Rick's insomnia started in 2017 shortly after retirement. He started to wake during the night and would find it hard to fall back to sleep. Before long, he started to feel very anxious every time he woke and began to worry about what the day would be like after each difficult night of sleep.

Rick started to cancel social events, he would try to take naps during the day, he started to change every aspect of his life in a bid to improve his sleep. He also started experimenting with a cocktail of supplements and pills — none of which helped.

Fortunately, Rick discovered evidence-based cognitive and behavioral techniques that changed the way he thought about sleep and helped him implement behaviors that would improve his sleep for the long-term.

Gradually, Rick started to get more sleep without a single sleeping pill or supplement. As his sleep improved, Rick began regaining sleep confidence and that really got the ball rolling!

Today, Rick averages somewhere between seven and seven-and-a-half hours of sleep each night. In this episode, Rick shares all the techniques he implemented to transform his relationship with sleep. Just as Rick was able to improve his sleep, you can too!

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Martin Reed:
Welcome to the Insomnia Coach Podcast. My name is Martin Reed. I believe that nobody needs to live with chronic insomnia and that evidence-based cognitive and behavioral techniques can help you enjoy better sleep for the rest of your life.

Martin Reed:
The content of this podcast is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. The statements and opinions expressed by guests are their own and are not necessarily endorsed by Insomnia Coach LLC. All content is provided "as is" and without warranties, either express or implied.

Martin Reed:
Okay. So Rick, thank you so much for being on the Insomnia Coach Podcast.

Rick McNally:
Well, thank you for having me.

Martin Reed:
So can you start at the beginning for us. When did your sleep problems first begin and do you remember what initially triggered them?

Rick McNally:
Well, they started back in 2017 and it was shortly after I retired. I really didn't seem to think there was much stress going on in my life at that time. I do have a small bit of tinnitus, which I was able to sleep with and I think just retiring and changing my going to bed time and my waking up time had completely changed. I was going to bed like at eight o'clock and getting up at 3:00 in the morning and heading off to work. All of a sudden, I didn't need to go to bed at eight o'clock and I didn't need to get up at three o'clock, but I still went to bed at 8:00 and was probably getting up about 6:00 or 7:00 and didn't realize it as I retired all the things that would come into play. Trying to get health insurance, taking care of financial situations. A lot of things I think, started to build up and I thought, wow, this wasn't a just an easy transition like I thought.

Rick McNally:
All of a sudden I noticed, boy, I'm really having a tough time going to sleep and I was probably spending at least eight or nine hours in bed. Then I thought, well, I'll take a sleeping pill. Then I looked at supplements and I started mixing, coming up with a cocktail of supplements and sleeping pills. I got to the point where I started to think, well,