News of Insomnia Forum

The myth of the eight-hour sleep

In 2001, historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech published a seminal paper, drawn from 16 years of research, revealing a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks.

His book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, published four years later, unearths more than 500 references to a segmented sleeping pattern - in diaries, court records, medical books and literature, from Homer's Odyssey ...

I've been taking sleep formula pills for 7-8 years now. For the past year or so, I've taken them at least once a week.

If I stop taking them, will I go through withdrawal?

I take medication for anxiety and depression, and I've sporadically taken meds for insomnia as well. I've had insomnia ever since I was in ninth grade. I'm approaching my junior year in college, and I still suffer from occasional inability to fall asleep and perpetually shallow, restless sleep. Lately (and this occurs from time to time) I just feel competed empty inside and I simply lack any impetus to sleep. I suspect this is caused ...

Hey everyone! This is a topic I am very interested about, since my boyfriend has had chronic insomnia all his life, and I am trying to understand his condition better and to help him the best I can. It runs in mum's family's side, so his mother and grandmother and aunt have it too. Even when he was a baby, he did not sleep normally. Does anyone have some experience with this they could share? ...

Hi

Im Rob, I am male, 61 years old live in the UK, overweight and work very few hours a week, I walk around 30/60 mins a day , but always doing something in the house etc.

My problem.

I have had sleepless nights for many years, they came and went, I did take something for them many years ago, didnt help, those sleepless nights would just come and go.

Around 18 months ago, maybe ...

Here is my story as concise as I can make it...

I had a business trip and was flying out at 6:15AM Monday morning. I have never been a great sleeper so knew there was no point in trying to fall asleep earlier. I went to sleep at around 11 and woke up at 4 to go to the airport. I slept on the plane flight there for a couple of hours. That evening at ...

Benzodiazepines are addicting as a sleep aid. I have used Ativan and Klonopin.
Melatonin does not seem to be addicting and works for me.
Should I use each one for different reasons? (Particularly in jet lag and bipolar mania)
Which one gives a more restful sleep with fewer side effects?

These twelve rules come from a book that has cured my insomnia. I am not the inventor of this method and I don't want to pass it off as my own, no copyright infringement is intended. The book is called "The effortless sleep method" by Sacha Stephens.
In this article I have made a few changes which I find were important for me to overcome my insomnia. I highly recommend this book, one of the ...

Hey everyone!

I want to help out all my fellow insomniacs and share how I managed to beat this illness. You have to follow these 12 rules for it to work, trust me.

1) no naps: makes you less likely to fall asleep at night

2) go to bed when sleepy not just tired

3) wake up everyday for a week at the same hour: This will help the body to make you tired at ...

I just found this forum and decided to join. I hope I can find some help for my chronic insomnia here. I'm sure my story is familiar, but thank you for giving me the opportunity to share.

I've had chronic insomnia for years. I have not been able to sleep more than 4 hours most nights. There is an occasional but rare night where I can get 5 or maybe even 6 hours, but the ...