A great read for those in the throes of Insomnia or supporting someone who is. Miranda has written a book that is filled with helpful and fact-based information on what living with Insomnia is like, without over-simplifying or overwhelming the reader.

A frank and unflinching look at the author’s hellish experience of insomnia (and ensuing benzodiazepine dependency), and—importantly— her honest, imperfect, joyful emergence from it.

Told diary style with endearing dark humour (e.g. Bridget-Jones-esque recording of hours and minutes slept) and interspersed with facts and interviews with experts. A gripping account that is enlightening and authentic.

Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and share my review of it.

As someone who suffers from insomnia more often than not, just to read that someone else is going through it is comforting in an odd sense. It makes you feel 'seen'.

Part memoir, part educational. I didn't find myself needing to look up things as everything was explained so well in the book. It was a very interesting and useful read and I would highly recommend.

I'm awful at leaving reviews on time and I truly regret that I didn't start this earlier. I did start, I read the introduction, and then I left it to read at a time where I thought I could enjoy each word, and those times never really do come?

I left it because the introduction nearly made me cry. Then bits of the book nearly made me cry. There were tears in my eyes because if you have insomnia you do feel incredibly alone, and you don't know how to make it go away and things never do work until, like Miranda, something sort of did (I don't want to piss of the sleep gods either).

Yes, it doesn't help to think about sleeping, that you're confused to wonder as to why this thing that is meant to be so easy is suddenly so much work, and you try all the things like a cooler room, less coffee, hoping you'll drop, exercise, yoga and routines and you're still there. And it feels weird to be grumpy like a three-year-old, to recognize this is not okay, to deal with the brain fog and then all the worst-case scenarios in your head, to get up and to go down and walk around and read.

It's easy to take the benzos' when they're near you, and even after you quit to sometimes still think about something that worked, albeit briefly, to wonder what that feels like. Its still a win when you feel like its been 8 hours. Sometimes I'm so angry at my Fitbit for making my sleep less than what it is. Some nights I've learned to pull it off.

This is basically a very long rant to thank Miranda for writing this.

This book was a game changer. There is so much said about not sleeping yet so little that is actually about insomnia and the fact it changes every facet of your life. This book was such a relief to read, Miranda Levy knows her subject and brings comfort with her words.

Astounding.

Wow, I loved this. I'm a bad sleeper because of my chronic illness. So this resonated with me, even more than i thought. I enjoyed the diary style with the little bits of info throughout to learn you about sleep, medication, mentall illness, treatments. Highly reccomend this for everyone with sleeping problems, or if you know someone with those problems.

A very interesting read backed by lots of science. I found it a little dry at times as it felt like stats on stats but well intentioned and informative I ultimately got what I wanted.

Wow what a book and what an insight to other people's insomnia journeys. I found I could relate to so many of Ami andas experience.
Definitely a book I will pick up again

This was the perfect book for someone who suffers from insomnia and how to help deal with that and offers great tips and practical advice for helping find a solution.

Really good read. It was interesting to read as it’s something that I know quite a lot about. Enjoyable and I’d read it again.

Wow, very interesting read but difficult to appreciate if you don't suffer from insomnia!

Very informative and funny written in diary style with added in sections ms on various topics surrounding insomnia and sleep

A terrifying read a diary of the years of insomnia the author lived through.Told in diary entries and scientific data.Sad to see how this very successful woman’s life was destroyed for years by insomnia and he desperate steps and drugs she takes seeking a cure.I was totally involved in her desperate search for a cure.#netgalley#octopuspublishing.

trigger warning
<spoiler> depression, anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, self harm, hospitalization, not being taken serious by medical professionals </spoiler>

One day, Miranda Levy simply stopped sleeping.

This book is what is says on the tin: A diary by someone who suffers from insomnia, the inability to sleep. Fair disclaimer, I suffer from insomnia myself and have tried many a thing.

This book is sorted chronologically, and when certain topics like medications come up, you'll have a neat box with further explanations about it. Mind, Miranda - after finishing this very personal book it feels like we're on a first name basis - is from the UK, so most medical advice is based on the NHS and her own experiences. But that's what she tells you again and again: This is not universal, this is <i>her</i> story. A phrase that also comes up is "your mileage may vary".

I am really glad I read this, and that on many levels. Yes, I learned some things. Both about meds, and about the mental side of things. But, most importantly, I felt seen. There is no "do yoga and stop complaining", there is no "eat more greens, it'll solve everything".
Of course having regular excercise and a healthy diet will help in establishing a better health and also better sleep, but Miranda acknowledges that this is not the solution at every point. Because she's been there.

And I like how this book shows that recovery is not a straight line. You'll have curves in there, at some times it'll feel like your progress is negative and you're going back to how bad things were.
I liked the insight in side effects of insomnia, like weight gain, and especially the conversation around medication dependency. This is when you get a prescription, and you wind up getting bodyly addicted to a substance, which is to distinguish from classical addiction because your mind set is different.

I especially liked seeing her docs not knowing what to do with her, and being hostile towards her, because again, I've been there.

Thank you for this book. It helped a lot and I'll make sure to recommend it.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

This was a super interesting read, as someone who has struggled with sleep, i read this in bed at night and had to force myself to put it down!

(Twitter)
So many of us had sleep problems at the start of lockdown. But real insomnia, as described by @mirandalevycopy in her memoir, The Insomnia Diaries, looks truly terrifying. A fascinating read and frightening with useful advice to improve your sleep. @Octopus_Books

I, thankfully, have never suffered with anything more than very short bouts of Insomnia, lasting a few days to a week. However, I know a number of friends and even my partner who sometimes has sleep issues, so I was pleased to see so much practical, thoughtful advice being given in this book as well as carefully selected and researched medical information.

Miranda’s story itself is an emotional one and shows that the issue of insomnia can arise quite suddenly and become a problem quite quickly. The scenarios described also show how Insomnia can impact every aspect of your life, including relationships, work, mood, health, diet, concentration and much more. This is important as I am meeting more and more young people with sleep problems every year.

This is an honest, engaging and original book that brings to the fore something that is so often overlooked or underestimated – the power of sleep. Thank you to the author, publisher and tour organiser for my review copy and the opportunity to read and review this book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was an interesting read with a lot of scientific articles and research, whichbis appreciated. As a fellow insomniac, many things made sense to me while reading this book. I could have done without the talk about weight gain, though. Overall, I liked the way it was told, like diary entries through the years with the progress of achieving sleep. I think I should invest in a weighted blanked!

"The Insomnia Diaries" by Miranda Levy is an interesting mix of author's own written experiences with trauma-induced insomnia and voices of mental health and sleep science experts. Levy is cataloging her lengthy journey towards recovering in a refreshingly honest and vulnerable manner.

It's not a book about quick fixes, but a first-person account that gives hope and normalises the discourse around many issues related to emotional and physical struggle. I'm very glad that the author included professional accounts and comments from the "future her" as they help create the right balance and context. Miranda Levy portrays herself as a master of her own experience but not a master of all sleep and addiction-related issues which only confirms her professionalism as a writer. She gives credit where credit is due and provides additional resources.

The only thing I could live without in "The Insomnia Diaries" were the fragments about the struggle with a weight gain which, though personal and hence valuable, were kind of tone-deaf when it comes to contemporary discourse that acknowledges the dangers of diet culture talk.

This was such an interesting book. Not only in content, but in the style of the book.
As the title of the book would suggest, the book includes diary entries, but also has informative sections at the end of each section that goes more in depth into the science.
I personally preferred the 'sciencey' sections more than the diary entries, but I liked the contrast in writing styles and think it made the book very unique. I haven't read anything like this on the topic before.

Really learnt a lot, and enjoyed the reading experience too - what more do you want from a book?

Unfortunately this book was not available to download to my kindle and I really wanted to read this book as a fellow insomniac

Any chance of a paperback copy?