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

This is a solid book that has already started to help with my sleep issues. I've suffered from insomnia for 3 years, much of that time getting 2-3 hours of pitiful, restless sleep and feeling horrible the next day. I've tried many solutions, including antidepressants, sleeping pills, therapy, etc., all to no avail. I don't share the author's disdain for the established medical treatments of insomnia, but can echo the fact that none of those methods worked for me.The reason I love this book is that it contains advice that resonates with me logically. So much of the well-meaning sleep advice out there nowadays has to do with going to bed at the same time every night, having the room pitch black, and a host of other things that have no bearing at all on the quality of your sleep. Have any of you ever wondered why these perfect sleep conditions are necessary when none of them seemed to matter when you were younger? Me too. Back before stress took over our lives, we were able to fall dead asleep and stay that way for eight hours, even sleeping in a recliner by a lamp, with the television going. If you change the sleeping conditions now without changing the stress, you are still going to sleep like crap. Stress and anxiety begin to erode your sleep and you form poor habits such as worrying in bed and waking up in the middle of the night. This book shows you how to change the habits through positive thinking and a healthier approach to stress.The only reason that I give this book 4 stars is that it completely disregards common medical approaches to insomnia. As I mentioned before, I too tried most medical treatments, including therapy, multiple anti-anxiety meds, and sleep meds. Even though none of these solutions worked for me, I know people that have been able to control insomnia through the right combination of these treatments. The author has an understandable disdain for the medical approaches to insomnia since she was not able to get relief through them for her sleep issues, but that doesn't mean that sound medical advice won't work for anyone. My advice is to try this book first and then consult your doctor if you continue to have problems. Therapy is the most helpful of all the medical approaches I tried, whereas pills were much less effective. Understand that if you are looking for a pill that is going to magically make you get 8 hours of hibernation-quality sleep every night, you will be disappointed.Tying things up, this is a great book if you want to take control of your sleep issues yourself. Be ready to challenge your beliefs and attitudes about sleep. Be ready to put some effort into changing your sleep habits gradually, over time. Be comfortable with incremental improvements. In the short time that I've put the advice in this book to work, I've already started to sleep better and perhaps even more importantly, been more comfortable during the day after I didn't sleep well. No matter what course you take, I wish you luck and better sleep.

I've read the reviews and the people who complain, they all have that in common: complain, whine, sulk, blame another person for their problems. Always placing blame on someone else, not taking responsibility. While I sympathize with their issues, their problems, and how horrible this thing called "insomnia" is, these people actually like to whine, complain, and wallow in their self pity and exhaustion of insomnia. Sasha states all of this in the book, but to these people they still believe there is some outside source, magical cure that will save them from this horrible thing called "insomnia" and "how dare you say that insomnia is my fault!" Guess what? It is. There is no cure, your own mind is the cure as your own mind caused this. As Sasha says and I agree, it is your own fault you have insomnia. It's your mind isn't it?? Who else has your mind and your individual thoughts, creates your anxiety, why you get upset about something, how you think, etc?? If you don't control your mind, your mind will control you.As I said I do sympathize with these people about insomnia. It really sucks, and is horrible to go through. I know I've gone through it for a long time and had good days and bad. But I will say that I agree with Sasha. I quite enjoyed hearing her story of her experiences, it helps you understand you're not alone and can relate to the story. The woman went through this for many years so I would trust her over any Doctor who pushes pills.Personally I think the current medical profession is a farce run by the greedy Pharmaceutical drug companies. Sickness is big business and you can be sure the drug companies do not want you well. Its a multibillion dollar industry. Sure we need Doctors such as surgeons, and for broken bones, cancer (although I feel cancer comes from many things such as lack of proper diet/nutrition, animal protein, hormones, antibiotics in the meat, lack of enough plant protein in diet, lack of emotional expression, unclean water (fluoridation, chlorine), drugs, lifestyle, lack of exercise, overall unhappiness which stems from unresolved issues, etc.) Sure their are individual and unusual cases of children getting cancer etc but you can't deny that a more healthy lifestyle certainly can help with prevention. These things like cancer were obsolete in Native American times because their lifestyle was more pure, the water was pure, the air, the food, people were closer and communicated, today people are not really connecting like really connecting with one another, people are more separate from one another than ever. But my belief is most Doctors are pill pushers and those pills cause more problems where you go back and get more pills etc. My advice is to learn your own body better, look for natural alternatives, or seek a Naturopathic Doctor if you can. By the way I have studied a lot about Buddhism and meditation, no monks or yogess I can think of have any illness of any kind. Think about that. What do these people have in common? Mind over matter. Stillness of the mind.DID THE BOOK WORK FOR ME? : Yes. I have suffered with Insomnia off an on over the years. I know myself and know I do tend to have sort of ocd tendencies, though I don't like labels of any kind because I feel people stay hung up on the label and like to wallow in that instead of realizing you're are never one thing, we're always evolving and learning and don't have to be boxed into one category. Anyway, I have always known my mind is pretty powerful in the way that I like to think a lot. I like finding all kinds of information and I think things over and over and over again. Sometimes getting hung up on the negative. I know this is unhealthy and causes stress, then I ruminate about it making it worse. Thats essentially what insomnia is for me. I would go through periods of being stressed out, depressed over something and keep thinking about it. Then with Insomnia, my mind would freak out and wonder if I ever could go back to sleep, thus stressing myself out more and more, staying awake longer and unable to fall asleep, feeling like crap for days, weeks, etc.After reading the book I felt much more calm, peaceful, understanding that it truly is a mind problem and yes, I actually slept. I loved this book and commend Sasha for writing it and being blunt, it does really work for me and I'll always use it as a reference. I go through bouts where I sleep better some days than others, but its based on how stressed I am about something and if I just can't calm my mind down, obsessive thoughts etc. I just know nothing is forever and if I have a bad night, oh well, wont last forever, nothing in life lasts forever..and if it does, well.. I'll die one day and death doesn't scare me bc its just another transition and it'll probably be better anyway lol (sorry if that's dark for some, but its true, fear is the worst problem and our minds create it). I slept great last night, 10 hours! This past month has been pretty good actually, averaging 7-8 hours a night. I didn't want pills (tried ambien, strongly dislike) or something else because I know that's not the cure. In fact after reading this I was actually more inspired to find out about techniques to calm my mind and looked more into meditation. I highly recommend everyone meditate, all the answers to our problems are truly within our own selves and how we perceive things to be. Meditation calms my mind, I am able to focus better, and let go of more obsessive thoughts, enjoy things more. I don't worry about insomnia, and if it comes I don't obsess about it.Anyway, I highly recommend this book for anyone suffering from this and realize nothing lasts forever, you will sleep good again, meditate, calm yourself and be more positive. In a world of negativity I realize how hard being positive is, but the affects our true and science is finding more about this every day, that each of us do emit vibrations just from thought. Be gentle with yourself and know you'll sleep again. Love an positivity to you!

The author is a receovering insomniac. She has a very rational mind and can cut to the chase in so many areas. In oarticular I found her idea that there is no "insomnia" very appealing. We simply may have had a collection of behavioral and attitudinal maladjustments which contributed to sleeping difficulties. Clear those up, and this includes labeling yourself or your sleep negatively or irrationally (based on fear and even pride) and confident sleep can return. Thank you very much Sasha, for making it your mission to help us who follow behind you, learning from your years of difficulty, and ultimate acceptance of some key realizations, that we can master our minds as you have!

The most powerful thing about this book is that it's written by a recovered insomniac. The advice is pretty much what most long term insomniacs have already heard, however, it's presented in a different and in my opinion, a more effective way. Most long term insomniacs will find Sasha Stephens compassionate, if somewhat cranky approach for sleep advice, easier to digest than advice from sleep specialists.

My first night after reading this book was a beautiful night of sleep and that alone is worth the price of this book!

I had no idea other people had this problem. thank you Sasha for all your writing. You have nailed it.

Far from effortless, the journey to the sleep method of which I thought this flimsy confection of a book was all about, is arduous. One-hundred-and-ten pages in, after lengthy outlines of what doesn’t work e.g. laptops, pills and trying too hard, all interspersed with an abundance of bright white spacing (some might say filler), we finally get to sixty-eight pages of ‘the cure’.The cure turns out to be advice such as ‘replacing negative sleep talk with positive statements’ and ‘discover a relaxation technique that works for you’, all of which will no doubt be of help to some. The book’s cover description of it as an ‘incredible new cure for insomnia’, however, is something of a stretch.The UK’s NHS website offers much the same if not better insomnia-beating information, presented more succinctly in a mere two-thousand words, rather than an over-stuffed book, and with a very helpful audio link. Check out its Moodzone for more. This book may well be helpful to some but it’s not ‘the incredible new cure’ it purports to be on the cover.