BOOK REVIEW
Nothing to Lose Sleep Over: A Review of Say Goodnight to Insomnia
by Gregg D. Jacobs
Lisa K. Liang
State Court of Fulton County, Hon. Susan Edlein
[email protected]
A 2014 study 1 found that home
health aides and attorneys have
the distinction of being the most
sleep-deprived occupations. We
are familiar with the significant
and disproportionate rate of de-
pression, anxiety, addictions, and
stress-related disorders that affect
nearly 20% of our colleagues 2 . Part
and parcel of those disorders is
insomnia. And whether insomnia
precedes those conditions or is
symptomatic of such depends on
the individual. For me, insomnia
is an old familiar haunt that has
varied in its lengths and depths
of stay. I have cycled through giv-
ing in and staring frustrated into
the night, using prescription or
over-the-counter medications,
being over-caffeinated, and vac-
illating between sleep depriva-
tion and oversleeping. Finally, my
physician recommended I see a
sleep therapist. After scoffing at
the suggestion, I picked up a few
self-study DIY books on insom-
nia. By far, the one that worked
best for me was Say Goodnight
to Insomnia by Gregg Jacobs.
It is a six-week program. While
many of the progressions of the
program seemed too simplistic
and yet burdensome at the same
time (e.g. journaling) and a little
too ¬airy-fairy-new-age-y even for
me, I committed to the process
and around week 4 started to see
some changes (even while failing
to follow the weeks perfectly and
skimming through some of the
more long-winded and repetitive
sections).
The program goes beyond imple-
menting the sleep hygiene mea-
sures that we know: limiting blue
light/screen time for a few hours
before bed, moving your body,
eating healthy, using relaxation
techniques, reducing stress, or try-
ing meditation. There were three
main tenets to the program: (1)
triggering the relaxation response;
(2) sleep restriction/restructuring;
and, (3) cognitive-based therapy
(CBT) skills. Inducing the relax-
ation responses was a difficult
process for me–trying to quiet
the deadlines, clients, opposing
counsel, dueling case law, and my
own perfectionism in my mind.
The book provides concrete struc-
ture and many experiences to try;
I hope you’re able to find some-
things you buy into that work for
you.
if I’m awake in the middle of the
night now, I can fall back asleep
in 15 minutes versus hours.
Finally, the most nebulous yet
most helpful part was the CBT
module which helped to reduce
my frustration, anxiety, and
catastrophizing over insomnia
and sleeplessness. It helped me
to change what the author calls
"negative sleep thoughts" of head-
ing to bed or waking up with pure
panic and dread: I’ll never get back
to sleep, I’ll only get three hours of
sleep and just be miserable tomor-
row, and I’ll never get anything
done. I gained sleep confidence
and more hours of uninterrupted
sleep.
While certainly this book won’t
work for everyone, there are some
concrete more-than-lip-service
techniques that hopefully will help
have less to lose sleep over. Sweet
dreams, lawyers!
▪
1
www.today.com/money/health-
aides-lawyers-are-most-sleep-de-
Next was sleep restriction, which
was horrible at first, but eventu-
ally helped me from waking in the
middle of the ni