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

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Restful Insomnia by Sondra Kornblatt
Red Wheel/Weiser Books, 2010

Review by Debra Louise Scott

Sondra Kornblatt presents a surprisingly readable Self-Help book for chronic insomniacs. I usually have a hard time with the Self-Help genre, as they tend to make me feel frustrated or guilty, or else take me into areas I really-don't-want-to-deal-with-right-now. Sondra avoids the usual self-examination scenarios and goes gently to addressing the actual issue of what to do when sleep is elusive.

Restful Insomnia is geared to the person who understands the body's relationship to energic forces from within and without. If the sentence, "...try having a dialogue between your body and your Conscious Mind." makes you roll your eyes, you probably won't get much out of it. However, if you are someone who meditates, does Yoga, works in esoteric realms, or utilizes alternative healing therapies, the exercises will make a lot of sense. Some passages remind me of the work of Carolyn Myss, [...]
so I was surprised to not find her listed in the Bibliography.

A subtler technique runs throughout the book that I very much appreciated. Those of us who suffer from chronic insomnia are often afflicted with short attention spans and /or impaired reading comprehension. She introduces a complex idea along with another simpler idea, the simpler idea is explained, and the other simply referred to in passing. The next section will reinforce the simpler idea and expound more on the the complex one and mention a third idea briefly. She continues this introduction and reinforcement in small sections so that by the time you get to the complex concepts, they feel more like old friends than another mind-boggling exercise. The method played well into my tendency to read these types of books in small sections rather than straight through.

Because the focus is on learning to feel rested, rather than curing the insomnia, there is no sense of frustration about progress or lack thereof. It is about learning to become friends with your body the way it is, not the way the sleeping pill commercials tell you it should be. The subtitle of the book is "How to get the benefits of sleep even when you can't". While this may be a bit overstated, it does tell you that there is an alternative to stressing over the clock ticking away, and obsessively counting the hours that you actually did sleep as a measurement of how the subsequent day is going to turn out.

...I've only finished the first few chapters. Funny too, at least if you have much experience as an insomniac. I can really relate to all the failed methods mentioned.

Her discussion of the conscious and unconscious mind was really eye-opening for me; we're not talking Freud here. What it boils down to is not heeding/acting on every "urgent" thought from the planning, organizing part of our brains when it's time for sleep. She gives lots of good tips on how to do that.

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!

I was given this book to read by someone who knows I suffer with insomnia. My cynical knee jerk reaction was............ Oh yea, another book on sleep hygiene, herbal remedies and how to count sheep. But what the heck, I'll give it a survey. After getting through the first few chapters I realized I was wrong having found a practical and fresh approach to dealing with insomnia.

Author Sondra Kornblatt is an experienced writer in the areas of health, science, parenting, and spirituality. She is a life coach and leads workshops and lectures on Restful Insomnia and related topics. Back in 2000, after going through a bought of chronic insomnia she developed various techniques to help quiet her mind and give her body some rejuvenation when she just could not sleep. This book lays out these strategies and techniques in a well presented, easy reading and sometimes humorous format.

The three core points I like about the book are as follows:

1. . It all works together to help you reframe mentally, emotionally and physically how to deal with not sleeping. If for whatever reasons you just can't sleep, accept it and make the best of it. It is a letting go of your old coping responses. I see it as a type of damage control so you can still feel better rested by morning relative to how you would feel dealing with it in your old ways.
2. Many of the ideas and techniques don't cost anything or much at all and have no side effects. You can't say that about Ambien, or Seraquil.
3. Kornblatt is not only the teacher but also the patient and guinea pig. She has leveraged her past experience/knowledge in spirituality, yoga, meditation, acupressure, psychotherapy and other personal work. She has tried these ideas out on herself. She is the proverbial cook eating her own cooking

The book has a strong mind/body approach but it does touch upon many commonly known sleep hygiene tips, like don't watch TV before bed. It would not be very complete if it didn't.

This is a very good self help book for the insomniac and for a health care practitioner wishing to learn some strategies and techniques they did not learn at the University. It touches upon established techniques like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT: [...]), and the Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT: [...]). Kornblatt gives the reader enough information to try it out. If the reader wants to learn more, websites and names are often provided for seeking more detailed information. Some of the techniques that she has fine tuned and defined with her own terminology are clearly explained such as Night Yoga or Wisdom Writing.

Overall it is a very good book and I am starting to use the TAT technique along with some visualization and breathe work. I highly recommend it to anyone with an open mind who suffers with insomnia.

I have suffered from insomnia since November, 2005. I will most likely be healed by the time I finish this incredible book. The writer is an insomniac and health and science writer. Let me be short on words here because it is my bedtime. I wholeheartedly believe that this easy to read, sometimes funny, always clear and true book will help each reader sleep better and sleep more. It will also help them come to hold their sleep disorder in a positive light. That in itself may seem incredible to you. Give this book a chance and it will change your life as it is changing mine. Thank God for the answered prayer that Sondra Kornblatt has given us. Extraordinary! (you can add it to your cart now already! ;-D)Restful Insomnia: How to Get the Benefits of Sleep Even When You Can't

Sondra's witty and insightful tips combined with proven facts work together to create a plan for discovering the joys of sleep or at least rest again. I found comfort in knowing somebody else is or has suffered the same tortures of insomnia; then I found solutions to help me begin to take control of my nights again or maybe let go of the need to have control. Either way, most nights I sleep thanks to this book. The other nights I find myself calmer and more at ease with my insomnia. Thank You Sondra!!!

Sleep, as good as it is, is not so easily acquired. "Restful Insomnia: How to Get the Benefits of Sleep Even When You Can't" is a collection of tips for fighting the insomnia that affects many Americans. Rest and sleep are not synonyms, writes Sondra Kornblatt, as she states various techniques to make sure one has the energy for the events ahead when sleep is simply not on the menu. Warning against drugs, "Restful Insomnia" is a choice acquisition for when someone has to settle for the next best thing.

A personal, realistic and non-threatening approach to dealing with sleep deprivation, Restful Insomnia is beneficial for every reader--not just those who suffer from the condition. Sondra Kornblatt reveals her own troubles with insomnia and accounts her journey from frustrating sleepless nights to finally being being able to mimic the benefits of sleep through techniques such as Night Yoga and Wisdom Writing. Sondra also mentions some examples of clients whom she coached with her revolutionary program and how her techniques worked for them.

But besides all the sleep talk, Restful Insomnia is just darn entertaining. Sondra's conversational, and at times, comical tone is unexpected for a non-fiction book that tackles such a troubling subject--but it's refreshing and it works. I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for an alternative solution to this important problem that affects so many.