Say Good Night to Insomnia: The Six-Week, Drug-Free Program Developed At Harvard Medical School
Say Good Night to Insomnia: The Six-Week, Drug-Free Program Developed At Harvard Medical School
Imagine an insomnia treatment that improves sleep in 100 percent of insomniacs, helps 75 percent of insomniacs become normal sleepers, and allows 90 percent of insomniacs to reduce or eliminate their use of sleeping pills. This treatment is safe, natural, and has no side effects except improved mood, higher energy, increased mind/body control, and better health. No, this is not a new miracle drug. It is Dr. Gregg Jacobs’s drug-free program described in Say Good Night to Insomnia.
At Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dr. Jacobs has tested and developed a six-week, drug-free program that conquers insomnia in a large majority of patients. The first clinician to offer proof that insomnia can be overcome without drugs, Dr. Jacobs’s program provides techniques for: Eliminating sleeping pills Establishing sleep-promoting habits and lifestyle practices Changing negative, stressful thoughts about sleep Implementing relaxation and stress-reduction techniques Enhancing peace of mind and reducing negative emotions
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars I love this book
Just reading this book helped enormously, and has given me a lot of tools to help put a self-treatment process in place. A lot of attention to the underlying thoughts and emotions connected to chronic insomnia and how to begin breaking them down. Yes, it is all apparently simple, but the pieces all fit together so that it works, although it can take more than six weeks, and I have found myself back at step one a few times. It is written warmly and encouragingly, like having a friendly therapist always on hand (as opposed to “No More Sleepless Nights”, which is so dry and full of tortured case histories it made insomnia seem even more insurmountable!)
5 Stars No longer spending my days dreading my nights
As an insomniac for more than forty years, and as a psychologist for more than twenty, I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is life changing. It will improve your mood and your relationships. Is it annoyingly written? Does it have too many exclamation points? Too many anecdotes? Yes, yes and yes. To which I say, who cares? I have not taken a sleeping pill for three months. Instead of thinking of myself as an INSOMNIAC, instead of yawning through the day only to hit the pillow and be wide awake, night after night, I now just go to sleep. The instructions can seem daunting, and I didn’t follow all of them, but the basic principles are sound, and most importantly, if followed, they work. This book was recommended to me by two other psychologists, also long time insomniacs, who raved enough to get me past my own skepticism. I’m grateful to them, and to Dr. Jacobs for this enormously helpful book.
4 Stars This is going to save your life
I never thought a self help book could really make a difference but this book did to my life. To everybody suffering from insomnia: there is help and the answer lies in this book. There could be more emphasis on meditation perhaps with a step by step guide to help keep you practicing. But overall this book is really going to help you.
4 Stars Helpful Ideas … Although A Bit Controversial
-Hope this review helps you benefit from this book.
-I’ve suffered from occasional insomnia for years, largely due to drinking copious amounts of water. I have never missed work from it and have never knowingly had an accident or a bad outcome from insomnia, but I bought off on the idea that everyone MUST have eight hours of sleep .. or else they should feel miserable about it. Dr. Jacobs basically says that if you don’t have a diagnosable pathology associated with your sleep, and the rest of your life is going reasonably well, then don’t worry about it. Sleep is like food — there’s no “gauge” to tell you when you’ve had enough, there are varying degrees of need, the desire for it is not always correlated with the need, and too much may be harmful. His program did seem to be helpful, and it told me that about 6-1/2 hours per night is just fine. I felt … more at ease about it.
-You may also benefit from the author’s website, cbtforinsomnia.com, where you can take a survey, complete a diary, and have the author’s staff review your results (for a reasonable fee).
-Having said that, I gave it but four stars because some elements of the book differ from the standard approach, and the book is somewhat sparse in documenting many of its claims (that does not make it wrong, but it means a little skepticism is warranted). I found it good to balance this book with a more traditional approach, like Peter Hauri’s No More Sleepless Nights, and a somewhat humorous approach, like P. Martin’s Counting Sheep.
5 Stars A Book That Helped!
This is a fantastically helpful book. I was a little put off early by the talk of positive sleep thoughts and negative sleep thoughts, but guess what? It works. Insomniacs, awake! Read this book. It’ll put you to sleep.
Filed under: Personal Development Book Reviews