I knew I was late updating my Sleepstation review but I hadn’t realised my last post was eight weeks ago. Obviously a lot has happened since then and the world we’re currently living in is no longer the same (not at the moment, anyway. Will we get back to ‘normality’? Will I be able to watch Eastenders without thinking, ‘They’re in a pub – how unrealistic! Oh, they’re touching each other – they shouldn’t be doing that! Why aren’t they standing two metres apart from each other? No, Sharon, you can’t just “pop across the road to see Linda”‘.
As I’m sure you’ve all got better things to do than read 1,800 rambling words about my last few weeks on Sleepstation, I’ll get straight to the point of this latest and final Sleepstation review: Sleepstation worked for me. And, surprisingly, given the current worries and anxieties about what’s going to happen and will I die after going to the little Tesco to buy bananas? (I haven’t actually been into any shops since lockdown – which was a week ago – as I’m too paranoid about leaving my safe little bubble and I’ll wait until I really need to go to the shop. At the moment, I’m not sure running out of bananas is a good enough reason) it’s still working. Yep, I’m sleeping the whole night through, even when I’m dreaming I’m in a zombie apocalypse.
As you’ll know if you read my previous Sleepstation review posts (week 1 is here, week 2 here, and week 3 is here), the Sleepstation program started off with me only being allowed to be in bed between 2:30am and 7:30am. This was increased each week by half an hour until it got to 1am when it stayed the same for the following week. I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED. I was so disappointed, I messaged Sleepstation and said I AM SO DISAPPOINTED. One thing – maybe the only thing – I looked forward to each week was getting my new plan and that extra half an hour of sleep. It made me feel like I’d passed some kind of test and gave me a much needed ‘yay’ moment. Sleepstation messaged back and said because going to bed at 12:30am (I’d been ‘cheating’ a bit and had confessed it in my sleep diary) seemed to be working for me, they’d adjust the plan and they let me do days 1-3 of that week at 12:45am and days 4-7 at 12:30am. (The getting up time of 7:30am stayed consistent the whole time.)
I must admit I didn’t stick to the plan very well in the last couple of weeks. In fact, the only week I actually completed a whole week as I was supposed to (i.e. not getting into bed before I was supposed to and not getting up later than I was supposed to) was in the final week. I think I just wanted to finish on a high note.
Sleepstation review TL;DR: It’s brutal but it works
I could just finish this Sleepstation review here and say, if you stick to the program it works. I’m going to carry on though, especially as a couple of people have taken the time to leave comments on earlier posts (hello Lynne and Jonathan!) and I feel I owe them and anyone else who’s reading an update.
Sleepstation is brutal at first – you only have five hours in bed – and there’s no way I could have stuck to it if I had a full-time job that involved leaving the house and having to form actual sentences to other humans. I’m lucky though: I work from home and my cats didn’t really care if I couldn’t remember their names at times, as long as I didn’t forget to feed them (which I did one day last week, oops).
It’s not much less brutal after the first couple of weeks either. It’s not like you’re suddenly allowed to stay in bed as much as you like; but that’s the whole point of it. Sleepstation trains you to spend your time in bed sleeping – not lying awake worrying about sleeping or going to bed early because you feel you need the extra rest or lying in bed longer in the morning because you’re still tired. It works though, because although I wasn’t in bed for long, the sleep I got was quality sleep and I wasn’t waking up all the time and not being able to get back to sleep.
In the first few weeks, I was too tired to do anything. I cancelled most of my plans (I know – plans are now something we used to have) and had absolutely no energy. Then, in the last couple of weeks I had boundless energy – I went from not leaving the house all week to going out five times in a week (I know – going out is now something we used to do in the past). I even started running again (we can still do that at the moment, yay!)
When I read back over my previous posts, I sound flat and deflated and that is how I felt in the beginning. My mood improved along with my energy though and I felt better and happier, I had more energy and I could think and concentrate. I could even form actual sentences with other human beings although, having not spoken to another human being in over a week, I am not sure this is any longer the case.
So, thank you Sleepstation – you work! By the end of the sleep restriction programme, I was sleeping for a solid 7 and a half hours a night – amazing!
What happened when I was left to my own devices though and didn’t have a plan to stick to? I won’t lie, I was scared of being left on my own and it turned out I was right to be apprehensive. As soon as I was off the plan, my sleep went back to being shit. Immediately. To say I was miffed is an understatement. I must admit, the first day after the program had finished I was tempted to go to bed at three o’clock in the afternoon, just because I could if I wanted to, but I resisted the temptation and, although I went to bed early (about 10pm I think), it wasn’t that early and I didn’t think I deserved to sleep so badly.
The next night wasn’t any better, even though I’d gone back to the midnight-7:30am routine. I messaged Sleepstation and told them and they said to stop filling in the sleep diaries (I already had because the programme had come to an end) but to leave them a message each day briefly saying how I’d slept that night and they’d give me advice at the end of seven days.
This I did and Sleepstation were really shit. They didn’t give me any advice, just sent a few irrelevant messages that read as if they’d been copied and pasted from a call centre in India and not sent by professionally trained staff. (This is actually how I’d felt about the staff throughout the program, so I didn’t interact with them much, as I didn’t feel I got any personal or consistent support. Most of their replies were irrelevant or not addressing what I’d asked them. The friend who recommended Sleepstation to me also said she’d found the support ‘wishy-washy’ when I compared them to a call centre in India.)
Still, despite the support from Sleepstation being shit, having to check in with them every day seemed to have the effect of me sleeping better. That was a couple of weeks ago, I think, and – touch wood – my sleep is still improved and although I do wake up sometimes in the night, it’s only for a brief moment. I’ve been trying to go to bed later but it’s usually before midnight and getting up at 7:30am has been difficult, especially since I turned my alarm off (unsurprisingly, but with all the coronavirus stuff, I thought ‘sod it, I’m turning my alarm off and getting up when I want to’).
Another thing I was miffed about was the Sleepstation program ended so abruptly. I thought I’d get a load of charts and possibly a report or something but I got pretty much fuck all. There was a graph to show my progress, some assessment scores and codes that meant fuck all to me (although obviously they can be googled) and a very brief summary that said what my sleep efficiency score was at the beginning (67%) and what it was at the end (92%, yay). For a geek like me who loves graphs, charts and stats, this abrupt ending was a huge disappointment. I suppose the main thing is it worked for me and it’s better to actually have a good night’s sleep than a load of graphs, charts and stats proving it but, meh. Give me my graphs, charts and stats!
Good points about Sleepstation
- It works
- You get to fill in a diary every day to keep you accountable
- You get a graph each week showing your sleep efficiency progress
- It’s free on the NHS (you need a doctor referral)
- It works (I know I typed that twice but it’s the most important bit)
Bad points about Sleepstation
- The ‘support’ is akin to copied and pasted messages from a call centre in India
- It’s brutal (but it needs to be)
- It’s really difficult staying up late
- I lost my energy and concentration
- I couldn’t remember my cats’ names (or my own, for that matter)
- It ends abruptly without any pretty graphs and charts or stuff
- It costs £295 (I think?) if you don’t have a referral from your GP but I don’t know if the support is better if you pay for it
- I put on 6lbs during the seven weeks because I figured if it wasn’t sugar keeping me awake at night then I was going to sit and eat chocolate each evening if I had to stay up until stupid o’clock (admittedly, this isn’t Sleepstation’s fault).
Sleepstation review summary
The Sleepstation insomnia cure is well worth doing if you suffer from insomnia. It’s brutal but it’s worth it. I spent about a year sleeping really badly to now sleeping all through the night (most nights, but *everyone* has the occasional bad night and apparently no one actually sleeps right through the night without waking briefly at times).
So, thank you Sleepstation for my sleep (but sort your support system out).
If you’d like to apply for the Sleepstation programme, you can do it online here.
I hope you enjoyed my Sleepstation review and it was useful to you. If you’ve also undertaken it, I’d love to hear how you got on!
Once again a fabulous post, thank you Cathy. I am half way through and everything you said rings true. I am definitely eating (much) more, I think it’s not that you lose self control so much as just need the stimulation of food to stay awake. I am so fed up with the microsleeps which sometimes turn a bit more macro if I’m totally honest. I am self employed otherwise I would fire me for being useless at working. However, even with the awfulness of the Coronavirus I am, for my restricted time, sleeping better.
Hi Jonathan (I knew I should have checked the spelling of your name… I’m going to go and change it now), great to hear from you! I’m glad you’re sleeping better and isn’t it amazing that even through these worrying Coronavirus times, it’s still working? Please keep me updated and if you’d like to write a guest post about your thoughts about Sleepstation and how you got on with it, that’d be great!
My sleep efficiency was 46% before I started the plan (I was getting on average 3 – 4 hours sleep most nights and was at my wits end). It took ages for my doctor to refer me as he didn’t know what Sleepstation was. My plan started on 12 midnight to 5am for the first two weeks (yes I know …) it was totally brutal but it worked for me. Week 5 I had a big dip and started sleeping badly again – but the support team did help me to see it as a normal blip and I ended up sleeping well by the end of week 6. A month on I am still sleeping well – I have bad nights here and there, where I get up and read a book for 15 minutes – but usually even if I wake I feel relaxed and drifting. Even Corona virus anxiety doesn’t affect my sleep much. I thought the support was ok – they always replied the same day and although some replies weren’t so helpful – it was the only think that kept me going at times.
46%? Ouch, that is low! What was your score at the end (if you don’t mind telling me)? I didn’t mention Sleepstation to my doctor. I’d been to see her last May about my sleep and she gave me sleeping tablets, which I didn’t take, then a friend recommended Sleepstation to me at the beginning of the year and I applied online and it was all approved in a few days. I’m glad your sleep is better now and if you’d like to write a guest post for me about your experience with Sleepstation, that’d be great.
Hi Cathy, Thanks soo much for sharing your experience. I am presently completing week 1 tonight. I am not in a good place today. I slept 3 hrs night before last and zero hours last night. I also have a huge swollen gland under my chin which I think is due to me being so run down with sleep deprivation. I don’t want to give this up as it seems my only option now, but I think I may go to sleep when I get tired tonight to try and reduce my swollen gland!!! It is sooo good to relate to other people’s experiences and feel exactly the same. I hope you are still sleeping well!
Hi Pam, sorry for the delay in replying – I hope you’re still sticking with the schedule? Please let me know how you’re getting on!
Hello Cathy, thank you so much for writing your honest and entertaining progress reviews. I am 3 weeks in and am in agreement with you about the fact that yes sleep restriction does work but I am already wondering what will happen when I come ‘off the wagon’. I know that we’re supposed to look at this as a lifestyle change rather than a yoyo diet but the level of stringency required to maintain that sleep/wake timing routine is pretty tough. How are you getting on now?
Hi Annie
My sleep is better than it was before doing the Sleepstation programme but it’s not as good as it was while doing it because I’m no good at staying up late. Also, one of my cats has decided to wake me up at 3am and 5am for food and if I don’t get up, she wees on the bed, so I can’t ignore her! I hope the programme works for you – let me know how you get on!
Interesting to read thanks
I have been suffering from poor sleep for about 4 months ( I am 36 and a teacher and have never had any problems before )
I am currently on week 2 of the program ( my sleep score was 44%) – my sleep is very inconsistent one night will be very good eg 8 hours and the next night almost nothing and then it repeats like that
I am hoping this plan gets me back on track , as like you I have tried all the herbal remedies and am reluctant to use the zopiclone the doctor has prescribed me
44%? Ouch, that is low! I hope the plan works for you, please let me know how you get on 🙂
Happy to have found your blog to see other people on the sleepstation programme. I’m only on day 3 (writing this at 1am!) and am dreading feeling too tired to do my job effectively. I already have dark black under my eyes. 🙁 I had exactly the same reaction when the rather patronising lady in the video said no pets! Listen lady I will get ZERO sleep if my cat is scratching at the door and meowing for hours! I do need to train him to not poke me with a claw at dawn every day for his breakfast though.
Good luck to everyone!
Hi Jules, day 3 – eek! I feel your pain! Try to stick with it because it does work (well, it did for me, anyway). Let me know how you get on. (p.s. my cat wees on the bed if I don’t get up to feed her. Cats are idiots, ha ha.)
I have finished the course today, have to say I feel disappointed; the improvement is marginal so reading all the ‘it works’ feedback it makes me wonder if my expectations were too high. My insomnia is regarded as moderate as opposed to severe though. My problem is constant waking through the night rather than not being able to get to sleep. What I find difficult to accept is the feedback from Sleepstation support telling me a. sleeping through is a myth b. we all wake up in the night and it’s normal c. it’s due to anxiety and frustration with that where the problem is, which I don’t agree with. I have stuck rigidly to the plan pretty much but wake every night without fail at least twice often more, admittedly it is now for shorter periods which is progress to some extent. But during the day I feel worse than when I started due to the sleep restriction. I cannot concentrate, my eyes sting and burn, by 8pm its almost impossible to keep my eyes open if I sit down to watch tv, after a day ensuring I don’t do anything which could risk me nodding off, but for goodness sake you need some downtime at some point. I will continue regime for a while to see if I need further consolidation with routine…but as I said overall somewhat disappointed.
Hi Dee, that’s a shame it didn’t work for you. I was the same – I got to sleep fine but kept waking up through the night. I’m waking up through the night again now although not as much or for as long as I did before I did the program. I hope your sleep gets better soon.
Thanks Cathy and I hope yours does too! I am seen as a success in their terms but because it is such a marginal difference and what with being advised that it is all quite ‘normal’ to wake in the night, sleeping though is a myth, I’m worrying about it too much, I can’t help but feel a little bit…… manipulated might be too strong a word but def disapointed. I have to say I actually feel worse than before because I am following the sleep reduction still. I will see how it goes. Sweet dreams.
I have just finished the course today – I started with 44% sleep efficiency and ended with 51% (skewed down after and appalling night last night where I got close to 0)
I tried to stick to their plans but I was wildly I inconsistent and really struggled to get off to sleep in the first place, i did two weeks fairly well by my poor standards before my body worked out what was going on and put a stop to it (I was rarely tired despite my job as a teacher and between 1 to 2 hours a day of rigorous exercise , I have been doing this for 12 years ) I also have never drunk alcohol or coffee – the constant lightheadedness I am getting due to poor sleep is something that makes every day and night a grind to survive
I was always an outstanding sleeper before June 2020 and now it’s all gone wrong – I am not convinced I will turn this around as whenever I have some small success my body seems to say f*** you and finds a way to combat the previously successful technique – I feel it’s like combatting a virus
Anyway I will keep on going with the Sleepstation plans and go to the pray for a miracle strategy as well
HI Cathy, I’m on week 3 – I’m extremely disappointed and pretty annoyed that I spent £297 on the 9 week course. All the criticisms people have mentioned above apply to me too. The ‘cut and paste’ style messages from the coaches, they don’t answer my questions. I was originally put on a plan to get up at 4 am !! I can’t imagine anyone would manage that, and I’m a night owl. During the first week my sleep deprivation was so bad I was unsafe driving, and kept tripping over things and losing my balance which I did tell them more than once, but they kept ignoring. They didn’t increase my sleep time even though my sleep efficiency was then up to 87%.
Has anyone found a way to complain or ask for their money back?
Hi Maggie, that’s awful and I would be extremely disappointed too. I hope your sleep improves and you get your money back – I’d definitely complain.
Hi Cathy, I’ve read through the reports up to now, it’s interesting to see how others have got on. For me things are better than before, inasmuch as I don’t spend so much time worrying about being awake in the night and if I wake up after five hours I don’t despair, knowing that I can cope. Rather than a panacea I think of my (NHS funded) course as a tool that is of some help. I started my course in March 2020 before the Covid19 lockdown. Again, I found your blog very helpful on this, which perhaps underlines that the support on the course is rather thin.
Hi Jonathan, good to hear from you! I’m glad your sleep has improved. It seems everyone agrees Sleepstation could improve their support.
Hi Cathy, I was very happy to find your blog as I’m halfway through my first week of sleep deprivation (with GP prescribed Sleepstation) and oh yes it’s brutal. Last night I fell asleep while doing a Sudoku at 11.15pm. That’s a first for me. I’m sticking with it as once in bed I can already get 4.5 hours solid sleep which is a big improvement. I’m a lifelong rubbish sleeper and was resorting more frequently to Zopiclone. Thank you for bothering to report and best wishes! Sally
Hi Sally, thanks for taking the time to comment and I hope Sleepstation works for you. Let me know how you get on!
Just started week 3, God this is hard work.
I thought my 23:45 bed time was bad (up at 07:15), have no idea how you managed 02:00!!
Glad I’m not the only one struggling to put sentences together especially late afternoon and early evening. Trouble is I tend to start waking up around 21:00.
I so need this to work, it’s having a serious detrimental impact to my relationship.
Hi John, it does get easier and one day you’ll be able to form sentences again! I hope it works for you, please let me know how you get on.
Hi Cathy,
Thanks for your review. I’m wondering how you and your sleep is doing now a few years later?
Could you maybe give an update?
Thank you!
Hi Kat, my sleep is sooooooo much better now since doing Sleepstation. I do often wake up in the night still but only for a few seconds, so I’d definitely say I don’t have insomnia anymore (touch wood). I should do another post with an update, I’ll get onto it!
Hi Cathy
On the fence about getting sleep station but I really do need some help. How is it working for you now?
Hi Maz, I haven’t had insomnia since I did Sleepstation, so it definitely works!
Thanks so much for this Cathy! I had been waking at about 5 am for quite a while when suddenly I started getting difficulty in falling asleep. I came across SilverCloud….a Sleepstation clone available on the NHS in Wales. Here sleep restriction was put forward as an option after about 2 weeks and I rejected it at first. As a last resort I started it a few days ago. I now fall asleep quickly and get back to sleep quickly but still only get about 5 hours sleep even though they claim my “sleep efficiency” is nearly 90%. Official Wakeup time 6-am but I am generally awake by 5.Support is minimal, a message once a fortnight, although it does address my own personal queries. I shall stick with it for as long as I am allowed and hope for the best
I hope things have settled down for you and that going to bed is now a pleasure not a threat.
Hi Tony, thanks for reading and leaving a comment! I hope your sleep has improved now. I’m mostly still sleeping all through the night still and although I rarely wake up feeling like I’ve had a good night’s sleep, I definitely no longer have insomnia (touch wood!)
Hi Cathy
What a joy to find your review. Im on week 5 and I compare it to be like coming off drugs it is so brutal! And my regime isnt as harsh as yours was.
Ive had the odd good day but still waking up and feel exhausted and look crap. Ive had a few later nights and still got up early at requested so feel very sleep deprived and negative tbh. Ill try and stick it out hoping the last week will bring success. It is great to hear you are cured! That is absolutely brilliant! Thanks do much for this thread x
Just about to sign up for sleep station, can’t afford it but desperately need some help. Wish we could pay in instalments! Might try through my dr and learn to have some patience, first time for everything! Yep gonna ring dr in the morning for an appointment. How’s your sleep Cathy? Hope you’re not rambling like a mad woman! ????
Hi Alison, sorry for the delay in replying, I’ve only just seen your comment. I still sleep all the way through the night, so it’s still working for me. Please let me know if you signed up and how you got on.
Hi Theresa, sorry for the delay in replying, I’ve only just seen your comment. I still sleep all the way through the night, so it’s still working for me, although I can’t say I actually wake up feeling refreshed very often but that could be an age thing. Please let me know if you stuck with it and how you got on.
I have Insomnia and can’t get to sleep at all so I’m not sure how Sleepstation can help with it’s drill