Whenever Neseret tried to move away from the medication she had been taking for 13 years, she found sleep impossible. Finding Insomnia Coach and the stories shared on the podcast gave her hope that she could finally leave medication behind. Neseret started a supervised medical taper as she started to practice new skills and habits that moved her away from trying to control sleep and the difficult thoughts and feelings that come with insomnia. Her journey wasn't easy and there were setbacks. However, thanks to her desire to learn, her commitment to action, and her willingness to practice self-c ..read more

When Bryan got sick, he had his first sleepless night. Then, he couldn't sleep the next night either. He began to believe he had lost the ability to sleep, which made him very anxious. As sleep took over his life, Bryan stopped doing things he enjoyed and his relationships suffered. The more he tried to sleep, the harder it became, and he felt more anxious and disconnected from who he wanted to be. One night, Bryan accidentally fell asleep without trying. He realized he didn't need to do anything special to sleep. This didn't solve his problems overnight, but it made him change his approach. B ..read more

Listen to the podcast episode (audio only) Emily’s insomnia struggle began around four months after the birth of her baby. Even though her daughter was sleeping well, Emily was finding it really difficult to fall asleep. She started to get nervous and anxious as her level of exhaustion intensified. When the medication prescribed by her doctor didn’t work, Emily started to get really concerned. She started researching solutions but found that the more she tried to fix her sleep, the more difficult it became and the more stressful things got. Emily’s anxiety intensified to the point where the a ..read more

Listen to the podcast episode (audio only) Kirstin began using medication every now and then to help her sleep on Sunday nights. When she faced a big personal challenge that made sleep more difficult, she started to use it more often. The plan was to take a small dose to get her through that difficult period and then stop the medication because she didn’t want to be reliant on something to help her fall asleep. Unfortunately Kirstin found that when she tried to stop taking the medication, sleep didn’t happen. She went without sleep for three or four days straight before reaching for the medic ..read more

Listen to the podcast episode (audio only) When Summer experienced consecutive nights of insomnia, sleep started to consume her life. She started taking time off work and she began endlessly researching sleep. Summer felt that if she could get rid of anxiety and stress things would improve — but this led to even more of a struggle as Summer went to war with her mind. Sleep became an obsession. It was all she could think about. Summer felt as though she was losing control. She felt helpless. She started to blame herself. It was becoming increasingly difficult for her to live the life she ..read more

Listen to the podcast episode (audio only) Nina typically dealt with occasional periods of sleep disruption by taking some form of over-the-counter medication. When she fell pregnant this was no longer an option. Work stress seemed to make sleep more difficult and so Nina stopped taking on work. Her sleep would improve but every time she started working again, she struggled with sleep all over again. At this point, Nina thought her ongoing struggle with sleep might be down to pregnancy hormones and yet, after giving birth, her sleep seemed to get even worse. Nina tried to make sleep happen by ..read more

Listen to the podcast episode (audio only) In this episode, Kreuza shares her journey through the challenging landscape of insomnia and somniphobia — a fear of sleep. Initially, she found Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) techniques helpful. However, when sleep problems returned as somniphobia, the same techniques faltered. Feeling isolated in her struggle, Kreuza realized that implementing rules around sleep were not helping her. A turning point came when she embraced a more flexible, compassionate approach to sleep. She began to practice accepting her thoughts and feelings w ..read more

Rachel’s struggle with insomnia started in grad school. She tried everything from sleep aids to strict bedtime rules and routines to improve her sleep, but nothing worked. The harder she tried to fix her sleep and get rid of sleep-related anxiety, the more difficult things became. The turning point came when Rachel changed her approach. She stopped focusing on trying to create the perfect conditions for sleep and she stopped trying to control her thoughts and feelings. She started being kinder to herself. She practiced making space for difficult thoughts and feelings and she practiced building ..read more

Listen to the podcast episode (audio only) Eric’s insomnia journey began after he woke in the middle of the night and experienced a huge panic attack. From then on, sleep became very difficult. As he tried to fix things, Eric stopped watching TV in bed with his wife — something they both enjoyed. He tried napping, even though he never used to nap in the past. He tried sleeping on the couch. He tried sleeping in a chair. He tried blue-light-blocking glasses. He stopped traveling. He isolated himself as he became convinced that his struggles were reflected in his appearance. He would beat himse ..read more

Listen to the podcast episode (audio only) Gerry struggled with sleep for decades. The more he struggled, the more effort he put into sleep, and the more effort he put into sleep, the more he struggled. Eventually, Gerry realized that trying to make sleep happen was only making things even more difficult. With this realization, Gerry changed his approach. Instead of trying to force sleep, he practiced being kinder to himself when insomnia showed up. He practiced experiencing wakefulness and all the difficult thoughts and feelings that can come with it with less struggle by being more of an ob ..read more