Insomnia Coach® Podcast

Pat, like everyone else, had some difficult nights occasionally, but she always got back on track with her sleep. However, during the summer, her neighbors began throwing loud parties that disturbed her sleep.

As a result, Pat began to fear falling asleep and became fixated on her sleep quality, cancelling plans and rearranging her life around it. However, these efforts didn’t lead to better sleep. So, Pat decided to take a different approach and pretended that she had a good night’s sleep every day. She continued with her normal activities and pursued enjoyable and enriching daytime activities, independent of how she slept. She also stopped talking about her insomnia.

By shifting her focus away from sleep and not allowing it to control her life, Pat found it easier to sleep. She also stopped trying to control her anxious thoughts and instead, chose to accept them. Finally, she let go of her attempts to control her progress and accepted that sleep is something beyond her control.

Pat realized that by placing less importance on sleep, it became easier to fall asleep.

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During the COVID pandemic, Hannah experienced sleep disruption like many others. As lockdowns extended, it became increasingly difficult for her to fall and stay asleep. After trying different medications with unpleasant side effects, she turned to a website for insomnia tips and advice. However, she soon realized that she needed personalized support and guidance and decided to work with me.

In this episode, Hannah shares how she developed new sleep habits, changed her relationship with sleep-related thoughts, and challenged the beliefs that made it harder to sleep. By abandoning attempts to control sleep, accepting difficult nights and sleep-related worry, committing to new sleep habits, and going about her days as normally as possible, Hannah was able to get her sleep back on track.

Today, Hannah’s sleep is back to normal, and she averages around seven-and-a-half hours of sleep. She is more resilient to any one-off nights of sleep disruption because she tackled the thoughts and behaviors that perpetuate insomnia.

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Susie struggled with insomnia for a long time, but it wasn’t until her sleeping pills stopped working while on vacation that she realized she had to take action. In this episode, Susie shares how she overcame her anxiety around sleep and transformed her relationship with it.

Through her efforts to address the thoughts and behaviors that perpetuated her sleep disruption, Susie began to love her bedroom and sleep again. She gained confidence in her natural ability to sleep and refused to give up. Today, Susie’s relationship with sleep is positive and healthy, and she serves as an inspiration to others who struggle with insomnia.

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Michelle spent 15 years researching sleep and trying different things to overcome her insomnia. However, the more she tried to control her sleep, the more it controlled her. Eventually, she realized that the sleep-related thoughts and behaviors she developed were only making the problem worse.

In this episode, Michelle shares the techniques that helped her overcome insomnia, including modifying behavioral techniques like sleep restriction and stimulus control to better suit her needs. She also talks about the difficulties she faced when changing her sleep habits, as well as the long-term benefits of abandoning all efforts to control sleep.

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Jennifer struggled with insomnia and felt discouraged after working with a sleep coach for four weeks with no improvement in her sleep. However, she did not give up and persevered with implementing techniques to build sleep drive, strengthen her body clock, and lower her arousal. Although she still found it challenging to fall back to sleep when waking up at night, Jennifer noticed that she was experiencing less daytime fatigue and her sleep was improving.

Throughout her journey, Jennifer changed her response to sleep-related thoughts and behaviors, which not only helped her sleep but also improved her quality of life. In this episode, she shares how she coped with setbacks by focusing on the process instead of progress and how she stopped striving for sleep, putting effort into sleep, and worrying about sleep.

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Jessica faced challenges with sleep after moving back to her hometown with her family. She tried different techniques and supplements to improve her sleep but found herself becoming increasingly obsessed with it when nothing worked. This was especially concerning as she was a stay-at-home mom with two small children. Jessica started to lose hope until she learned about the common thoughts and behaviors that perpetuate sleep disruption. This realization gave her hope to explore and challenge her beliefs about sleep while adopting behaviors that build sleep drive, strengthen the body clock, and reduce sleep-related anxiety.

As Jessica challenged her sleep-related thoughts and implemented helpful behaviors, she no longer thought about sleep as often, and it no longer controlled her life. She was able to do things she had put off due to concerns about how they might affect her sleep, which gave her a whole new perspective on life. She wants to encourage others who are struggling with sleep to challenge their beliefs about sleep and implement helpful sleep-related behaviors to improve their sleep and overall quality of life.

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Anafer struggled with insomnia her entire life, believing that she was born with it. Despite her health-conscious lifestyle, her sleep problems persisted, leading her to years of research and experiments. Unfortunately, these efforts proved futile.

Determined to address her sleep issues before starting her career in dietetics, Anafer came across my online coaching course. In this episode, Anafer shares her journey of ups and downs and the transformation she experienced as a result of addressing her sleep problems in a more workable way.

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Dr. Mendelson is a highly respected figure in the field of sleep research and medicine, with expertise in psychiatry and sleep medicine. He is renowned for his extensive research into sleeping pills and their properties, as well as the impact of medication on sleep.

During this episode, Dr. Mendelson provides insight into the history of sleeping pills, sharing how they work and outlining the potential risks associated with their use. Additionally, we delve into over-the-counter sleeping pills and supplements and explore a safer alternative to sleeping pills for chronic insomnia – cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), the recommended first-line treatment backed by evidence.

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For 60 years, Sally suffered from insomnia and relied on sleeping pills for a decade. She felt hopeless that she would ever have a restful night’s sleep. However, everything changed when Sally changed her approach and her response to insomnia.

Before making any changes, Sally only slept for about three hours a night. But now, she consistently gets around seven hours of sleep each night and rarely thinks about sleep. In this episode, Sally shares her journey towards better sleep after struggling with insomnia for so long. Her experience serves as a testament that it’s possible to overcome sleep issues and live a better life.

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Rick’s insomnia started in 2017 after retiring, leaving him waking up during the night and struggling to fall back asleep. The anxiety he felt every time he woke up made him worry about the next day, causing him to cancel social events and make other lifestyle changes to improve his sleep. He tried a variety of pills and supplements but none helped.

Luckily, Rick found evidence-based cognitive and behavioral techniques that changed the way he viewed sleep and implemented behaviors that improved his sleep in the long term. Over time, he began sleeping better without taking any pills or supplements. In this episode, Rick shares his techniques for improving his relationship with sleep, with the hope of helping others who suffer from insomnia.

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