For example, pain may be disrupting sleep, in which case reducing pain through medication, physical therapy, massage, or heat/ice treatments might be appropriate choices. Why You Can’t Sleepįrom hormonal changes to stress to medications, the reasons for sleeplessness are many. And although daily exercise is helpful, give yourself several hours between exercise and sleep time. Avoid alcohol and caffeine close to bedtime. In addition, a cool, dark room that is quiet can help you sleep better. The bedroom should be designated for sleep and sex-not working, reading, watching TV, eating, or surfing the internet. This approach can help reset your sleep/wake schedule.ģ. During the next several weeks, you gradually go to bed a little earlier, eventually forgoing the evening nap. For example, if you barely get six hours during the night and then take a nap in early evening, the recommended therapy might be to go to bed at 1 a.m. Taking too many naps or staying in bed for too many hours may actually disrupt normal sleep patterns. It may seem illogical to suggest that you sleep less, but sleep reduction therapy is based on the idea that some people may actually spend too much time in bed. But how much quality sleep do we lose over a long period of time by focusing on the boob tube for a couple of hours every night?Ģ. Sure, watching TV late into the night might be entertaining, and you may feel like it’s relaxing. Turning the clock away from your bed or putting it out of site and out of reach are two ways to reduce the temptation to check the time. Chronic clock watching leads to obsessive thinking. People with insomnia can become chronic clock-watchers, assessing how long they’ve been trying to fall asleep, how many more hours they have before morning. Women were given specific sleep/wake schedules and were taught to limit time spent in bed at night, which ultimately helped them fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep.Īmong the strategies called for by CBT-I are the following three:ġ. It also found that phone conversations with a “sleep coach” can improve sleep quality, as can the practice of keeping a diary. One study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that CBT-I significantly reduced menopause-related insomnia. While CBT-I is not a quick fix, it can be a long-term solution that doesn’t involve medications. Ruminating and runaway thoughts are known to ruin sleep one approach that helps in many cases is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Cures for Insomnia: How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Can Help And, of course, the drowsiness that results from lack of sleep can make driving dangerous. It also puts you at risk for falls and injuries. It can disrupt relationships by making you irritable and anxious and thus less likely to be social. Not getting enough sleep can affect every aspect of your life. Insomnia symptoms include difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, waking up too early, and daytime consequences (feeling unrested, for example). Causes can include underlying medical conditions and psychological issues as well as practices and habits of daily living. Fortunately, there are a number of natural cures for insomnia.Ĭhronic insomnia can last for months-or years for some people. Insomnia affects about 30 percent of the general population and almost half of adults over age 60. Are you among those who count sheep until the wee hours of the morning, trying unsuccessfully to drift off to sleep? You’re not alone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |