Beginner Course: Good Sleep 101
Learn the pillars of good sleep and the steps to take after a bad night of sleep. Free previews available.
Learn the pillars of good sleep. This course is designed for people who enjoy learning about the body and want to use that knowledge in order to improve sleep quality and address chronic sleep problems, including insomnia. Completion of this course is a pre-requisite for the Mastering Restful Sleep Program.
The biggest mistake which we see people making while trying to improve their sleep is not fully possessing an understanding of the process of sleep in order to make informed choices on a night-to-night basis. Inadvertently, people actually end up contributing to the cycle of poor sleep.
In this course, "Good Sleep 101," we start filling in the gaps of knowledge for you so that you are more fully informed about what choices you can make for good sleep. People tell us that they learn a lot from this beginner's course, even if they have been trying to work on sleep for years. We dive quickly into the following key areas:
The pillars of restful sleep that good sleepers use, and how you aren't currently using them fully (but probably think you are)
- An understanding of basic physiological mechanisms of sleep and behavior
- Mindset advice, including a checklist of thoughts that interfere with sleep
- The step-by-step protocol for recovering after a bad night of sleep
- An increased sense of smart sleep choices for your body, including concrete ways to tidy up your own sleep
- Knowledge of the steps good sleepers follow after a bad night of sleep
- Readiness to do a more advanced sleep course in the future if wanted or needed
- Sleep hygiene information, as you've probably heard that type of basic information already (if not, just do an internet search)
- Judgment against your choices or other ways to make you feel guilty
- A lot of accountability support for improvements in sleep (but this is a part of our "Mastering Restful Sleep" program)
- Individualized sleep calculations to make more personalized sleep adjustments (also a part of our "Mastering Restful Sleep" program)
- A medical professional monitoring your health (please seek a physician's input)
Your Instructor
Alissa Yamasaki, Ph.D., is the instructor for this course and is trained in the provision of CBT-I (cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia) and related interventions for sleep. She has been working with adults to reset and restore sleep patterns since 2016, and she especially delights in working with women over 40 and through retirement. She understands that many women are frustrated to see that their sleep problems persist even as life calms down in midlife and retirement; they see that they have a good life with many joys and simply want enough sleep to fuel their otherwise fulfilled life.
Dr. Yamasaki believes that everything is easier when you're getting good sleep, and this is her motivation to help others sleep well. She is a licensed psychologist with over a decade of experience in clinical practice. She owns Ayama Psychotherapy LLC, which is a group practice of psychologists who take a mind-body approach, specializing in helping people with anxiety, stress, insomnia and other health-related concerns.
Her interest in sleep stems from seeing sleep disrupt people's lives and interfere with mental health treatment. She has come to appreciate that there is a gap between the emphasis on the importance of getting good sleep vs. the accessibility to good sleep improvement support, particularly when it comes to insomnia and related sleep problems.
She holds a Ph.D. from Penn State University, has completed training in the treatment of insomnia with Penn Behavioral Sleep Medicine in Philadelphia, PA, as well as with Dr. Julio Mendoza of Penn State Health Sleep Research and Treatment Center in Hershey, PA.