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Welcome to Former Insomniac with Ivo H.K., founder at End Insomnia. After suffering from insomnia for 5 brutal years and trying "everything" to fix it, I developed a new approach targeting the root cause of insomnia: sleep anxiety (or the fear of sleeplessness). In this podcast, I talk about the End Insomnia System and I share tips, learnings, and insights from overcoming insomnia and tell the stories of people who did so you can apply the principles to end insomnia for good, too.
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I recently watched Matthew Walker (presumably the “face” of “sleep” worldwide) on Andrew Huberman’s latest podcast episode. He was talking about how he treats his clients with CBT-i, which got me thinking: Did Matthew ever have hardcore chronic insomnia? I doubt it. — Whenever you’re ready to end insomnia without pills, CBT-i, or nighttime rituals,…
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To truly find peace at night, it is important to address not just one aspect of your nighttime routine but your overall anxiety about sleep and its daytime consequences. If you are overly worried about what might happen without sleep, your journey toward accepting wakefulness during the night will be much more challenging. Integrating strategies to…
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When you find yourself wide awake at night when you’d rather be sleeping, some things can make the problem worse. But there are also things you can do to make it better, both right now and to help you beat not being able to sleep in the long run. Today you will learn three helpful options for responding to unwanted wakefulness at night. None of the…
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Ever wondered what to "do" before bedtime? Inside the End Insomnia Program, we recommend some activities to help transition you into a sleep-ready state. -- Whenever you're ready to end insomnia guaranteed without pills, CBT-i, or nighttime rituals, book a call to discuss your situation and see if we can help (risk-free).…
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A critical initial step in overcoming insomnia involves increasing the Sleep Starting Force. It has two elements: your sleep drive and circadian rhythm. Today we discuss the "sleep window," a structured approach to managing your sleep time. While the idea of a sleep window might seem familiar, our approach contrasts significantly with other insomni…
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Why find support fixing your insomnia in the first place? Yes, you can go at it alone. But many find their journey through insomnia is easier, faster, and less lonely with someone in their corner to cheer them on. Having someone you can turn to for encouragement or help you think through what to do next is a huge relief if you’ve been trying to fig…
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Yes, having insomnia makes life a lot harder. It can easily become a central obsession, but it’s important to recognize that sleep issues are not responsible for every difficulty in your life. -- Ready to end insomnia for good without pills, supplements, or CBT-i? If so, book a call with me here to discuss your situation, and let us help you be a g…
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Changing your mindset about insomnia can be a game-changer. Imagine looking at those tough, sleepless nights as golden chances to better your sleep game in the long haul. It's like flipping the script from dread to opportunity. -- Ready to end insomnia for good without pills, supplements, or CBT-i? If so, book a call with me here to discuss your si…
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To end insomnia for good, there are key mindset shifts you need to embrace to leave your "insomniac life" behind. Listen to this episode to learn about 7 mindset shifts to help you get closer to being a "normal" sleeper again. -- Ready to end insomnia for good without pills, supplements, or CBT-i? If so, book a call with me here to discuss your s…
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Waking up tired and dragging yourself through the day, dreading another sleepless night, is tough. It's all too easy to start avoiding the things you love because you're just too wiped out. People often end up making big changes in their lives because of insomnia, like: Stepping back from hanging out with friends and family Skipping out on trips Cu…
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Today, I want to discuss how you can transform your nighttime experience from one of restlessness and anxiety to one of calm and acceptance. This isn't about quick fixes; it's about changing your relationship with sleep and how you handle the nights when sleep seems like a distant dream. --- Whenever you're ready to end insomnia (guaranteed) withou…
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You've probably envied someone who can sleep easily: They just hit the pillow, let their thoughts drift, and they're asleep. But if you're struggling with being unable to sleep, it's a different story. Nights can make you more anxious and worried, making it tough to relax and wait for sleep. You might start stressing about not being able to sleep, …
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Although there is no guarantee that a wind down will help you sleep on any individual night, maintaining a wind-down routine over time helps set the stage for more easeful entry into sleep. It's like easing off the gas pedal after a busy day so you can coast smoothly into sleep. Grab something you love doing just for fun in that hour before you hit…
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Have you ever tried really hard to fall asleep and just ended up tossing and turning? I get it; we've all been there. Trying to force sleep is like holding onto a handful of sand – the harder you squeeze, the less you have. It's a tricky thing, sleep. You can't just grab it by the collar and drag it into bed. So, why does sleep seem "hard"? Here's …
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Only two forces control your sleep. The sleep-starting force and the sleep-stopping force. Understanding these will be your first step towards peaceful nights. The Dynamics of Sleep Imagine sleep as a gentle river guided by two natural forces in your body. These aren't complex scientific concepts but rather simple, everyday workings of your body th…
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Insomnia, at its core, is rooted in anxiety. It's not a physical condition like heart disease or cancer but rather a psychological one. Recognizing insomnia's psychological basis opens the door to overcoming it through a psychological transformation. Sleep anxiety and hyperarousal contribute to ongoing insomnia. They lead to "Unhelpfuls" like: Unhe…
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People with insomnia work very hard to not be people with insomnia. By the time someone comes across the End Insomnia System, they generally feel they have tried everything. People with insomnia are exhausted—but they certainly aren’t lazy. The time, effort, and money they have spent are often astonishing. Today, I want to dive deeper into the scie…
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Today, I wanted to address common concerns people have when following the End Insomnia System, the system I and 100s of others have used to recover from insomnia. But first… The system isn’t for you if you are looking for a “quick fix” to insomnia or if you need sleep apnea treatment. Now let’s talk about some reasons you might think the system is …
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When we have insomnia, we often try many things to sleep better, spending time, energy, and money on different quick fixes and methods we hear should work. When these methods don't work, it can make us feel hopeless, thinking we might never get rid of insomnia. We might then try even harder to sleep, but this only makes us worry more about our inso…
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Today, we will discuss things people do before bedtime to “help” them sleep. You might have tried different activities to relax before bed to fall asleep easier. These activities could be taking a bath or shower at a certain time, drinking herbal tea, smelling lavender oil, or using relaxation techniques to calm down. But if you are worried about n…
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When I had insomnia, I used to go to bed early, sleep in late to try to catch up, and also take long naps during the day. I also used to go to bed at a different time each night and wake up whenever I “felt like it”. While these “strategies” offer limited short-term relief, they all interfered with my body’s biological sleep drive and natural circa…
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When we feel trapped, miserable, and desperately want to escape the prospect of having insomnia forever, we often try to take matters into our own hands to make ourselves sleep. When faced with such a frightening and awful experience, the most natural thing is to look for some way to get power over our situation and regain control as soon as possib…
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While overcoming insomnia always has ups and downs, I wanted to share the phases that people who use the End Insomnia System, including myself, went through to better sleep so you can see what the recovery journey looks like. We call this the Path to Sleep - there may be times when you go back and forth between phases or might identify with being i…
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Understanding how sleep works can provide a lot of hope and relief because you’ll see that you don’t need to do so much to make sleep happen. You just mainly need to work to reduce the factors that stop sleep from happening. So, how does sleep work? It’s actually pretty simple. There are only two factors that create sleepiness and allow you to fall…
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A good definition of insomnia is “high anxiety and reactivity regarding not sleeping, which in turn inhibits or interrupts normal sleep.” Although insomnia-related distress can be felt in the body, insomnia doesn’t start in the body, it starts in the mind. Insomnia is not a condition the way heart disease or cancer is a condition. This doesn’t mean…
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How does insomnia occur? First, you have certain risk factors. Next, there is an event that triggers an initial episode of insomnia. After a stressor passes or a person adjusts to the change, short-term sleep issues usually go away on their own. However, for some, insomnia becomes long-lasting. Why? It ultimately comes down to anxiety and the assoc…
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You might hear that you are harming yourself and sabotaging your full human potential unless you sleep eight hours. My worry of not getting 8 hours of sleep would lead to more sleep-related anxiety and sleep difficulty. The problem is that we are bombarded with the same information everywhere: "You must get 8 hours of sleep or else..." 37 Million I…
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To get control over the process of getting to sleep and staying asleep, we try all sorts of strategies like supplements, bedtime teas, relaxation rituals, sleep hygiene, pills, and more. We call these Sleep Efforts, and our aim to control our sleep on a night-to-night basis with Sleep Efforts ends up backfiring and making our situation even more fr…
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The six steps I followed after I suffered for 5 brutal years thinking I was "broken" and something was wrong with me and my body. -- To get a free 30-day email masterclass on how to reduce sleep anxiety (people paid $199 for it), and to also receive this podcast as a free newsletter every Saturday, go to endinsomnia.com…
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