Daniel R. Bernstein

On occasion, someone will ask me how I came to the work, and to this book. The roots of Rewired for Sleep are entwined with early memories in my grandmother’s kitchen, in Argentina. I’d watch Doña Regina peel an orange in a single, long curlicue before pinning the rind to a wall overnight to make digestive tea. I recall peeking from a doorway as she placed fire-heated glass cups on a person’s back in order to treat asthma. Many years later I was a New York-based musician playing the post-punk clubs in New York City, from the grittiest to the most grand. At some point, I saw that lifestyle was unsustainable. Given that I had no backup, I was battling anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia. Chinese medicine came to the rescue. Soon after that,I let go of my music career and dove into a four-year graduate program in Chinese medicine, becoming licensed in 1995.

My focus turned to treating people with sleep-related problems. Unfortunately, a percentage of my patients would get better but then relapse. So began a study of other healing systems, including Neuroscience and Egyptian trance work among others. I eventually gathered a diverse cache of dependable tools. As patients reported lowered anxiety and improved sleep, I sensed that we were on the right track. It seemed like a unique opportunity to share with a larger audience some of the tools that I'd found to be the most effective. And so, Rewired for Sleep was born. As an acupuncturist and hypnotherapist, I think I'm uniquely positioned to help you regain your innate ability to sleep through the night, naturally and without medication.