Key Takeaways From the Book of Sleep

I recently listened to the audiobook 'The Book of Sleep: 75 Strategies to Relieve Insomnia', rather than attempt to summarise a really brilliant work, I'd just like to share the most important points or lessons I took away from my time with the book.

They Are:

1) There are different forms of insomnia (hence your presentation may not be typical)

2) After 3 months of insomnia, the initial cause is no longer the precipitant of the insomnia and it can take a course of its own

3) CBT can be very helpful (especially CBTI, a specific type of CBT for insomnia), the literature has shown CBTI to be more effective than drug based treatments for insomnia.

This therapy focuses on key areas such as sleep hygiene, time in bed, restricting the use of the bed to sleep only (sleep restriction therapy), stimulus control, and breathing.

4) The author Dr Moshfegh recommends using a sleep diary and gradually increasing your time in bed by 30 minutes at a time to observe the effects of this

5) Napping has been identified as a potential issue for disrupting a person's Circadian Rhythm (the body's natural clock)

6) There is a difference between Circadian Rhythm issues and insomnia

7) Some of the most effective methods to actually help me fall asleep were the visualisation techniques and the tense and relax muscle techniques.

Thanks for reading, I hope you were able to gain some insights from these brief lessons.