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Thanks for the update — keep going! You’ve got this!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
I’d encourage you to give CBT-I a try if you are ready to make the changes needed to improve your sleep for the long-term. Good luck, Paul — do keep us updated with your progress and let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of any help.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Hello again, Victoria. I am sure you will find the free insomnia sleep training course helpful.
If you would like to work with me one-on-one, I currently offer two options — my phone coaching package or my eight-week online course.
With the phone coaching package, we start with a one-hour call (voice or video — your choice) and come up with an initial two-week plan to help you implement appropriate strategies that will guide long-term improvements in your sleep (such as a regular sleep window, getting out of bed when unable to sleep, etc).
During the two weeks you will keep weekly sleep diaries. After the first week, you will email me the first sleep diary and I’ll offer email-based feedback and guidance. After the second week, you will email me the second sleep diary and we will have a half-hour follow-up call. You can contact me via email at any time during the two weeks for questions, support, or additional guidance.
You can book the phone coaching package here: https://insomniacoach.com/phone/
The online coaching course works like this:
1. After enrollment, you will fill out a sleep history questionnaire and watch the first video that covers sleep education. This will help address any unrealistic expectations or beliefs about sleep that can actually disrupt sleep. You will begin filling out a sleep diary each day at this point, too.
2. One week later, when your sleep diary is full, you will submit the diary to me through the client area and watch the next video session. This will teach you how to allot an appropriate amount of time for sleep so more of the time you spend in bed is spent asleep rather than awake. This helps weaken any learned association between the bed and wakefulness, and it also reduces any sleep effort or sleep pressure you are putting on yourself. I will also analyze your sleep diary at this point and provide you with comprehensive feedback, suggestions, and support through email, based upon any issues I see from your initial week of sleep diary data. You will be filling out sleep diaries throughout the course.
3. One week later, you will submit your next sleep diary and watch the next video session. This video will teach you why it’s important to get out of bed when you can’t sleep and the exact procedure to follow. This will also help create and strengthen the association between the bed and sleep and weaken the arousal system that has created an association between the bed and wakefulness. I will also email you another round of personal support and feedback based on your sleep diary.
4. Two weeks later, you will submit two weeks worth of sleep diary data. Your next pre-recorded video will cover relaxation techniques for you to start practicing to help calm you further before bed. I will also be providing you with another round of personal feedback based on your sleep diaries.
5. Two weeks later, you will submit another two weeks worth of sleep diary data. The next video will teach you about sleep hygiene. You likely know many of these tips, but this is a good opportunity for a refresher (note that sleep hygiene comes very late in the course since it isn’t an effective treatment for insomnia by itself). You will also get another round of personal support and feedback based on your progress at this point.
6. Two weeks later, you will submit your final set of sleep diaries and you will learn about relapse prevention. By now you will very likely be experiencing positive improvements in your sleep. The goal of this session is to prevent any one-off sleepless nights that will occur in the future from triggering another period of chronic insomnia. You will also receive your final round of feedback.
You will have ongoing access to me via email and text message throughout the eight weeks of the course. In other words, contact isn’t limited to each round of feedback you get after completing each session. Any time you have a question or concerns during the eight weeks, you can contact me and I will be there to advise, guide, and support you.
You can enroll here: https://insomniacoach.com/enroll/
I hope this helps! Feel free to contact me directly (or post here) if you have any other questions.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
If you are only getting around four hours of sleep, spending nine hours in bed each night isn’t going to be helpful and will likely lead only to more time in bed awake and more worry, frustration, and anxiety. All these emotions make sleep more difficult.
I would encourage you to think about following a regular and appropriate sleep window that is closer to your current average nightly sleep duration. You can learn more about this on the sleep restriction therapy for insomnia page.
If you have any questions, please let me know!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Welcome to the forum, Cody — sorry to hear about your struggles with sleep. How long have you been finding sleep difficult? Do you find it hard to fall asleep at night, stay asleep during the night, or both?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
That’s great to hear — do keep us updated with your progress!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
The dreem whitepaper mentions only one published clinical study and that study was funded by Rythm — the company that manufactures dreem — and seven of the study’s nine authors are employees of Rythm. So, I’d argue there’s some conflict of interest there.
The EBB “clinical studies” page lists three studies. The first one listed has nothing to do with the EBB headband, the second study was partially funded by EBB (and one of its authors receives royalties from EBB), and the third study was supported by EBB.
If I search the National Institutes of Health database, I get the following results:
Search query “dreem” in the title of a study and the word “sleep” anywhere in the study: 0 results
Search query “EBB” in the title of a study and the word “sleep” anywhere in the study: 2 results (neither of which are related to the EBB headband)
Search query “cognitive behavioral therapy” in the title of a study and the word “sleep” anywhere in the study: 321 results
If we search Google Scholar, we get the following results:
Search query “dreem insomnia” – 55 results
Search query “ebb insomnia” – 4,400 results (few are related to the Ebb sleep device)
Search query “cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia” – 136,000 results
I know you mentioned that you didn’t ask about clinical trials, but without scientific evidence, we cannot consider something to be effective — and, if we are spending money on something, surely we want to spend money on something that has evidence to support its effectiveness.
With all this being said, if anyone has tried dreem or EBB, I’d love to hear from them in this thread.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Sorry to hear about your recent struggles. Can you tell us when you normally go to bed at night, get out of bed to start your day, and how many hours of sleep you get on a typical night?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Hello Victoria, and welcome to the forum. Finding it hard to sleep at home, but then sleeping fine when away from home is actually quite common and is usually a symptom of conditioned arousal.
In other words, because you have experienced so many nights of bad sleep in your own bed, you have associated your own bed with bad sleep. You have learned that your own bed is a place for wakefulness rather than sleep.
The good news is that since this association has been learned, it can be “unlearned”. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is usually a very effective way to address conditioned arousal and once again make your bed a strong trigger for sleep.
You might also find this video helpful: The three causes of chronic insomnia (and how to fix them so you can improve your sleep).
I hope this helps.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Welcome to the forum, Sailor! Can you tell us a bit more about your sleep? How long have you had sleep issues, and in what ways is sleep a struggle for you?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Welcome to the forum, gsdmom. It’s quite likely that you are experiencing rebound insomnia — but it’s worth giving yourself a few more nights before jumping to this conclusion.
The problem with trying to come off sleeping pills before starting CBT-I is that, since sleeping pills don’t cure insomnia (because they don’t address the root cause of insomnia), insomnia will almost always return when you stop taking the medication.
It may be a better strategy to start a course of CBT-I and then start to taper-off the sleeping pills (with your doctor’s approval) so that you are taking steps to address the cause of your insomnia while quitting the sleep aids.
Studies have found that CBT-I is effective regardless of whether you are taking sleeping pills or not. The only time pills can be a problem is if you take them contingently.
I recorded a short video about this here: Does cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) work if you are taking sleeping pills?
I hope this helps.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Light therapy is typically used to help treat circadian rhythm disorders rather than insomnia. With that being said, light therapy can be used in the late afternoon/very early evening to help delay sleep onset if you are struggling to stay awake until the start of your sleep window.
It can also be helpful in the morning to help shake off sleep inertia — but I suspect it won’t do too much to restore sleep drive compared to simply allotting less time for sleep at night, avoiding naps, and observing a regular sleep window.
I hope this helps.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Sorry to hear about your struggles with sleep, BuckeyeGirl. Have you looked into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Let me reassure you that there is no evidence that chronic insomnia causes any health problem whatsoever, Jonna.
One of the biggest challenges with CBT-I is that it requires consistent implementation to be effective — and getting out of bed by the same time every day is one of the most important requirements.
Unfortunately, if you aren’t consistent with implementation, you can’t expect consistent improvements in your sleep.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Unfortunately, I suspect you aren’t going to get many (if any) responses because there isn’t much evidence to support these three things as effective treatments for chronic insomnia (whereas CBT-I has overwhelming evidence to support its effectiveness).
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
