the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is difficult to do on your own, especially when it comes to limiting bed time. If you can do so, it is a good idea to find a qualified therapist in this area. Group therapy apparently works well. See Peter Attia and Emma Mason podcast on insomnia.

If you are suffering from insomnia, you may find this book useful. It contains a lot of helpful information on sleep and sleep disorders, and it offers a coherent system for improving sleep.I’ve had insomnia for many years. I had a great deal of trouble falling asleep, often woke up during the night and was unable to get back to sleep, and many times would get only a couple of hours of sleep a night. I had tried so many different approaches, techniques, and sleeping aids—none of which worked—and I despaired of ever getting enough sleep again or do more than stumble bleary-eyed through my days.But hope springs eternal, so I bought this book and dutifully followed the program. I found that some things I was already doing (e.g., creating the optimal sleep environment, relaxing before bedtime), some had no effect (e.g., cognitive restructuring of negative sleep thoughts), and some made my insomnia much worse (e.g., the sleep journal, which I had to abandon after several weeks because I was sometimes unable to sleep at all, going crazy trying to track how long it took me to fall asleep, how many times I woke up, how long it took me to fall asleep each time I woke up, etc.).And then, a miracle happened. On page 107, in a section called “Improve Sleep and Mood with Bright Light: The Sunlight-Sleep Connection,” Jacobs explains the effect of light and darkness on melatonin levels, which affect body temperature and the sleep-wake cycle. His recommendation to increase exposure to early morning sunlight obviously wasn’t going to work for me—it was winter and dark in the morning when I was working my way through the book—so I purchased a light box (one of those used by people with Seasonal Affective Disorder) and began sitting in front of it for 30 minutes as soon as I got up every morning. In a day or two I was falling asleep soon after going to bed, and I am even sleeping through the night now on many nights. This practice has truly changed my life, and was well worth the cost of the book (and the light box).There are many causes of insomnia, and I realize that not everyone will benefit from the particular strategy that cured me. But there are many strategies in this book. I recommend giving it a try.Deducting one star only because I got a little annoyed sometimes with the tone of the book: the frequent insistence that as you practice the cognitive behavioral techniques, your sleep will inevitably be improving (mine definitely was NOT), and that if it is not improving, it’s because you are not trying hard enough (I was following the suggestions to the letter).

As others have said, this book may not work for everyone, but it worked for me! And it's sure worth a try.The first thing you have to understand is that insomnia isn't an illness--which means it's not the problem you're *actually* having, no matter how agonizing your sleepless nights have been. (I know that agony: I've been there.) Insomnia is merely a *symptom* of whatever your real problem is.But in the typical approach of so much of our medical culture, there are pills galore to help you sleep "better." Unfortunately, though, even if they work the first few nights, you'll develop a tolerance to them and start increasing the dosage, until you're ready to swallow the whole bottle--including the bottle itself! (I've been *there* too.)What to do instead? Simply get to the root of what you're taking to bed with you every night, which is causing you to lie awake or have a really dreadful "sleep." And once you do, there are two parts to keeping it from interfering with your sleep from now on. Part One is to practice the Relaxation Response. This prepares you for a good night's sleep, and its technique Is fully detailed in the book.Part Two--learn to practice something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This simply means taking a disturbing thought running through your head (or spirit) and asking yourself if it's really true or are you blowing it out of proportion? (E.G., "Well, here's another lousy thing happening to me!" . . . "Is that really true? Are lousy things always happening to me? What are the good things that have happened to me? And when lousy things do happen to me, haven't I always been able to resolve them? Sometimes for an even better outcome than if they'd never happened at all?"If that sounds "feel-goody" (I initially thought that too), I'll close with a personal example. I moved to a new city for my career last summer, and when autumn came, I experienced a prolonged bout of insomnia--even though I'd never had insomnia in my life. It didn't help that I'd moved to the Pacific NW, which is notorious for continually grey skies in the autumn and winter, and very few daylight hours.After using meditation, chamomile tea and a refusal to watch the news anymore--especially at night--my insomnia because manageable. Not cured, but manageable. Which meant I was tiptoeing around every aspect of my day to guard against anything that might upset me later that night, when I hit the sack.So, the other night (January!), I fell into a pretty good sleep. And I awoke, fully alert and ready to start the day! Only problem was, my clock said 1:15 a.m. And I just knew I'd never get back to sleep that night. I had five more hours of wide-awake in front of me, not to mention a new day to drag myself through.I got up, sat down in the living room and, for want of anything better to do, picked up my copy of "Say Good Night to Insomnia," and said sneeringly, "Okay, give me your best shot. (Though it won't work.)"I stumbled onto the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy section and said to it, "No, I'm not anxious, I'm not angry at anyone, I'm not in physical pain, I don't have bright lights on, I didn't eat or watch TV after 8 p.m. There's nothing to talk myself out of. I just can't sleep!"But after a while (hey, I had all night), a thought occurred to me: "What AM I taking to bed with me when I try to go to sleep and can't?"It took me some time for honest self-reflection. And slowly realized I was depressed and a bit afraid because I hadn't been able to make friends in my new city as quickly as I'd wanted. It wasn't in my mind--I'd always brushed it off from my mind. But it was absolutely in my spirit.And--typical of so many of us--I'd made it, subconsciously, into a sweeping statement of my life from then on: "I'll never make really good friends here. I'll be all alone, with nothing but grey skies and a few hours of daylight. What if I get sick? There'll be NO ONE THERE!"No one cares if I live or die!"Well, yeah, it wasn't so surprising that I had insomnia with thoughts like that!So now I said, "Is that really true? I've *always* made really good friends, wherever I've gone. Almost everyone I meet really likes me and trusts me with things they wouldn't trust to anyone else."The problem isn't me, it's that people are just so busy today, they don't have time to keep up friendships."."Which means I'll never have any friends again!--they're all too busy! No one will care if I live or die!"Is THAT true? Could there be others like me, who want to spend more time with real live people rather than do sound bites with faces on a screen? Do I really think I'm the only person in this city who feels that way? Is that a reasonable thought?"And hey--I make a really good friend. All my friends in other places have said so!"After another few minutes, I returned to bed, with only those good thoughts in my head. Next thing I knew, the alarm went off. And it's been like that ever since.If you have insomnia, I urge you not to take the route of continual pill usage before asking yourself every night, "What am I taking to bed with me tonight?" If you come up with nothing disturbing, dig a little deeper till you find it. Because it's always something--sleep is *natural* when nothing gets in the way.And then use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to deal with it. Pleasant dreams!