Sleep Like a Baby: Myths About Insomnia and Aging

This talk presents information on the definition, epidemiology, and impact of insomnia, while debunking common insomnia misconceptions and presenting available treatment options. Speaker: Donn Posner, PhD, Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University Medical Center

[nicholasjanosy]

This lecture made me sleep well for the first time in years. I will replay it every night for a month.

[tankgojet]

I listen to long lectures or podcast when I sleep to make me go into sleep faster. It works for me. Tonight I found this, it worked even better.

[TerriblePerfection]

I'm 63. There's another way to look at insomnia that some people might benefit from (those for whom it isn't interfering with their daily life). Maybe you only require 5-7 hours, rather than the traditionally recommended 8. Also, if you meditate and/or feel generally peaceful during the day, the need for prolonged sleep drops dramatically. Finally, most people consume too much food, too late. If you stop eating after 6:00 p.m. and don't resume until noon the next day, your body isn't busy digesting food (or what passes for food these days). Medical intervention is rarely the key to good health. In most cases, you need to eliminate something, not add something. These suggestions won't cost you anything though, so no one other than you stands to profit from them.

[saudigold]

May I suggest the following:
•Fast (12+ hours per day)
•Stretch 3x per day
•Strength train 3x per week
•Swim laps
•Ditch canned and boxed food
•Eat fresh greens each day, walnuts, blueberries, citrus, raw honey, green tea, black coffee, baked sweet potatoes, fresh cabbage, fermented foods, fatty fish
•Adequate hydration - water
•Breath through your nose
•Force yourself to smile

[ronkirk]

At age 70, like flipping a switch, I started suffering from insomnia. I'm taking some medication and changed some behaviors and it has helped some, but still wished I could sleep like when I 20 (or 60 for that matter). I don't feel tired during the day, but I'm concerned about how insomnia can affect my brain health.

[zdepav]

Thank you for a wonderful speach. You are awesome

[jdoyle]

I "listen" by ear bud to a soaking prayer video that is so soothing (calming words and video), that I rarely hear the whole 2 hour you tube video.

[mala]

O man I want to go into a deep sleep phase right now, nd i didn’t kno thers numbers wen it comes to sleep, amazing speech to help us fall asleep, tnx doc, listen again wen i want to sleep

[marydiscuillo]

had insomnia for years and took ambien. It was wonderful, no side effects, got 8 straight great hours of sleep. Then my doctor decided he didnt want to prescribe it anymore, and wanted me to try cbt instead. I went in to it very skeptical, and it was a challenging few weeks during the transition. But then low and behold it started working. I was amazed, after about a month and good habits and behaviors i was sleeping 6-8 straight hours! Only trouble was I slacked off when things got better, and fell back into old habits again. So I am back to better sleep habits and correcting bad behavior. (tv before bed, eating and using bed for things other than sleeping, irregular sleep/wake times, etc.) and hope to get back to good sleep again. Short of it, cbt works, just takes behavior changes and hanging in there, I am a believer.

[jenmb]

Since nobody is talking about it, it gives me hope that i can one day specialize in insomnia.and get a job helping others
had it all my life. Im 39 and never gone to college, because i barely passed high school, thanks to insomnia. I was half asleep, and only getting a few hours of sleep a night. So, its like i have been traumatized to go to college

[mahendraperiyadanam]

I have been sleeping on this subject for a long time !
I need to wake up to listen to this !

[cparker]

I do not sleep at all at night. Meaning that it does not take me some time like an hour or so to get to sleep it takes closer to 20 additional hours to get to sleep. I will frequently go a night with no sleep at all and after monitoring this closely I have found out that I need to be awake for up to 30 hours before I am typically able to get to sleep.

[marlamerlina]

I am happy if I can sleep 2 hrs during the night. There are times that i can't sleep even 1 minute for 3 days straight. I am 63 years old but I will not get tired during the day even I have no sleep at all. I am very active, do my exercise and I do a 1 hr dancing, 2 times a week.

[dianemoose]

I never had insomnia till I started Menopause! All my hormones STOPPED and so did sleeping and that’s been 30 years

[victorpan]

Counting numbers helped me a lot to stop endless thinking during bedtime. I start from 1000, minus 7 each time and count down to 6. A lot of time I fall asleep halfway. If I am still awake at the end, I would either repeat or start from 1000 again, but this time minus 9 each time. I found when focusing on counting, I would have no time thinking about anything else that might worry me and affect my sleep.

[Janie-]

What about low adrenals (no stress) which numerous doctors I went to do not recognize? My doctor says nothing when I tell him. A long walk helps about 7 miles a day.

[sodas]

Might also just be metabolic, I was over exercising, under eating and not getting enough carbs which eventually lead to nutritional deficiencies etc (at the time thought I was being healthy)I was putting my body in a constant catabolic state which will cause the body to stay awake and alert, as it is meant to. Think about what you are doing and what messages you are sending to your central nervous system via the way you eat exercise and live...you might be putting your body in survival mode and your body is doing what its meant to be doing.

[Lia-ihqu]

I wish I could've asked him, what happens when: 1) every dr. I talked to went by that old assumption. it's the anxiety and depression causing the insomnia. So now they are both better but still have insomnia, but doctors are ignoring it. 2) I've had CBTI and it didn't work 3) My insurance refuses to pay for an in lab sleep study that does an in depth study, they are still just focusing on sleep apnea issue, which it is not (cpap doesn't help) 4) How do I find a sleep dr. who would look at the whole picture, as he said at my individual circumstances to determine cause of it? It's so frustrating that I'm experiencing several health issues and no one is taking them seriously because they are not investigating which is the cause and which is the effect!? I wish I could join his study or see him somehow!

[dianerogers]

I stay awake all night. Forget 30 minutes...that's nothing. I dozed off yesterday afternoon FOR AN HOUR and now it's morning and I haven't slept again ALL NIGHT.

[rsattahip]

Doctors are great at dismissing complaints of insomnia as drug seeking behavior. Written at 2258 hours.