Restful Insomnia: How to Get the Benefits of Sleep Even When You Can't

By Sondra Kornblatt and Teresa E. Jacobs

Insomnia has meant nights of frustration—until now. A new program, Restful Insomnia, helps insomniacs mimic the benefits of sleep so they can greet the mornings refreshed. If you are among the 70 million sleep-deprived Americans who do battle every night, take heart! This book will show you how to use your waking night hours to quiet your mind, replenish your creativity, and relax deeply. You'll come to accept your insomnia and discover how to derive enough of the benefits of sleep to be able to get up in the morning feeling refreshed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
• Release date: Jan 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781609250959

Sondra Kornblatt

Sondra Kornblatt is a health and science writer with special interest in wellness, spirituality, and parenting. She originated the Restful Insomnia program, which helps people rest when they can't sleep (www.RestfulInsomnia.com). She and her family live in the Pacific Northwest.

Reviews for Restful Insomnia

[phoenix333_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a very useful, engaging read. Suffering from chronic insomnia myself, scoring this book was a nice snag. The techniques and exercises listed within are clear and easy to follow, truly helping to take the immense frustration out of not being able to sleep. Well worth reading for those who are chronically awake and those who only suffer the occasional bout of insomnia.

[pardamustang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have been a chronic insomniac for about 7 years now. This book had many wonderful, useful suggestions for making insomnia less frustrating (which it most certainly is!). Using the exercises and techniques in the book, I managed to find rest even when I didn't find sleep, which was a godsend as half the frustration is not being 'asleep' when you feel you are 'supposed' to be asleep. My favorite was building a Night Nest. Wonderful, wonderful book!

[pjjackson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I just spent all night in a state of "restless wakefulness." got up and ate a piece of toast, watched some tv, finally drifted off at around 6 am this morning and woke up at 8am feeling like a zombie. This was after reading "Restful Insomnia". There are many helpful hints, most of which I have tried before. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. The directions for the 'hip opening' exercizes frustrated the heck out of me. The book seemed to me to be a compilation of magazine articles stretched out into a book. It could have been half the size.

[lcb48_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great suggestions for taking the stress out of insomnia, since stress only contributes to insomnia. An easy and enjoyable read. You can hunt and peck for solutions that might work for you. The idea is to be rested enough to function the next day, even if you don't sleep. The hope is to stop worrying about not sleep and then sleep.

[lekaza_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I run groups in a program for people that are dually diagnosed with a mental illness and chemical addiction so I’m always on the look out for new material.Many of the people have sleep disorders so I was pleased to get this book. This book was filled with great tips and facts that were easily understandable on all levels once I waded through all the extra Fluff. I use a lot of work books and while this isn't laid out as well as many the Information is provided to help create a plan for if not sleeping through the night at least resting. The book offers solutions to help begin to take control of your nights.

[drsyko_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For the most part I liked this book. I have read a lot about insomnia since I have suffered from it myself for many years, and this book did offer some new and interesting tips for dealing with it. It provides a new frame of reference for thinking about sleep and insomnia. What I found frustrating is that the organization of the book is difficult to follow. In the beginning chapters there are many references to later chapters, which was annoying. It seems that the book should have been organized so that the chapters are not constantly referencing things the reader hasn't read yet. The other problem is that several of the techniques are not fully explained and the reader is told to read other resources. It would make more sense to have more fully explained the techniques so the reader didn't have to read yet another book to truly understand the techniques. Other than these issues, I think the book could be quite helpful to people who have trouble sleeping. Even if you've read a lot of other books on sleep, it's likely you'll find some new things here.

[journeys_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a long-time insomniac, I was skeptical that this book could add anything new to the suggestions I've gotten over the years from dozens of magazine articles, TV talk shows, and medical advice columns. I was pleasantly surprised. For me, the most important piece of advice in this book was merely re-framing the way I think about not sleeping. I no longer lie in bed stressing about how tired I'm going to be, but can relax.