End Insomnia

How to End Your Insomnia and Enjoy Wonderful Sleep Without Expensive Drugs or Greedy Therapists
by Kacper M. Postawski, WonderfulSleep.com
How to End Your Insomnia and Enjoy Wonderful Sleep

Without Expensive Drugs or Greedy Therapists
by Kacper M. Postawski, the Insomnia Terminator
www.WonderfulSleep.com
With love, to Vanessa, for always believing in me. Special thanks to Robert Bruce, for giving me the outlook on life which started this journey, Tony Robbins, for giving me the tools to shape my life into pure magic, and most of all, Toby Wong, whos pure energy, determination, and passion made this project come together.
Unlimited Free Distribution Rights Included This free ebook has been specifically written to help you to end your insomnia, get better sleep, and re-gain control over your life. Feel free to pass this ebook on to your friends, subscribers, or anyone you think could benefit from it. Include it as a bonus, post it on your website, or give it away as a gift.
Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
Disclaimer: Page 3 From Sleeplessness, to Beautiful Dreams, Health, Energy and Restfulness .......... 3 A Typical Insomnia Horror Story ................................................................................4 Section 1: Behind the Sleepless Curtain, Insomnia Revealed & Why You Can't Sleep The mechanics of Insomnia ...................................................................................... 5 Three Types of Insomnia .......................................................................................... 5 The Insomnia Cycle - How Chronic Insomnia Evolves ............................................. 7 Why Does Short Term Insomnia Turn Into Chronic Insomnia? ................................ 8 The Insomnia Switch.............................................................................................. 10 Section 2: What Drug Companies Don't Want you to Know The 4 Sleep Stages - Why you feel horrible and Un-rested .................................... 11 High Wakefulness in Insomniacs ............................................................................ 13 The Natural Sleep System - A Quick Crash Course ............................................... 13 The 8 Mistakes Most Insomniacs Make .................................................................. 13 Section 3: The LIES and MYTHS of the SLEEPING PILL How Sleeping Pills Erase the Natural Sleep Response ....................................... 15 The Truth and Nothing but the Truth Why Sleeping Pills Make Insomnia Worse! .......................................................... 15 Why So Many Insomniacs Are Driven to Take Pills ............................................. 18 Section 4: Curing Insomnia Without Drugs or Expensive Therapy The #1 Key To Curing Insomnia You MUST Know ................................................. 19 Your Anti-Insomnia Action Plan ............................................................................... 20 Sweet Dreams! ........................................................................................................ 24
Disclaimer:
The author of this book is not a licensed practitioner of medicine; therefore, the techniques, ideas, and opinions here are not intended as a substitute for proper medical advice! The information provided here is solely for informational purposes only. Consult your physician or health care professional before making any changes to the medicine you are taking. Particularly if you are pregnant or nursing, if you are elderly, or if you have any chronic or recurring conditions other than Insomnia. If you have any other medical conditions, it is highly recommended you contact your physician before making any changes to the prescription medicine you're taking. Any application of the techniques, ideas, and suggestions here are at the reader's sole discretion and risk. The author and the publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects arising from following this advice.
From Sleeplessness, to Beautiful Dreams, Health, Energy and Restfulness...

Dear reader, and fellow insomnia sufferer. I wrote this short eBook for you with the passion of giving you the knowledge to cure chronic insomnia forever. I once too suffered from insomnia and I know what it feels like to be the victim of this problem. However, it wasn't until I accidentally found out about a new science, called NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) that, helped me understand and over come insomnia. Not only did I cure my insomnia, but I revolutionized my life in many ways! Read this short eBook in its entirety, if you suffer from insomnia, this information will change your life.
A Typical Insomnia Horror Story...

Toby lies awake during the night, tossing and turning, thinking about tomorrow's deadline and how he's going to do at his presentation tomorrow. He's been stressing about the deadline for 3 days now, and has only gotten 4 hours of sleep on each of the nights. The next day, Toby's meeting and presentation goes okay, although he made a few mistakes and flub ups, he doesn't have to worry about it anymore. However, when Toby goes to bed that night, he finds that he can't sleep, an hour passes, 2 hours, he can't fall asleep, frustrated Toby thinks to himself I'll just concentrate really hard and maybe I'll fall asleep, finally Toby falls asleep at 4 AM, waking up to the blaring of his alarm clock at 7:40 AM, he feels tired, drowsy, he's got a headache and his muscles are aching. The next night the story continues, this time Toby starts getting extremely anxious about his sleeping problem, Is something wrong with me? Why can't I go to sleep, what if this affects my health? Why can't I fall asleep? Am I sick? The following day, Toby finds that whenever he thinks about his sleeping problem he gets very anxious and un-easy. When Toby goes to bed that day he finds that he gets anxious the instant he gets into that bed, his heart rate rises and he feels a sense of panic as he tosses and turns, as the hours pass he falls asleep at 3:00 AM and wakes up at 5 AM, he tries to fall back asleep again, but he can't, frustrated he spends the rest of the night trying to force himself to go to sleep, he wakes up with a massive headache, and calls in sick for work. The story continues for another two days, until Toby decides to visit his physician, his physician tells him Insomnia is a simple common problem and prescribes him Xanax, and tells him to take .5 milligrams of it before he goes to bed each day, He also tells him If it stops working, increase your dose. Toby takes the pill that night, and to his surprise sleeps a whole 7 hours, he takes the pill over the weekend and starts getting certain that he can sleep. The next week Toby continues taking Xanax and finds that he's getting increasingly drowsy and weary during the day. His ability to make decisions is impaired, and he can't focus on his work. After one week of taking the medication, Toby notices that he's starting to experience sleeping problems again, hopeless, with a feeling that he's losing control over his life, he increases the sleeping medication to 2 tablets per day. After two more weeks, he experiences some sleeping problems again, and increases the dosage to 3 tablets! Toby feels completely out of control with his life, he's become completely dependant on the pills to control his sleeping patterns. His self-esteem and confidence is lowering, and he's starting to think there's something seriously wrong with him.
Behind the Sleepless Curtain Insomnia Revealed & Why You Can't Sleep
Whether the above story is similar to yours or not, what you'll find in this small eBook will be the information, that, if you put into use, will make your Insomnia a dream of the past, possibly changing your life in many ways - from your self esteem to your sense of control over your entire life. Whether the above story appeals to you or not, it's only a small rendering of what Insomnia sufferers deal with every day (or every night, I should say). In reality, Insomnia can have many devastating effects on your life, your emotions, your relationships, your finances, and most importantly your health! Often times Insomnia lasts for months and years at a time, and most of the times sufferers don't even seek treatment for it, simply because they don't know how, or are afraid of taking addictive prescription medicine. The causes of Insomnia are many, but what you'll find here is that the mechanics of how it works, how it turns into a never ending night-time horror process, in your body, and in your mind, are always the same, because you will learn these mechanics here, you might realize that: YOU have the power to end Insomnia forever! My goal for this small book is very simple: 1. For you to clearly understand what Insomnia is, what the real cause of it is. 2. For you to start seeing how it came into your life, and what you can start doing Today, to begin to change it, forever.
The Mechanics of Insomnia

Firstly, lets look at the three types of Insomnia, so that you can begin to realize where you are, and how each particular case may be affecting your life, as you will read later on in Sleep Stages - Why you Feel Horrible and Un-rested. There are three types of Insomnia: Type 1) Sleep Onset Insomnia When you cannot go to sleep, and usually have to lie in bed from 30 minutes to 3-4 hours(or more) before you finally go to sleep, after much anxiety, stress, tossing and turning. You usually wake up with a massive headache, feeling drowsy, or with your whole body aching (although these results may seem obvious, you'll learn exactly why you feel this way soon) Type 2) Sleep Maintenance Insomnia You go to sleep normally, but you wake up during the night, once or several times, and you
can't go back to sleep, or it takes a long time for you to go back to sleep. Type 3) Sleep Disturbance Insomnia You go to sleep normally, you sleep for a normal amount of time(7-8 hours for adults, 5-6 hours for the elderly), but you wake up Un-rested, with a headache, aching, feeling drowsy, dizzy, etc. Most Insomniacs suffer from a combination of type 1 and 2, if you suffer from type 3, you are most likely suffering from Sleep Apnea, or PLM (period limb movement), or other causes (which I will go through clearly, in a later section) Also, if you are pregnant it is very common to experience type 3 Insomnia, especially in the last tri-semester of pregnancy.
The Insomnia Cycle - How Chronic Insomnia Evolves

Now to the Exciting Stuff :) - which will lead you to feeling sleepy later on! I don't know if you'll believe me if I tell you that, most doctors only get one hour of training in medical school on sleep disorders. It's true. What's scarier is that those are the same people who are prescribing you sleeping pills and telling you that you've got serious mental problems! Interesting Fact: Most sleeping pills lose their effectiveness after 4-6 weeks; hence the National Institute of Health advises that sleeping pills should only be prescribed for a maximum of 6 weeks, as they also have serious side effects. Regardless, studies show that doctors and physicians prescribe sleeping pills for months, they don't follow up with patients, and most patients end up using pills for years, unaware of how the pills are actually making their Insomnia worse (as you will soon learn) How's that for a mind opener? Now, if you've been taking sleeping pills for a while, you're going to learn all about them in the next section, however, I wanted to point this out, because I am a firm believer, after much research, that 90% of doctors and physicians don't know ANYTHING about Insomnia or sleeping disorders. This is why I wrote this eBook for you, to give you the truth, which will give you the power to cure yourself of Insomnia.
Short Term Insomnia

There are two types of Insomnia, short-term insomnia and chronic Insomnia. Short term Insomnia IS quite common, everyone in their life suffers from Insomnia at some point or another, and it is in reflect to the natural occurrences in our lives, stress, family and relationship problems, finances. Depression, medical and health problems are also very common causes of short term Insomnia. Here's where the real important thing you must understand comes into play, for most people, short term Insomnia lasts only a few days, afterwards their normal sleep patterns return.
For others, that period never ends, short term Insomnia becomes a part of their daily lives, perpetuated by the Insomnia Cycle Effect, which turns short term insomnia into :
Chronic Insomnia
If you have regular sleeping problems, or NIGHTLY sleeping problems, then you have chronic Insomnia., regular drowsiness, headaches, depression, and low energy is now a daily part of your life, falling asleep is pure torture. Don't worry, I've been there, and I know how it feels. But
Why Does Short Term Insomnia Turn into Chronic Insomnia?

Before we understand this, we must ask ourselves one question: What is the difference between someone with regular sleeping patterns, and someone who is a Chronic Insomniac? When a person with normal sleeping patterns gets into that bed, and they feel they weight of their head on that pillow, and the warmth of that blanket around their body, their mind gets the signal, and gives the order Okay guys, this is the signal! Lower Heart Rate! Decrease Body Temperature, slooooooooooow down the brain waves, we're all going for a riiiiide! Now, that may be an over dramatization, but I want you to clearly understand that sleeping isn't something you VOLUNTARILY DO, it is a LEARNED response, which we develop as we grow up. A person without chronic Insomnia has this response, and it is in a healthy working condition, although it may be slightly interrupted by short-term insomnia from time to time, as I described to you above. You see, as we go along through our life, our body learns certain cues for when it is time to sleep, most of our sleep patterns are developed during our early childhood years of 6-10, where we usually sleep 8 - 10 hours per day. If you have been suffering from Insomnia since your teens, it is most likely this early conditioning is part of the cause A common cue for sleeping when you're a child is the need for your parents to come and tuck you in, for them to read you a bedtime story, for them to keep the lights on, or for the door to remain open. These cues are learned by our subconscious mind, which conditions our body to enter stage 1 of sleeping (link), where your brain waves go from alpha to beta, a state right before you enter the world of sleep. I will call this the natural sleep response. In the same way, chronic Insomnia, is a LEARNED RESPONSE, in which Your Mind is Conditioned to Associate Sleeping with Pain, Anxiety, Discomfort, PANIC, and DEPRESSION. The difference is this: As you go a long in your life with your normal sleeping conditioning, where your mind is associating bed with the natural sleep response. At one point in your life something happens to cause short term insomnia, stress, depression, post dramatic stress syndrome, death of a loved one, anxiety, whatever it may have been, if the short term insomnia turned
into chronic insomnia, in your case, you went over what I call the insomnia switch. Understanding this is very important, so pay attention: There is a study in NLP called anchoring and the rule of anchoring is this: Whenever You Experience a Strong Negative or Positive Emotional State in a Certain Location, to a Certain Sound, Touch, or Feeling - Your Mind Will Associate that Experience With That Emotional State. To demonstrate to you how anchoring works, I'd like you to remember a certain song that maybe makes you feel REALLY happy or ecstatic that you may have in your life.... Or maybe, think of a song that makes you feel extremely sad... Or a song that reminds you of a time you fell in love. That's right, as you think about that song, or if you were to play it right now, I can almost guarantee you some of those emotions will come back to you. The reason you are capable of experiencing those emotions is because at some point you were having them when you heard that song, and they became anchored to it, inside your mind. TV advertisers are very aware of how this works, and most modern commercials use this all the time, they try to get you to associate incredible feelings with their products or services, by showing you wonderful scenes. Cigarette companies THRIVE on this concept, as they get you to associate feelings of being in control, sexy, healthy, good looking and fun with smoking, all things which we know very well are not the results of long term smoking.
Finally, here's how negative anchoring creates Chronic Insomnia:
This is in big letters because its the MAIN focus of my discovery with NLP, and what will lead you to curing your Insomnia forever. You see, initially you had a case of Short Term Insomnia, like everyone does at some point their lives, except what probably happened, after 2 or 3 days of Insomnia, instead of not worrying about it and letting your mind re-load your old sleeping conditioning with the natural sleep response, instead you focused on a deep feeling of ANXIETY and PANIC. You probably asked yourself questions like Why can't I fall asleep? What's wrong with me? How is this going to affect my health? Why is everyone else sleeping normally but I can't? Do I have Mental Problems? These questions most likely produced even more ANXIETY, FEAR, and PANIC in you, which are all
very primal, strong feelings of PAIN. Additionally: If you took sleeping pills at this initial stage to try to fight Insomnia off, you increased your chance of acquiring chronic insomnia by about 3000%. (This will be explained in detail in a further section.)
What happened at that moment, is you went over the Insomnia Switch - You have now conditioned your subconscious mind to believe that the process of falling asleep = PAIN. By the way, please notice I say the process of going to sleep NOT sleep. This is very important, as you are conscious of trying to go to sleep, unconscious when you are in sleeping; this is why the negative anchor takes place. What you have now is chronic insomnia, or as I like to call it instead, seeing how Chronic is such an over-used and scary word, is Learned Insomnia. When you go to bed, you most likely immediately feel a sense of loss of control, anxiety, panic, and frustration about sleep. You have taught your mind to feel PAIN every time you try to fall asleep, whether you know it or not, you have erased the natural sleep response. Even if you don't experience anxiety and fear later on in your Insomnia, your mind will take an un-natural time to cause your body to fall asleep - and when you wake up during the night, falling asleep will also be very difficult.
Kacper I can't believe this, why would your mind work against you? This sounds a bit too far fetched for me...
I know it can, in fact it's perfectly reasonable, if you haven't been exposed to any material like this before, it's very easy to fall into the belief that Insomnia is caused by some other external factors, but I'm writing this to shatter that belief inside and make you realize that the only true cause of Insomnia is WITHIN YOU, and the only cure for it is WITHIN YOU as well. First of all, why would your mind work against you? Well, what you'll realize is that your mind isn't actually working AGAINST YOU, your mind is actually working to PROTECT YOU. Another discovery that NLP has made is that there is a natural response in your mind that controls nearly all our behavior. And that response is to : Avoid Pain, and Gain Pleasure. Think about it, ... every decision you made in your life, whether you were conscious of it or not, was to Avoid Pain, and to Gain Pleasure. Think about the things you do in your waking life, the decisions you make, the way you interact with people. Maybe some recent decisions in your life which have changed the direction it was going?
Let me give you an example: Pretend you have $10,000, and you've got two choices. 1) Go on a LUXURIOUS 5 day trip To Hawaii that will cost you exactly $10,000? 2) Remove a Tumor from Your lung that may potentially kill you? (The operation will cost you $10,000) My hallucination is you would chose #2 You see, most of our decisions are there to avoid pain, and to gain pleasure. This is an instinct within our minds to protect us from danger and to keep us from harm, to keep us alive.
The Insomnia Switch

Your mind can only have one association to one experience; the stronger emotional experience will usually over-take the weaker one. The Instinct to AVOID PAIN is stronger than the instinct to gain pleasure. So when your mind combines the process of going to sleep as something that is PAINFUL, something that makes you ANXIOUS, and WORRIED, when this association happens the older natural sleep response flies out the window. Because the process of going to sleep is a PAINFUL experience, the natural sleep response which your mind normally associated with relaxation and pleasure, is now nonexistent. This is the reason why you simply can't naturally fall asleep, as other people naturally do, even if you don't feel anxious, worried, or panicky when you're trying to fall asleep, the natural sleep response will not occur because you have erased/suppressed it. This is also the reason why some people suffer from Insomnia since early childhood, at some point their sleeping conditioning also got interrupted, most likely by fear of nightmares, fear of the dark, family problems, fear of the monster under the bed, or anything else that would create fear and anxiety during the process of falling asleep. (also why small children are dependent on other cues where falling asleep is safe such as getting tucked in by their parents, keeping the light on, etc) Interesting Fact about the Author: In my particular case, I was petrified by the space underneath the bed as a child, I would continuously visualize giant clammy hands with claws coming up from underneath the bed and grabbing me! How's that for fear and anxiety? *chuckle :) * To end this section, I'd like to re-cap on a powerful point: For most people, the factor that pushes short-term Insomnia over the edge into becoming Learned Insomnia is the factor of feeling anxiety, fear, and panic, about their sleep loss. The moment you start fearing sleep loss, your chances of becoming a learned Insomniac increase dramatically; as this helps to tie the emotional anchor of FALLING ASLEEP = PAIN
Note: There are many other powerful negative emotions that could have triggered your Insomnia, pain and anxiety are just general examples.
What Drug Companies Don't Want You to Know

Now that you know the mechanics of how Insomnia develops into Chronic Learned Insomnia, perhaps you may begin to start feeling hopeful about your Insomnia problem, maybe you're starting to feel like you do have control over your sleeping challenge after all, but you only need to learn HOW to over come this challenge. Well guess what? You can, by understanding clearly how your Insomnia works; you can use the same system to over come it! The only way to cure Insomnia is to change the conditioning your mind has to the natural sleep response. The only way to do that is to use the same mechanics that caused it to mal-function in the first place. By changing your thoughts, your behaviors, and by changing the states of mind you associate with sleep, you will be able to cure your Insomnia. Imagine the natural sleep response in your body/mind as a light switch with an off and on position. This is the switch your mind flips into the on position when you go to sleep. Picture this switch in a non-Insomniac as being perfectly fine and operational. Now, as you remember what we just talked about in the previous section about negative pain anchoring, picture this switch in your mind as being rusty, stuck in the off position most of the time, due to the negative anchoring we talked about. Quickly, lets look at the mechanics of sleeping, and why what most people do to try to cure Insomnia makes it even worse.
The 4 Sleep Stages - Why you feel horrible and Un-rested.

Okay, up until now I've been talking a lot about the natural sleep response, here you will learn exactly what happens during sleep, and exactly why you may be experiencing some of the feelings in your life as a result to Insomnia. In your life I'm sure you've experienced day dreaming at some point, or have seen someone day dreaming, either in a class room, or maybe while dosing off while doing a particular thing. This is the first stage of going to sleep, and it is the required state your mind has to go into before you fall asleep. Here are the sleeping stages in order, then we'll talk about them in detail: Stage 1: Alpha Brain Waves (other terms: Trance, Day Dreaming, Drowsiness) Basic Wandering Thoughts, slightly drowsy appearance, thoughts lose their tension and you have no real mental focus.
We enter this state regularly in our daytime, while driving, while doing things that are boring, while trying to be creative. This is an altered state of imagination and creativity, in which we make use of every day. After letting this state go on for a few minutes, we move on to : Stage 2: Theta Brain Waves Drowsy relaxed state between waking and sleeping. Your body begins to relax, your muscles ease away, your breathing slows down and your body temperature slightly decreases. In this state your thoughts tend to wander on their own without any focus, you may start hearing sounds and music as if already dreaming. In both these stages you are still very wake-able, whenever you wake out of these states it feels like a sudden jerk back to reality, you may feel slightly disoriented. This is where the term I was only drifting off. or Why did you wake me? I was just falling asleep. comes from. Feelings of vertigo, weird body sensations and dizziness are also associated with this stage. Stage 3: K-Complexes A brief period where your mind bounces from turning off to staying awake. This sometimes feels like being half way in the real world, half way in your sleep/dream world. Stage 4: Delta Brain Waves (Deep Sleep, REM sleep, Paradoxical Sleep, Dream Sleep) In this state, you are now officially ASLEEP. This is the state in which your conscious mind appears to be completely turned off. In this state your body relaxes, your muscles ease, your heart rate and breathing rate slow down to their lowest point during the day. The blood in your body, which is usually concentrated in your organs, flows into your muscles, and our immune system turns on to fight diseases. Our body is re-energized in many ways. Stage 4 sleep lasts between 60-90 minutes, afterwards the brain returns to Stage 2 Sleep, spends some time there, and returns to Stage 4 sleep several times during the night. This cycle is different with every individual, especially with Insomniacs. If you wake up with a headache, aching muscles and a feeling of un-restfulness, it is most likely because you haven't spent enough time in Stage 4, Deep Sleep. Now that you know the sleep stages and how they affect you. You can probably guess why you can't fall asleep, or have difficulty falling asleep when you wake up during the night. That's right, it's very hard for you to enter the initial Stage 1, of sleep. In fact, what most likely happens is you try to force sleep to come, instead of letting it come naturally. This produces even additional anxiety, holding you back from sleep. Because you spend a good portion of your sleep in Stage 2 sleep, your wakefulness at these
points is increased. In fact, studies show that people wake up during the night many times, usually for a brief number of minutes, although they don't remember these moments when they wake up. For Insomniacs, this is not the case, these brief moments of wakefulness usually turn to hours of wakefulness, again, due to the natural sleep response being replaced with anxiety, frustration, and pain about going to sleep. Most of the effects you experience from Insomnia, such as drowsiness, inability to concentrate or make decisions, headaches, depression, and aching muscles are the result of Deep Sleep (Stage 4) Deprivation. Studies show that chronic Insomniacs experience far less deep sleep, although this usually is the effect of taking medication, as you will learn in the next section.
High Wakefulness in Insomniacs

Studies show that Insomniacs have a much higher wakefulness factor than non-Insomniacs. Normally, once in deep sleep it is usually very hard to wake someone up, Insomniacs have a much higher tendency for their sleep to be disrupted even from deep sleep. Once in deep sleep we are usually oblivious to the outside world, but this isn't necessarily true, for instance, people can sleep through earthquakes and construction noise, but instantly wake up to the sound of their Baby stirring in the crib in the other room. Part of our conscious mind is still very aware of the outside world, which makes responses like this possible. Part of my personal theory, is that, because of the diminished natural sleep response, this wakefulness from deep sleep is heightened in Insomniacs.
The Natural Sleep System - A Quick Crash Course.

This is your body's natural sleep system, meaning: the way your body knows when its time to sleep by a way of measuring body temperature, sunlight exposure, and a special hormone in your body called melatonin, which controls when and how long you sleep. In order to sleep properly at night, your body needs to have the right rise and drop in body temperature, the right amount of exposure to sunlight, which will in turn manage your melatonin hormone levels properly. I will not get into the science of this, as it's not necessary right now, simply, what I want you to understand clearly, is that part of curing Insomnia is also taking the proper actions to strengthen the natural sleep system.
The 8 Mistakes Most Insomniacs Make

As a result of Learned Insomnia, people usually try to re-cooperate by taking actions to work around their Insomnia. All these actions actually make Insomnia worse, by drastically weakening the sleep system and perpetuating it instead of solving the problem; because they do not attack the cause of Insomnia, only its symptoms.
Here are some of these actions, you'll probably notice what you're doing right now falls somewhere on to this list. Being aware of these actions and their effects will give you a better perspective on your Insomnia 1. Taking Sleeping Pills As you will soon see in the next section, this is the death rattle, which in most cases turns Insomnia into a life long condition. We'll explore all the effects of pills on Insomnia in the next section. 2. Going to bed early, and sleeping late on weekends to Make up Sleep This makes Insomnia even more likely to happen as you are putting your body temperature levels out of wack. Creating the same effect that jet lag produces. This weakens your body's natural sleep system. You will also limit your exposure to sunlight, which plays a key role in your melatonin hormone levels. 3. Trying to make up sleep with long naps during the day. This also weakens your body's natural sleep response, as you will be less likely to fall asleep later. Naps are Okay, and actually part of a way to cure Insomnia, only if you take them properly, as I'll show you later on. 4. Eating large amounts of food, sugar, or candy before going to sleep to try to make yourself sleepy or tired. Doing this does not solve the cause of insomnia, which is a weakened sleep system and a non-responsive natural sleep response. You may feel sleepy, but you will still wake up Unrested. Nearly all the sugar you eat is turned into fat by your body, will in turn can create risk of Sleep Apnea. 5. Drinking alcohol before going to bed to induce sleep. Many people think that drinking a glass of wine before bed is a good idea. It might make you feel sleepy but the disadvantages are many. Alcohol dehydrates your body, making it more likely you will wake up during the night thirsty for water. You will also most likely feel Un-rested, drowsy, and dis-oriented the next day(hang-over). Drinking Alcohol before bed will also increase fat gain drastically. CAUTION: Alcohol should NEVER be combined with sleeping pills, it is extremely dangerous, and it has and can cause death. 6. Not exercising, and using your lack of sleep as an excuse not to exercise. Lack of exercise plays a key-role in chronic Insomnia. Not exercising due to Insomnia only makes the Insomnia Cycle stronger; not exercising weakens the natural sleep response, as well as the sleep system. Not exercising weakens your metabolism, weakening your heart, creating respiratory problems, making you more likely to wake up during the night, or suffer from sleep apnea. 7. Trying to force sleep This will only increase your anxiety and frustration, weakening the natural sleep response, and making the SLEEP = PAIN anchor stronger and more apparent for your mind. 8. Reading a Book or Watching TV in Bed to Induce Sleepiness
Not only does watching TV or reading keep your conscious racing mind active, it also diminishes the natural sleep response. As this supports the negative anchor in your mind that the process of falling asleep is something you have to AVOID. The more awake time you spend in your bed, the more your mind associates that the BED = AWAKE. SLEEP = PAIN.
The LIES and MYTHS of the SLEEPING PILL

DISCLAIMER: The techniques, ideas, and opinions here are not intended as a substitute for proper medical advice! The information provided here is solely for informational purposes only. Consult your physician or health care professional before making any changes to the medicine you are taking. Particularly if you are pregnant or nursing, or if you are elderly, or if you have any chronic or recurring conditions other than Insomnia. If you suffer from any other medical problems, I highly recommend you contact your physician before making any changes to the prescription medicine you're taking.
Any application of the techniques, ideas, and suggestions here are at the reader's sole discretion and risk. The author and the publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects arising from following this advice.
How Sleeping Pills Erase the Natural Sleep Response

It is common belief by many doctors and physicians that Insomnia is curable by prescribing the patient sleeping pills. As you most likely know by know, this isn't true, as Insomnia isn't a disease or a virus you can simply fight off. The reason why sleeping pills don't cure Insomnia is because they don't attack the cause of Insomnia, as you have learned here, the primary cause of chronic Learned Insomnia is an internal anxiety and frustration about sleep which becomes automatic in us due to emotional anchoring. Sleeping pills WILL put you to sleep, studies show that most sleeping pills reduce wake-ness time for Insomniacs to an average of 20 minutes, and produce an average of 8 hours of sleep. However, the many side effects far outweigh the benefits. Furthermore, when you stop taking sleeping pills, Insomnia usually comes back. Leaving sleeping pills as only a temporary solution. A solution that ironically produces worse effects in your life than Insomnia did in the first place. I stated before that if you took sleeping pills when your Insomnia first started, your chances of acquiring chronic Learned Insomnia heightened by 3000%. This may be my overexaggeration but I say it because: The moment you start taking sleeping pills to cure insomnia, this supports your belief that Insomnia is something from out side of you, that needs to be fixed by taking a drug (from outside of you, as well.)
Taking sleeping pills eliminates the natural sleep response completely, because you are now also relying on sleeping pills as a safety sleeping cue, much like a child will rely on their parents on tucking them in, or for the night lamp being on before they can safely enter Stage 1 sleep. In your mind, you have now traded in the equation of BED = SLEEP, for: BED + PILLS = SLEEP. BED without PILLS = PAIN, ANXIETY. This association makes the cause of Insomnia, the negative anchoring, even stronger, minimizing your chances of going to sleep naturally. It also pushes you to becoming completely dependant on pills to sleep. Never-mind that most pills are physiologically addictive, you are now psychologically addicted to them as well.
The Truth, and Nothing But the Truth Why Sleeping Pills Make Insomnia Worse
As I've said before, the fact that sleeping pills cure Insomnia is a myth. Research shows that most chronic Insomniacs, after treatment with sleeping pills, still had trouble falling asleep. Sleeping pills are as effective to curing Insomnia as a glass of water is to a flesh wound in a battle field, here's why:
Sleeping Pills Decrease your Deep Sleep (Stage 4)

It's not true that sleeping pills will give you a restful sleep, or make you function better the next day. Sleeping pills work by decreasing the activity to the brain, lowering your brain waves and forcing you into stage 2 sleep, this forces the natural sleep response. Studies show that sleeping pills drastically decrease the amount of time slept in stage 4(Deep Sleep). You may sleep for 8 hours, but you will wake up tired, Un-rested, with a headache, and aching muscles. These effects are common for Insomniacs who regularly take sleeping pills.
The Wonderful World of Pills

There are 4 types of sleeping pills you could be taking right now, Benzodiazepines, Antidepressants, Over the counter drugs, and possibly synthetic melatonin. Here are some common pills from each of the categories. Benzodiazepines (BZs) Commonly used: Valium, Klonopin, Tranxene, Prosom, Ativan, Xanax, Serax, Doral, Restoril,
Halcion, Ambien, Dalmane Most BZs were actually developed as anti-anxiety drugs, they simply have a side effect of making someone feel drowsy, and this is why doctors prescribe them. It's a great way for the drug companies to save money on developing new products. Most BZs lose their effectiveness after 4 to 6 weeks, because your brain becomes habituated to their effects, unless you increase the dose you are taking. The National Institute of Health recommends they only be prescribed for a maximum of 6 weeks as a temporary sleeping solution, however, most doctors prescribe them for months or even years, not following up with patients, who frequently take much more than the recommended dose! The effects of BZs are WORSE than Insomnia Itself! Most BZs stay in your body for several days after you take them, it takes an average of 2 days for most BZs to be completely removed from your body, hence, taking sleeping pills for one night will usually cause days of the after effects. Studies show that BZs impair condition and alertness during the daytime. They cause drowsiness, nausea, blurred vision, weakness, loss of appetite, and in some cases very frequent urination. It's not uncommon for Insomniacs who take BZs to wake up several times during the night to urinate. BZs also cause high blood pressure, and should not be taken by anyone with heart problems. Most people who try to stop taking BZs abruptly experience anxiety, nausea, headaches, nervousness, and even seizures, because your body does become dependant on them! Therefore, you should always gradually decrease your dose of BZs when you plan to stop taking them (details explained later) Anti-Depressants Commonly used: Elavil, SInequan, Desyrel, Prozac The other common type of sleeping pills prescribed are anti-depressants, at low doses antidepressants cause drowsiness causing you to lower your brain waves and enter Stage 1 and 2 sleep. Again this is great for putting you to sleep, but anti-depressants also lower the amount of deep sleep you get, and even low doses of anti-depressants produce day-time hangover, headaches, and psychological dependency. The other side effects of anti-depressants are dry-mouth, constipation, blurred vision, and urinary problems. Both anti-depressants and BZs should not be taken by pregnant women, as they are harmful to the fetus. And again, NEVER combine anti-depressants or BZs with Alcohol; doing so puts your life at risk Over the Counter Drugs Commonly used: Tylenol PM, Anacin PM, Excedrin PM Most people head right to the over the counter drugs(OTCs), mainly because they are scared of the many side effects of the sleeping pills above. However, not only are OTCs less effective at putting you to sleep, they cause the same side effects as BZs and anti-depressants.
OTCs lower the amount of Stage 4, Deep Sleep you get, causing you to get worse quality sleep than you would if you simply endured your Insomnia. Daytime sedation, drowsiness, tolerance and psychological dependence are common after effects. Melatonin Pills Synthetic Melatonin Another miracle drug that is new on the block is melatonin. To remind you briefly, melatonin is a natural hormone your body releases when going to sleep. Melatonin increases when there is no light coming into your eyes. However, studies show that synthetic melatonin is completely useless in putting insomniacs to sleep. It has only been successful at putting normal sleepers to sleep. Studies on melatonin have been inconsistent. The reason why many doctors are suggesting melatonin is because it is seen as a natural drug. Make your own destinction. Melatonin may also constrict blood vessels and therefore should not be used by anyone with heart problems or high blood pressure. IT would go far beyond the scope of this eBook to talk about all the negative effects of pills, both physiologically and psychologically. However, my opinion on sleeping pills stand the same: sleeping pills do not in any way cure Insomnia, they perpetuate it's existence, and make living even harder for chronic Insomniacs. The reason for this is simple: Sleeping pills do not fight the cause of Insomnia, only the SYMPTOMS. While they may be successful at putting you to sleep for a while, they rob you of deep sleep, and create a multitude of negative effects, all of which are worse than the affects of normal sleep loss.
Why so Many Insomniacs are Driven to Take Pills

The main cause of insomnia is the diminished natural sleep response, and a sense of hopelessness, frustration and a feeling of anxiety by insomniacs about sleep loss. This feeling becomes automatic due to our mind's natural tendency to anchor feelings to experiences, and stack the importance of AVOIDING PAIN over other emotions. Ironically, most sleeping pills were actually developed and sold as Anti-Anxiety drugs. Therefore, because sleeping pills decrease the activity to the brain, decrease brain waves AND work in a way to decrease anxiety, they are effective at forcing you into sleep. This is only a temporary solution, as studies show, most Insomniacs who regularly take pills to induce 7 to 8 hour sleep experience re-bound insomnia when they stop taking the pills. As stated earlier most insomniacs end up taking sleeping pills for much longer than the recommended 4 to 6 six week period, many insomniacs end up over dosing and experiencing very strong after affects, ironically, blaming it on their Insomnia. This is simply because many insomniacs build the belief that they cannot sleep without pills. This belief further diminishes the natural sleep response by anchoring pills in your mind with emotions of SAFETY and COMFORT, totally re-calibrating your old sleeping habits. This belief is what makes chronic Insomnia a re-occurring nightmare that won't go away; studies show that most
chronic Learned Insomniacs who attempt to stop taking sleeping pills after years of using them suffer from experience extreme anxiety and nervousness when trying to go to sleep without them. In conclusion, sleeping pills are only a temporary solution to sleep loss, in most cases they lead to a life with after effects that make you more miserable than Insomnia did in the first place. If you begin to believe that you can't sleep without sleeping pills, this usually leads to years of taking pills, gradually increasing the dosage as you develop tolerance to the drugs, which leads to even stronger after effects, and a life of complete dependency and psychological addiction, lowered self esteem, a feeling of no control over life, and over all very little room for a healthy life style. All in all, this seems like a very good way for the drug companies to make millions of dollars off this confused market of people! Up until now, of course...
Curing Insomnia Without Drugs, or Expensive Therapy

The #1 Key to Curing Chronic Learned Insomnia You MUST Know
By now you've discovered some pretty shocking facts about insomnia that you may have not known before. Now that you've got a clear understanding of Insomnia, it's time to get rid of it! By the way, if you've skipped reading the whole book (only 18 pages) to come to this section, Naughty! Naughty! Go back now and read the whole eBook and come back here :) Otherwise none of these methods will work for you! You see, one of the critical factors of curing insomnia is clearing understanding why it occurs, because it's not a disease , insomnia occurs from within you, as Sun Tzu says in the Art of War : know your enemy, but more importantly, know thyself In this short eBook my main goal so far was to give you the clear truth about Insomnia. You may ask why is that so important? Because knowing how insomnia works will give you the mental ammo to rid yourself of insomnia, and live a healthy life! Most chronic Learned insomniacs usually suffer from insomnia long term because they do not understand it : #1) Most people (Doctors/Physicians) included believe insomnia is a mysterious force that comes and attacks you at night like a virus, most people have a vague idea of the causes of
insomnia, but this belief still in some way supports that there's something WRONG with them, which creates anxiety and stress while trying to fall asleep. You know that this is the critical factor that pushes short-term insomnia into chronic Learned insomnia #2) 80% of chronic Learned insomniacs don't even seek help. This is because of the common stigma that Insomnia makes you a person with serious mental problems. Most people will go great lengths to cover up their inner problems/challenges from society, and pretend they're not there! Insomnia is commonly looked at as a psycho problem, if everything else wasn't bad enough; this creates even more anxiety and stress. So if you picked up this eBook you're one of the few people who have the courage to DO step up and change their lives! For that, I congratulate you! I hope by now, after reading all this powerful information, you realize that points #1 and #2 are simply NOT TRUE. Although, the drug companies would like you to believe those points. Those beliefs are what make the insomnia market a Billion Dollar annual industry! It's my hallucination that you're already beginning to feel a sense of control over your insomnia, as you think about all this information, how it may help you, and you imagine a time in the future when you're sleeping comfortably and waking up rested and energized everyday, looking back at this moment as being the start of it. The idea you might want to adopt is that Insomnia is simply a small glitch in your mind you have the power to easily correct. When trying to cure a nose-bleed by slamming your head against a concrete wall.(A situation in which you get an un-desired effect, by not understanding the nature of the problem :o) ) Trying to cure insomnia without understanding the nature of how it works is the equivalent! Knowing this information will supply you with the power to create better beliefs about insomnia, which will in turn decrease your anxiety, frustration, and dependency on sleeping pills (if that may be the case), and put you onto the path of re-establishing your natural sleep response, as well as many other sleep promoting habits!
Your Anti-Insomnia Action Plan

I have tried to make this eBook as brief and informative as possible, due the fact that usually when you make something too long others feel discouraged to read it. So before we get into the specific methods for curing Insomnia, I'd like to suggest that you quickly visit our website right now and sign up for the Insomnia Challenge Newsletter at www.WonderfulSleep.com/newsletter.htm - where you'll receive tons of additional valuable information, and much more details about Insomnia than I could fit into this small eBook.
We're also developing a whole Step by Step package with audio to guide you through the whole process of curing chronic insomnia, make sure to check our web-site for that periodically! Fundamentally, there are two things you must start doing to cure Chronic Learned Insomnia 1) Re-Establish your Natural Sleep Response (N.S.R) - If you are currently taking sleeping pills, getting off of them is the first step 2) Increase the strength of your biological sleep system
#1) Re-Establishing Your Natural Sleep Response

As I said in the beginning of this book, the discovery which led me to understanding and curing insomnia in the first place was a science called NLP (Neurological Programming). NLP is the study of our behaviors, emotions, and reactions to life on a deeper level. What you've learned so far is that state anchoring is the leading cause of chronic insomnia. What you will learn now is how do use state anchoring to CURE insomnia :). Let's quickly re-cap what you learned about state anchoring 1. When you combine a powerful emotion with a certain experience, touch, sound,, or smell, that feeling will usually become anchored to that experience if it is powerful enough. The next time you have the experience you will automatically have those feelings. 2. For your mind, the need to avoid pain is stronger than the need to gain pleasure. Therefore, whenever you anchor pain to an experience, that emotional anchor will always be stronger than any previous one. 3. The natural sleep response, which is responsible for making you relax, lowering your brain waves and putting you to sleep, becomes over come by the anchor of ANXIETY, FRUSTRATION, and many other nasty emotions you might feel whenever you're stressed out, tossing and turning all night, and waking up during the night incapable of going back to sleep 4. Taking sleeping pills help further create this negative anchor, as you associate SAFETY, and COMFORT with the action of taking sleeping pills. This creates a clear distinction for you that sleeping without pills is painful! What eventually happens, as this negative anchoring grows stronger every time you sleep(or attempt to), is you simply FORGET what it's like to fall asleep naturally.
Three Steps to Re-Creating your Natural Sleep Response 1. Get off Pills
If you are currently taking sleeping pills, prescription pills, or over the counter drugs, your
first step is to stop taking them! However, if you have been taking pills for a while you cannot simply stop taking pills cold turkey. If you've been taking pills, especially Benzodiazepines, you could suffer from a rapid increase in blood pressure, anxiety, and even seizures if you attempt to stop taking pills all at once in one day. Building up the mental strength to stop relying on pills is also quite difficult, this is why I wrote a whole article dedicated to helping you quit pills.(Aren't I great :o) ? ) To get the article go here: www.WonderfulSleep.com/endingpills.htm
2. Ride the Alpha Brain Waves!

This is probably the most important part in this book! So pay attention, it's simple but powerful! Your goal is to give your mind the association: Process of going to sleep = GOOD and causes Stage 1 Sleep As I said before, you can use the same mechanics of anchoring to achieve this. The only way you can do this is by practicing putting yourself in Stage 1, alpha brain waves, and stage 2, theta brain waves. Sound easy? How on earth do I do that Kacper? :) Whether you know it, you are in stage 1 sleep for a good portion of your day, while you drive, while you're daydreaming, etc. However, we never really enter stage 2. You will automatically go into stage 1 sleep if you relax your mind and body, NOW, this is where you will love me, because any other book would simply tell you to practice relaxation and meditation exercises. I'm about giving you RESULTS, so I've created a 7-minute audio of myself, to guide you through the entire process of putting yourself in this state, Download the audio by clicking here: www.WonderfulSleep.com/audio.htm Do the exercise in the audio a few times away from your bed, and then move on into practicing it in your bed. The reason for that is in step 3 :
3. Eliminate Negative Anchors in your Bed / Bedroom

Has this ever happened to you? It's late in the day, and you're starting to feel quite tired and drowsy, you put on your pajamas, still yawning, and the INSTANT you get into bed, your mind starts racing, and your feeling of drowsiness and sleepiness goes away? This again is a result of improper sleep state anchoring; a lot of people experience this affect, not just Insomniacs. This is another anchor your mind that looks like this: BED = AWAKE, what you want to condition your mind to is BED = REST, SLEEP RELAXATION. To do this, you must practice #2 (see above) in your bed, and eliminate any bad wakeful anchors you might be doing right now to cause this, some of these are.
1. Watching TV in bed before you got to sleep. 2. Reading a book in bed before you go to sleep. Even though those actions may seem like they help sleeping, they make it worse! 3. Talking on the phone while on your bed. 4. Having heated arguments with your spouse/significant other in the bedroom or while sitting on the bed. 5. Using your bedroom as an office, or using your bed as a place to store paper work and other junk during the day. In conclusion, try to spend as little time as possible on your bed, or in the presence of your bed while you are awake or feeling negative, stressed emotions Use your bed ONLY for sleeping, resting, or sexual activity.
#2) Strengthening Your Sleep System

Re-creating your natural sleep response is only one piece of the puzzle - strengthening your sleep system is the second! It's highly likely that a weak sleeping system is what caused your insomnia in the first place. To re-cap, your natural sleep system is a series of variables in your body that lets your mind know when it is time to sleep. Some of these are : 1) Melatonin Hormone Levels 2) The Amount of Natural Sunlight Your Body Receives 3) Prior Wakefulness 4) Body Temperature Levels 5) MOVEMENT and EXERCISE! I don't want to bore you with a scientific explanation of this, as it is not necessary, but here is a brief explanation of how these all work together Melatonin hormone levels - melatonin is a hormone released in your body, the melatonin levels in your body rise as you get closer to your sleeping time, and decrease towards the end of sleep. Your melatonin levels are affected by the amount of Natural Sunlight that enters your eyes! Most chronic insomniacs usually do not get adequate Natural Sunlight during the day. Prior Wakefulness - Most insomniacs try to catch up on sleep after losing sleep, by sleeping in late during the weekends and taking long naps, or by going to bed really early to try to catch up on sleep. However, this drastically decreases your prior wakefulness. You need to be awake long enough, otherwise your body temperature levels will go out of wack, you will not get enough sunlight, and your melatonin levels will be irregular; continuing the insomnia cycle. Movement and Exercise - You need to exercise! PERIOD! Exercise increases your metabolism and creates muscle fatigue, both which are BIG cues for your mind that say: sleep is necessary!
To Strengthen Your Sleep System, Start Doing These Actions Today

1) Get up quickly; wake up regularly at the same time. When you wake up, get up quickly; don't keep your butt in that bed! The sooner you open your eyes, the faster natural sunlight will enter them and the sooner your melatonin hormones will drop. If you do this regularly you will find that you will condition your melatonin hormones to rise and drop precisely at the same time every day, giving you the ability to fall asleep easier. 2) Go to sleep regularly at the same time Again, don't go to sleep earlier on some days and later on others, your sleeping time should always be at the same time, this will condition your melatonin levels and your body temperature levels. 3) Get AT LEAST 2 hours of natural sunlight everyday. And I don't mean the light coming in from your office window! GET OUT THERE, perhaps take a walk when you wake up, even if its only for 10-15 minutes, every minute of sunlight you get counts. 4) Move! If you don't then, start exercising your body for a minimum of 15 minutes per day. The point is to raise your heart rate and increase your metabolism. Read more on exercise and the benefits of exercise to curing insomnia at our web site: www.WonderfulSleep.com
Sweet Dreams!
It has been a pleasure sharing this information with you, I really sincerely hope that you will begin applying it right away. I realize this last section has been very short and simple, but guess what? It works! People usually tend to make things more complicated than they are. Simple is Beautiful - Bruce Lee PS. My team and I at WonderfulSleep.com are here to help you sleep, and live a healthier life, if you've got any questions regarding Insomnia we'll be glad to answer them, just e-mail them to us here: Questions@WonderfulSleep.com PPS. Make sure to check our web-site periodically for updates, we're developing something truly incredible to help you sleep even better, a whole audio system designed to lead you completely by the hand to help you sleep better and re-energize your life, you don't want to miss this! And if you haven't already, sign up for our Insomnia Challenge newsletter Sincerely, Kacper M. Postawski, the insomnia terminator Kacper & Toby www.WonderfulSleep.com End Your Insomnia Forever, and Enjoy Wonderful Sleep Without Expensive Drugs or Greedy Therapists

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What are the three types of insomnia mentioned?

What are the three types of insomnia mentioned?

What is the insomnia cycle and how does chronic insomnia evolve?

What is the insomnia cycle and how does chronic insomnia evolve?

How to End Your Insomnia and Enjoy Wonderful Sleep Without Expensive Drugs or Greedy Therapists

by Kacper M. Postawski, WonderfulSleep.com

How to End Your Insomnia and Enjoy Wonderful Sleep

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

From Sleeplessness, to Beautiful Dreams, Health, Energy and Restfulness...

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

A Typical Insomnia Horror Story...

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

The Mechanics of Insomnia

The Insomnia Cycle - How Chronic Insomnia Evolves

Short Term Insomnia

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

Why Does Short Term Insomnia Turn into Chronic Insomnia?

Finally, here's how negative anchoring creates Chronic Insomnia:

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

The Insomnia Switch

What Drug Companies Don't Want You to Know

The 4 Sleep Stages - Why you feel horrible and Un-rested.

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

High Wakefulness in Insomniacs

The Natural Sleep System - A Quick Crash Course.

The 8 Mistakes Most Insomniacs Make

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

The LIES and MYTHS of the SLEEPING PILL

How Sleeping Pills Erase the Natural Sleep Response

Sleeping Pills Decrease your Deep Sleep (Stage 4)

The Wonderful World of Pills

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

Why so Many Insomniacs are Driven to Take Pills

Curing Insomnia Without Drugs, or Expensive Therapy

Your Anti-Insomnia Action Plan

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

#1) Re-Establishing Your Natural Sleep Response

2. Ride the Alpha Brain Waves!

3. Eliminate Negative Anchors in your Bed / Bedroom

#2) Strengthening Your Sleep System

Copyright 2004 WonderfulSleep.com All Rights Reserved

To Strengthen Your Sleep System, Start Doing These Actions Today

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