Sasha Stephens - The Effortless Sleep Method: The Incredible New Cure for Insomnia and Chronic Sleep Problems

PREFACE

By Sasha Stephens, Bsc, MA,
Creator of the Effortless Sleep Method, Sleep Therapist,
Recovered insomniac

I understand

There is no need for you to tell me how bad your insomnia problem is.

I know

I know what you are going through. I really know what you are going through. I have experienced the full horror of chronic, long-term insomnia.

I know

I know the way that insomnia feels like a curse, a disease, an affliction which infects every part of your life. I know that it can take over your life, ruin your life, and ultimately be your life. I know the desperate, panicky, desolate, pitiful loneliness of lying awake at night and the living hell of going through day after day of work and social activities having not slept. I have wept, prayed, begged, raged, broken down, given up, and been left numb by insomnia.

I know

I have tried the herbs, the Valerian, the Passiflora, the 5HTP, the melatonin, the positive thinking, the wishful thinking, the antihistamines, the vitamin B complex, the zinc supplements, the turkey sandwiches, the exercise before breakfast, the exercise six hours before bed, the relaxation cds, the hypnosis, the sleeping pills, the sleep restriction, the milky drinks, the lavender pillows, the magnetic coils under my mattress, the crystals, the fan in the room, the ioniser in the room, the earplugs, the eye shades, and Ive lost count of how many wild and wacky therapies and therapists. So many therapists!

I know

I have made silent pleas to God, offered up deals to the universe to exchange everything I own for the ability to sleep. I would have taken heroin if I thought it would make me sleep. I would have sold my soul to the devil if he had asked.

I know

In the deafening, screaming blackness of the sleepless night, I discovered that the fundamental state of the insomniac is one of profound loneliness. By night, insomnia separates you from the gently slumbering world of normal sleepers. By day it isolates you from the bustling world of active, happy people. Locked in a bubble of misery, the day of the sleep-deprived person is a semi-real nightmare a half-life, a non-life.

As insomniacs we have two choices when it comes to normal, everyday work and social activities: we either complain to a largely non-understanding and sometimes unsympathetic social circle, I didnt sleep well, I cant stay long, I dont think Im up to that, sorry Im not on top form today. Or we learn to fake it to smile through the misery, to hide the secret truth I feel like death, I dont want to be here, if you knew how tired I feel, why cant I feel like you do, why cant I enjoy life? Whats wrong with me?

Insomnia may seem almost to have a life of its own, an autonomous persona, or a self-sabotaging part of you over which you have no control; a monster, a possessing demon which taunts you by day and tortures you by night. This cruel tormentor judges you unworthy, undeserving of sleep and punishes you, over and over and over, night after night after night. A sadist, a bully: insomnia is ruthlessand relentless.

I feel your pain like no doctor or therapist, or well-meaning family member has ever done, I feel your pain like only a fellow insomniac can. Because I know how you have suffered, and how you still suffer, I want nothing more than to help you. It breaks my heart to hear about the appalling advice given to insomniacs, and the insensitive and downright negligent way in which they are sometimes treated by the medical profession; treatments which bring with them a whole plethora of new problems and which, unbelievably, often make the sleeping worse.

But now, my friend, it stops here! Your battle with insomnia is over. I am about to give you your life back. It is time to share with you, the gold the treasure which took a decade and a half to discover. Using exactly the methods laid out in this book I kicked a 15 year chronic insomnia problem and now sleep better than I did even as a child. Follow this programme, and you can turn your back on insomnia for good.

I will not disappoint ...