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Insomnia Coach® Podcast

Insomnia Coach® Podcast

By: Martin Reed MEd NBC-HWC CCSH CHES®
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Insomnia help and real success stories from people who got their lives back from insomnia Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences
Episodes
  • How Lu went from dreading the night to trusting herself by making space for anxiety and practicing kind self-talk (#81)

    How Lu went from dreading the night to trusting herself by making space for anxiety and practicing kind self-talk (#81)
    Jun 11 2026
    Lu spent most of her life as a great sleeper. Then, six weeks after having her first baby, a painful mix of pressure, anxiety, and one sleepless night made sleep feel difficult for the first time. Over the years, insomnia came and went. Medication helped her through some difficult periods, but Lu still felt stuck and afraid of the part of herself that struggled at night. In this episode, Lu shares how self-compassion, a more workable response to wakefulness, and adding meaningful actions back into her days helped her build trust in herself again — and allowed her to emerge from the insomnia struggle as a stronger, more confident, and more resilient person. Are you ready to get your life back from insomnia? Learn more about my sleep coaching programs at insomniacoach.com
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • How Casaundra went from struggling to control sleep to feeling human again by making life bigger than insomnia (#80)

    How Casaundra went from struggling to control sleep to feeling human again by making life bigger than insomnia (#80)
    May 18 2026
    Casaundra’s insomnia first showed up in college. From then on, it would come and go during periods of stress. After getting married, insomnia showed up and this time it didn’t go away. Before long, Casaundra would notice a feeling of anxiety as soon as her head hit the pillow. Nights started to feel like a battle. In an effort to fix her sleep, Casaundra tried blackout curtains, headphones, melatonin, medication, no screens, less water, strict routines, and even six kiwis before bed. The more she tried to control sleep, the more sleep seemed to control her life. In this episode, Casaundra shares how things changed when she started making life bigger than insomnia. As sleep got less attention, her evenings opened up. Her days opened up. She reclaimed her identity — and sleep took care of itself. Click here for a full transcript of this episode. Transcript Martin: Welcome to the Insomnia Coach Podcast. My name is Martin Reed. I believe that by changing how we respond to insomnia and all the difficult thoughts and feelings that come with it, we can move away from struggling with insomnia and toward living the life we want to live. Martin: 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: ​Okay, Casaundra, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to come onto the podcast. Casaundra: Thank you for having me. I’m super excited. Martin: Great to have you on. Let’s start right at the beginning as always. When did your sleep problems first begin, and what do you think caused those initial issues with sleep? Casaundra: Yeah, it’s been a long journey. I feel like, you know, as a kid I slept fine for the most part, but then you get to college and I think my like first bout of insomnia was probably like stress induced, it was like I was TAing for a class, I was training for a marathon. I was trying to keep really high grades and, and doing all these things. Casaundra: I’m like, I think I was just at the max and like it was just leading to me not being able to sleep because I was about all these things and all these projects and things to do. And so I think the stress kind of built and then that just started this like evolving journey of cycles of insomnia. Casaundra: So it would like come in different waves. Right. I remember leading my first team at work and. Going into another insomnia cycle. And that was like the first time I ever was put on Trazodone. then, you know, it went away. I think it would kind of ebb and flow, right? Like, oh, I, I would figure it out and it would go back to normal and then it would come back. but I had some really big life changes in like 20 22, 20 23. my, my grandmother who had raised me, had, had died. I had a relationship end that I’ve been in for years. And from all that I was also moving back to my home state, Ohio. And so you cram all of those things into a month and any normal person would probably struggle with sleep, but to me it wasn’t normal. Kind of put me into like this really bad insomnia cycle, right? And so I went back on Trazodone and it was like a year on Trazodone, which is a really long time to be on something like that. Then I finally like, we, we probably can talk more about how that went and what happened in it, but it kind of resolved a little bit. Casaundra: And then I married and I just went into like the hardest cycle of insomnia. And you know, for me it was like we didn’t live together before marriage. And so like having a person in my bed after I had just gotten my sleep, what felt like back on track was really like stressful to my body, I think. And it just was like, he could sleep anything all night long from like 8:00 PM on. And I was like trying to go to bed with him and like, you know, be married and, you know. Not stay up alone. And it just led to me trying even harder to sleep. And so those are, I think it’s been an ongoing thing, but those are kind of the most recent things. Martin: So there were these ups and downs. Maybe then you either adapted or you pulled back a little bit and then sleep had the chance to get back on track. Martin: But it felt like as time went on, when the sleep disruption showed up, it kind of morphed into its own thing. Like it didn’t respond quite as well to the changes that you made, the, the adaptions that you made, the efforts that you made to get things back on track. And ...
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    57 mins
  • How Farrukh went from trying to fix sleep and putting his life on hold to enjoying his days and letting sleep take care of itself (#79)

    How Farrukh went from trying to fix sleep and putting his life on hold to enjoying his days and letting sleep take care of itself (#79)
    Apr 6 2026
    Today, I’m talking with Farrukh — someone whose experience with insomnia slowly began to take over more and more of his life. At first, sleep wasn’t something he thought much about. It was just there. Something that happened naturally. But over time, that started to change. Nights became more unpredictable. Sleep felt less certain — and it began to consume his attention. He started noticing how he slept. Then thinking about how he slept. Then worrying about how he might sleep. And from there, things escalated. Nights became something to prepare for. Something to manage. Something to try and get right. He began experimenting with different routines, adjusting his environment, and doing everything he could to improve his sleep. Everything he did was understandable. But instead of making things easier, the ongoing effort put more of his time and energy into sleep. It became something he had to figure out — something he had to fix. And that pressure started to spread beyond the night. Sleep was no longer just part of his life. It was starting to shape it. In this conversation, Farrukh shares what began to change when he stepped away from that constant effort and started bringing his focus back to living his life. He talks about what that looked like for him and how that change in direction freed him from an ongoing struggle and got him to a place where sleep is no longer a big deal at all. Click here for a full transcript of this episode. Transcript Martin: Welcome to the Insomnia Coach Podcast. My name is Martin Reed. I believe that by changing how we respond to insomnia and all the difficult thoughts and feelings that come with it, we can move away from struggling with insomnia and toward living the life we want to live. Martin: 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: Okay. Farrukh, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to come onto the podcast. Farrukh: Thank you. Hi to you and hi to everybody i’m really excited to be here and I look forward to this conversation. Martin: It’s great to have you on. Let’s just dive in and get started right at the beginning. When did your sleep problems first begin and what do you feel caused those initial issues with sleep? Farrukh: The sleep issues, initially began with some other things happening in my life that I was a bit stressed about, that I was a bit worried about, and that worry creeping into sleep initially. Farrukh: But after it creeped into sleep for one night, two nights, three nights, then the worry started attaching to sleep in itself. It almost felt like I’ve lost the ability to fall asleep and then it started to become a huge problem. Martin: So at first there was some worries or some stresses going on in your life and when you noticed some sleep disruption, at first it felt, okay, this makes sense why I am struggling with sleep a little bit because I’ve got all these worries going on right now. Martin: But then as the sleep disruption continued over multiple nights, the worries then became more about sleep than whatever might have first triggered the actual sleep disruption itself. Farrukh: Exactly. I think after your brain sees multiple experiences of it happening, then it becomes a loop. And then you feel like there’s no way out. And I’ve lost the ability to fall asleep. And you ask the people, you ask your friends, you ask your father, you ask your mom, you ask your friends or whatever. Farrukh: Because they have not experienced it. Because they have not faced it. For the most people, I would say. Like they would say things like, no, probably you were not that really tired. Or, and people say, try to fall asleep, right? So get into bed and try to fall asleep. Do your best to fall asleep and you will. Farrukh: And then you try those things and they don’t work. And you feel like, why can they sleep well? And why can’t I sleep well? And it has been a month, it has been two months. And then you worry about your sleep and then you worry about that, oh, I’m not being able to fall asleep now I can’t do my work now I can’t exercise now I can’t earn money now I can’t study. Farrukh: So then a loop starts over because now you’re worried about if I don’t sleep well, what would happen? And your mind started, starts attaching to that. And then the more you try to fall asleep so that you ...
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    55 mins
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