Ernest Rillman 100% And to clarify for anyone reading this comment that may have seen the video - I consider it fact that tons of things affect our sleep! Just like you say Ernest, and endless list of things from whether we drive a diesel car or not, if we like cinnamon in our oatmeal and if we prefer Metallica over Bruno mars may play a role. But how much? How many seconds or minutes in what direction? And how helpful is it to try to get all those thousands of things figured out? Is that process going to be a fun one that brings you peace of mind, purpose and pleasure? I certainly agree, go towards the light and sleep will come your way! Ps. Where my thoughts have evolved here is that, before you can go towards the light, you have to understand why you had trouble sleeping. It’s virtually impossible to do the quantum leap from “oh my gosh I can’t sleep” to “I’m just going to have fun”!

Jo Vale Got it! Your model is something like this: Precipitating factor was low carb dieting, not knowing this led to perpetuating factors and once your insomnia no longer was a mystery, the anxiety went away. I’m super happy you’re doing well! I think understanding why one has trouble sleeping is the key for everyone!

Dear Dominic, thanks for staying in touch! I’m very impressed by you taking action and not giving up, it’s not easy. I think what has been the problem with traditional CBTi is that it’s so focused on spending less time in bed and “forcing” sleep. The educational part is much more important - and that really boils down to try less and sleep more. When we have a problem we naturally want a solution, we want to DO something about it. And that works perfect for physical problems like fixing a car. But when it comes to sleep, it is the doing and the problem solving that is the problem. For example, when we have a problem it makes sense to try to monitor our progress. Like losing weight, it makes sense to check the scale often to see if we are on the right track. Because checking the scale doesn’t make us gain weight! When it comes to insomnia, it is the attention that is driving it! So one thing that is really helpful is not keeping track of how much you sleep. Imagine you’re riding a horse that’s starting to act up. The more you try to control it, the more crazy it gets. Weirdly, it’s when you completely let go of the reins that it calms down. Not only is monitoring problematic on a night to night basis, but also week to week. The more you wonder when you’ll sleep well, the more you wonder when you’ll get refreshing deep sleep - the longer it will take. It is when you no longer give sleep attention that it comes your way. I think you may do really well by first digesting this and perhaps browsing the channel until you feel you this makes sense. When it does, when you see how attention is the oxygen insomnia lives in, when it’s not a mystery - then you can kick into the next gear: focus on something completely different and just enjoy life. Hang in there Dominic, you’ll get there.

Last night I tried fighting my sleep until my designated bedtime which was 12am. Between 10:30 and 11:45 I was falling asleep wherever I was and just fighting it to stay up. Once 11:54 came all of that sleepiness went away and I had a completely sleepless night. I am extremely frustrated, I don’t know why I even tried fighting it till 12. I thought I was doing the right thing.. I can’t stand this anymore I just want my life to be over. I feel absolutely HOPELESS

@@Dominic705 Dear Dominic, sorry to hear this, but very encouraged that you're in touch!! I know this may sound crazy, but I'm confident you'll do well because you're not giving up. Every single person I've ever interacted with who didn't give up has gone on to sleep much better. What you describe is very common. You're fighting to stay awake, easily fall asleep before bedtime but when you go to bed, you suddenly are completely awake. Here's the thing: Sleep is passive it only happens when we are not trying to sleep. And anything done with the purpose of making us sleep more will produce insomnia. Even staying awake. When you stay awake with the intent and purpose of that making you sleep, you start thinking in the lines of "I've been awake for 20 hours, not this should make me sleep". That produces so much pressure and preoccupation and self monitoring that sleep won't happen. The reason spending less time in bed is so helpful is that it takes you a step away from trying to sleep. But, and I think this is something I have to explain much better, if we stay awake TRYING to produce sleep, it will backfire. Something that can work really well is to implement the "ditch the clock" technique. Instead of having a sleep window from let's say 12 to 6 you stop checking the time at like 11. Then you just go by how you feel. If you feel sleepy you sleep. If you don't feel sleepy, you do something that interests you or at least is neutral. Many say Oh I'm going to read this boring book. That won't help because again you're TRYING to sleep. Hang in there Dominic! When that turning point happens things start getting better!

Hi IG! Welcome to the channel and thanks for this question. I will take a look at those missing episodes! This said, here’s two great places to start learning! This is natto - the perfect place to start learning! kzfaq.info/sun/PL6RQ1GS7B1cik8Xr8iVdxmKB9FYieevYj Success stories - if you need hope and inspiration, this is for you. kzfaq.info/sun/PL6RQ1GS7B1cj68v9hdoXYv_fpOR65oI3U Be in touch!!

Michael Levilov Hi Michael and thanks for this input! You’re basically describing psychophysiological insomnia (really what we call “insomnia” imho). In other words something causes stress, the stress causes insomnia, this changes how you think about your sleep, so even when the initial stressor is gone - the insomnia still remains! Totally agree with this and yes this is where CBTi or thought work can really make a difference!

Hi Danyal, and thanks for this input! Sometimes the cable that connects my camera with the microphone comes lose. I think that's when it gets really low quality. I've gotten to a point though when I not only want to improve content, but production so - I'm working on it!!