You Can Sleep Too!: Put insomnia to bed with the gold-standard method. I did. So can you.

by Joseph Pannell

If you have a drive to sleep and you are not in fight or flight, you will sleep. No exceptions. Understanding sleep drive and fight or flight is the key to transforming your sleep. Want to master both in under 5 minutes? Take a listen to the audio book sample!People with insomnia never feel sleepy, Why?Fixed bedtimes fuel insomniaIt doesn't matter what triggered itInsomnia and sleep deprivation are not the same8 hours of sleep is a complete mythSpending longer in bed makes it worseWarm baths, kiwi fruit, cherries, sleep hygiene... Not exercising late, not eating late, not drinking any alcohol... Having 1001 things you must do, and 1001 you must not do, just causes more anxiety and obsession around sleep. You don't need to do everything perfectly. Good sleepers don't, and they still sleep!But you do need to know about the sleep drive, and how fight or flight can mask it. You need to be shown what behavioural and thought pattern changes you need to do to sleep again. And you need to learn controlThe buffer zoneActive and avoidance sleep effortsThe timeless nightSleep windowsAnd knees poking out in front of an underwhelmed maid...Learn this. And you will relearn how to sleep.I did.And after beating my 20-year insomnia, I trained in sleep medicine so I could help you with yours. In this book, I take you on my journey, and share the gold-standard, evidence-based method, so that You Can Sleep Too!...About the Author...Joseph Pannell has trained in both sleep medicine and behavioural sleep medicine (formally accredited by the Royal College of Physicians). He is the director of SleepZe and works with the Sleep Charity.

Joseph has also worked with some of the largest organisations in Britain, including Network Rail, the Ministry of Justice, NHS Health Education England and the MOD. He regularly speaks on the radio and has been featured in multiple newspapers and magazines.

Check out his article in Authority Magazine by searching for 'Pannell' on medium.com/authority-magazine."

Genres: Health

191 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 13, 2021

Reviews

[Audrey Lynx · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had severe chronic insomnia for 15 years. Along with C-PTSD, depression, and anxiety, which is all my therapists, psychiatrists, and doctors would ever treat, always promising the insomnia would resolve when I got my other diagnoses under control. But how do you resolve trauma when every single night is retraumatizing? This sounds so dramatizing but no one who hasn’t suffered from chronic insomnia could ever understand how far from “dramatic” my statement is.

Pannell is the only sleep advice expert that I have ever read or listened to that actually truly understands insomnia: the anxiety ABOUT sleep that no provider seems to get, the way it controls your life, every minute of the day becoming obsessive ritual to attempt to unlock the right code to sleeping, the true hell that life becomes. Every piece of advice any other provider has ever given me has only fed the insomnia and anxiety and attempts to control. They should all be in jail (not really but I do wish them a few years of the same fate). I am not exaggerating when I say that years of “true” Trauma did not break me the way insomnia did. No abuse or assault gave me the suicidal fantasies that insomnia did. No Traumatic event in my life made me hate everything about myself and lose any trust in my body or mind the way chronic insomnia has. No Trauma made me wish to be anyone else except me the way sleep anxiety did. I thought my insomnia must be so much worse, so much different and more deeply rooted in who I am than it was for others if no sleep advice seemed to work for me. My therapists want to rehash all my Trauma and process it and tell me everything from relaxation techniques to hula hooping would cure me (if I did it right, often enough, and stood on one foot, hopped around, and said a prayer while crossing my fingers). I berated myself for not being able to meditate well enough, that I must be doing relaxation techniques wrong, that my anxious brain must be seriously so damaged and deranged as to override its need to sleep on such a consistent pathological basis. When Pannell disparaged sleep hygiene and relaxation techniques and all the rituals we create trying to do everything perfectly in order to get sleep, I could have kissed him.

I have only begun to implement these techniques and was going to wait to write my review after I’ve been “cured,” but this book has instilled such confidence (for the first time in 15 years) in my ability to implement these techniques and that they’ll work, that I don’t even need to wait for them to work before writing this. That’s a miracle by itself. I have hope for the first time. That’s everything.

Additionally, the author’s use of humor is brilliant and so validating in a way I never thought possible, and I am honestly in awe of him. I’ve read other CBT-I books and half-heartedly tried the techniques that I quickly determined were only making the problem worse for me (because my insomnia was different, worse, and incurable, of course). He has given me a kind of hope and promise that I never thought I’d ever have. I am so grateful for this wonderful, wonderful man. At the very least I know for the first time I’m not alone and someone (finally someone) truly understands.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone who understands!

I could have written this book...I had nearly exactly the same experiences with trying to sleep. Except! I had one up on him...I contacted a medium to talk to my dead mother, to resolve any issues we had in the hopes I could sleep after that. Nope!

CBT-I isn't a new concept, but I kind of ignored trying it because I thought for sure it would be another thing I failed at. This book helped me understand how it works, and how my own behaviors and thinking have contributed to the problem. In addition, I now feel like less of a freak because someone out there had the same problems as I did.

I plan to put into practice what I read in the book and have high hopes for myself for the first time.

[Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would highly recommend reading this book during though insomniac times, specially when you can't sleep. It can help you find comfort and remind you that you are ok. I've suffered from insomnia for a couple of years now. I also took some classes at a health provider and most of the topics and plans that the author mentions in his book are similar, if not the same, to what I learned in those classes. When I took the classes I was skeptical about the strategies and plans that they give out. My skepticism changed after reading this book and seeing how the author writes about his experience, his thoughts, and what he went through. It made me realize that the material is legit and it is import to be mindful of our relationship with sleep. It's similar to anxiety problems in a way.

My insomnia began after experiencing anxiety due to brutal stress and burn out for years. Not taking care of my mental health and just focusing on and worrying about work and fixing my family problems, putting a lot of pressure on myself. I've been through though times where my anxiety really ignites my insomnia and the lack of sleep makes it worse. It's a vicious cycle but reading this book gave me comfort and quickly reminded me of what I should be focusing on. Sometimes we slip away and forget, get caught in our crazy thoughts and bad habits. Reading this book when you can't sleep will bring you back.

I would also recommend looking into the worksheets and materials in more detail. It will help you follow a plan to improve your sleep.

[Dan Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, entertaining read, with advice that seems almost too straightforward, but which will need some
shift in mindset to implement. Will post on progress in implementing.

[Elizabeth Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you or someone you love has any sort of insomnia, get thee to Amazon and buy this book. This guy completely GETS IT.

I've had chronic insomnia, not caused by anything discernible, for over 20 years. It started sometime in high school and never really went away. And I could totally have written this with the author... like he was peeking into my life as he described his own symptoms and ways of thinking about sleep. Thankfully, I've done TONS of research over the years, so I had already discovered some of the things he shared. But I still marked up the book like crazy, because it was just so relatable and relevant!

It felt like I was reading a conversation with a good friend. He's funny, transparent, and relatable. Because he went through 20 years of his own stubborn insomnia, and then went in to do academic research into, he has a ton of wisdom to share. He has authority and experience behind his suggestions, but he shares them all in a completely natural, normal progression. Kind of like talking to a friend who's "been there" already.

I love that he wasn't an advocate of adhering rigidly to a list of do's and dont's. Yes, there are some hard habits to break, and that takes lots of discipline and consistency. But most books about insomnia and CBT-I tend to focus on AVOIDING things and adhering to very rigid, impractical rules... and in my experience, that just ends up getting stressful and frustrating. And makes your relationship with sleep even worse.

I have a pretty good relationship with sleep these days, even when I go on meds (for my chronic illness) that cause a lot of sleepless nights. So I borrowed this from the library, mostly out of curiosity, hoping to pick up a few pointers and learn a little more about CBT-I. What I found was worth buying the book myself and marking it as a top recommendation on my resource shelf!

[Anna Contreras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es brutal la manera en que Joseph explica el insomnio y como toda la ayuda profesional que recibes esta enfocada de una manera que no puede acabar en otro sitio que en la obsesión. La terapia y toda la ayuda profesional que recibí me ayudó, pero no me ayudó con el insomnio. Ha sido una suerte encontrarme con este libro, me ha permitido aceptar y desmontar ideas, que ya eran lo único que no me dejaba descansar.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

not me reading these books as a direct cry for help…anyway this book was actually very helpful and this guy legit had me laughing despite the despair that is sleeping poorly for the 5th night in a row. he gives me hope and i will definitely return to this in the future if i need more comfort/reassurance that this too will pass

[roz witney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Great book - I have done CBT-I before, and it works! But I needed a quick refresher and this was perfect. Sound advice and thankfully no mention of 'sleep hygiene'!

[Jordyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book

This book just described my behaviors and obsessions to a T. I'm looking forward to starting this process of changing the way I view sleep, that it's not impossible.

[Roxannelou Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information for Insomniacs.