Message From the Editor and Publisher of Sleep Like The Dead

Hi, my name is Nick Robinson. I have what some people may regard as a strange passion: sleep.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I like to sleep my life away. Rather, what I'm passionate about is being able to consistently get a great night's sleep. In other words, every night I want to... sleep like the dead.

I can truly appreciate a good night's sleep because I have not always been able to get one. I was an insomniac for over 10 years. I had bouts that lasted several weeks or months in which I did not get more than a couple hours of sleep a night.

So Many Reasons

Why couldn't I sleep? The main reason was that I suffered from chronic insomnia. On top of this, I had a genuinely awful sleep environment that included a ridiculously uncomfortable mattress and so much noise, light and temperature issues that it's amazing I got any sleep at all.

Sleeping so poorly for so long, as you might imagine, had negative impacts on my life. Here's a brief but painful summary.

Almost killed two people... really

During a time when I was sleeping very little because of insomnia, I was driving at night down a dark road. I could barely keep my eyes open because I was so exhausted, and my level of alertness was barely above that of a zombie. At the last second I saw two joggers in my headlights, a father and daughter. They leaped with near superhuman ability to get out of my way and ended up in a ditch. They turned out to be just fine, thankfully. But things could have easily turned out gravely different.

Couldn't hold down a job

I landed a job that was a terrific opportunity for me. However, because of my insomnia, I would get so tired and worn out during the day that I would try, emphasis on try, to get some brief sleep at work on my breaks. I tried sleeping in all kinds of places, such as a bathroom stall, storage room or under my desk. The main focus of my day was on trying to get some sleep somewhere, instead of the job. Needless to say, my job performance was not too hot, and I was let go before too long. Very low point in my life.

Joyless existence

My insomnia consumed my life. Instead of pursuing a career, relationships, hobbies, and the things that enrich life, I was focused almost entirely on my lack of sleep. I rarely wanted to go out anywhere because I thought I would feel or look tired and not enjoy myself. My insomnia prevented me from growing as a person and trying new things. If this sounds like a depressing life, you are right on.

I Had Enough

I never sought professional help for my problem largely because I was embarrassed. I didn't know of other people who had the kind of sleeping problems that I had, and, as a result, I thought there was something really weird about me. (Little did I know at the time that insomnia is common.) I also didn't think help was even available. I did bring up my insomnia once to my doctor, and he suggested sleeping pills. This I thought could cause new problems, such as dependency, so I did not go in that direction. Sleeping pills also seemed to me to merely treat the symptoms as opposed to the causes.

Instead, I began to overcome insomnia on my own mainly by identifying the causes of my problem the best I could and by working on ways to deal with them. I gathered data on everything related to my problem, and then I tried and tested different ways to improve things. This was a slow and tortuous process that I would not wish on my worst enemy, but it eventually paid off big time.

Today, my insomnia is no longer the destructive force that it once was in my life. I do, indeed, sleep like the dead most nights, and I no longer worry much, if any, about sleep. Instead, I now spend my time and energy focusing on things that enrich my life.

Sleep Like The Dead Was Born

I started this website in my spare time in 2008 because I wanted to have an outlet for my passion and interest in sleeping better.

Sleep Like The Dead started small but now evaluates and rates hundreds of sleep-related products based on over 80,000 actual owner experiences.

Sleep Like The Dead receives NO COMPENSATION of any kind from any company, organization or individual to affect in any way or degree the content of our website including our product / consumer research. Our mission is to help people sleep better and this can only be achieved by presenting the unbiased truth, the whole unbiased truth and nothing but the unbiased truth.

On our site, you'll find at least ten categories of sleep-related products for which we provide up-to-date and comprehensive ratings, including mattresses, mattress toppers, pillows, white noise machines, sleeping pills, bedding, sleep hygiene products and more.

Sleep Like The Dead Is #1

As a result of our unique, comprehensive and unbiased research, Sleep Like The Dead has quickly become the #1 sleep product research site. We've had millions of visitors since 2008, and our findings have appeared in a variety of publications, including Barron's, Chicago Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Toronto Star.

More importantly, judging by the tons unsolicited praise we get from visitors, we have helped many people sleep better and avoid sleep-product buying mistakes.

Going forward I promise that Sleep Like The Dead will continue to provide the cutting-edge research content that our visitors count on.

Nick Robinson
Creator, Editor and Publisher
Sleep Like The Dead
www.SleepLikeTheDead.com

Unbiased Sleep Product Research

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SLEEP PRODUCT RESEARCH: Mattress Reviews • Mattress Topper Reviews • Pillow Reviews • Bed Sheet Reviews • White Noise Machine Reviews • Sleeping Pill Reviews • Sleep Hygiene Products

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IN THE NEWS: Sleep Like The Dead's research findings have appeared in such news publications as Barron's • Toronto Star • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Edmonton Journal • Woman's World • The Consumerist • The Gazette • Ottawa Citizen