My guest this week is Dr. Richard Shane, developer of the Sleep Easy Method for getting better sleep. If you or someone you care about struggles with sleeping soundly, this conversation is for you. Richard and I talked about why many of the common approaches to treating sleep aren’t very helpful, and exactly why his approach works. You can follow along as he guides you through an easy way to start sleeping better tonight.

Topics we explored included:

• What gets in the way of good sleep
• Activity in the mind as an unconscious way to avoid discomfort in the body
• The paradoxical tension we might experience when we try to relax the body
• Creating the internal experience of safety, even when life is stressful
• The negative effects of poor sleep
• The wide-ranging benefits of sleeping better
• How Richard developed the Sleep Easy method
• The Sleep Easy mobile app
• Tapping into the body sensations of falling asleep, especially the heart
• The different sound of the sleep breath
• A guided exercise that Richard leads you through to help you sleep better
• Similarities and differences compared to CBT for insomnia (CBT-I)
• Relaxing the internal central core of the body
• The inadequacy of sleep hygiene alone for those with frank insomnia
• The hyperarousal that can keep us awake, even when we’re exhausted
• The possibility of combining CBT-I and Sleep Easy
• How to get deeper sleep
• The problem of having something to do to fall asleep
• The effects of poor sleep on irritability

The Sleep Easy app is available here; visit the Sleep Easy website for a web-based version.

Richard Shane, PhD, is an internationally renowned sleep expert featured in over 100 medical journals and publications including Men’s Journal, Shape, Dr. Oz the Good Life, Huffington Post, Reader’s Digest, and the International Journal for Sleeping Disorders. He is also a sleep expert for Psychology Today.

Richard created the Sleep Easy Method, a clinically-proven sleep solution based on the neurophysiology of sleep, that treats even the most challenging sleep issues.

He works with several large medical groups serving over 300,000 patients, and has worked with large-scale organizations including the U.S. military, the oil & gas industry, commercial airlines, municipalities and police and fire departments, and many more.

Richard is on a mission to treat millions of people worldwide who suffer from severe insomnia and other sleep disorders—and to transform the world, one night’s sleep at a time.