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Chad experienced some sleepless nights during a stressful period at work but his sleep started to get back on track — until one completely sleepless night created an avalanche of anxiety and insomnia.

This led Chad to develop an obsession with sleep. He would go to bed earlier to try to catch up on sleep, try to take naps, and he withdrew from activities that added meaning and enrichment to his life in an attempt to protect his sleep.

Fortunately, Chad discovered that it was his obsession with sleep and the changes he had made in response to difficult nights that were giving insomnia the oxygen it needed to survive.

So, he started to undo all those changes. He started to spend less time in bed and a sense of sleepiness returned. He started to live his life without allowing insomnia to control his decisions, plans, or activities — and this improved the quality of his days and helped him realize just how capable he can be, even after nights of little or no sleep.

By abandoning all efforts to create or control sleep and by living his life according to his values, regardless of how he slept, Chad was able to shift attention away from sleep, create better conditions for sleep to happen, and put his insomnia behind him.

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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:
Hi, Chad. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to come onto the podcast.

Chad Mullin:
Hey, Martin. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be with you today.

Martin Reed:
It's great to have you on and I'm really looking forward to our conversation and I always to get started right at the beginning, so let's start there for you. Can you tell us when your sleep problems first began and what you think caused those initial issues with sleep?

Chad Mullin:
Yeah, sure. I would say that my sleep issues began about 16 months ago, I guess. It was September of 2019, and things at work had gotten pretty stressful, there was some toxic environment issues going on, which I'm sure is pretty common for folks that deal with insomnia, and I had to have a very difficult conversation with somebody at work. And before that conversation, I was pretty anxious. I knew I was going to have, but a couple of days in advance. And so the night of that, before that conversation, I didn't sleep very well at all, maybe a couple of hours. Now this was a couple of months before I actually felt I had insomnia. And so I had the conversation, the sleep issues kind of resolved, I noticed sort of the next couple of months, sort of some lingering issues.

Chad Mullin:
I'd have a harder time falling asleep, I'd wake up a little bit earlier. But then there was this one night, September of 2019,