Insomnia is one of the most commonsleeping disorders affecting people. It mostly manifests throughone's inability to maintain a steady sleeping pattern. Due to thelack of knowledge necessary for understanding the reasons behind thiscondition, until recently, people have had numerous problemsovercoming insomnia.
Fortunately, today, with thedevelopment of approaches such as the cognitive behavioral therapy,insomnia can be treated successfully, making it possible for peopleto sleep tightly and regularly once again.
Sleeping Problems – Insomnia
Insomnia signifies a condition which isactually a series of problems making it impossible for a person tofall asleep, stay asleep or rest during his/her sleep. Usually,people who suffer from insomnia need sleeping pills in order tomanage to get proper rest that sleep normally provides.
Insomnia is usually related to manyother disorders and problems, especially substance abuse, medicationsand mental health disorders. However, the main damage that thiscondition can cause does not lie in one's tiredness or irritability.Rather, in the long run, lack of proper sleep can have a catastrophiceffect on one's body and mind, potentially leading to hypertension,proneness to development of infections and illnesses like heartdiseases and others including diabetes and chronic aches.Furthermore, due to the fact that insomnia can be related to other,underlying conditions, these may need to be treated separately inorder to make insomnia treatable in the first place.
Once a person suffers from insomnia, itis crucial that he/she seeks adequate medical assistance. Some of thechoices they can opt for may be sleep medicine specialists and youcan find a list of these on the website of the American Academy ofSleep Medicine. Furthermore the National Sleep Foundation can helpanyone bothered by insomnia to find sleep centers where he/she canseek assistance.
The treatment for insomnia can rangefrom group to individual ones and the frequency of sessions necessarycan vary, depending on the effectiveness of the therapy. Namely,while some people may manage to overcome insomnia after two sessions,others may need years in order to overcome their sleeping problems.
Either way, cognitive behavioraltherapy is considered to be one of the best possible approaches togetting rid of insomnia you can possibly opt for. Older adults whohave been taking medications for years in order to manage to sleepproperly can find relief without taking a single pill more. The sameway, people of all ages can end their cognitive behavioral therapy asindividuals who can fall asleep easily and get the best out of theirsleeping patterns, regardless of the complications that were relatedto this natural process beforehand. This therapy has no side-effects,even though it might lead to problems once a person begins to undergoit. Yet, it is crucial to stay persistent with the therapy and theresults will surely be positive.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Can HelpInsomnia
Simply enough, cognitive behavioraltherapy helps the patient learn more about their sleeping problems,recognizing the beliefs which may interfere with their sleepingpatterns and managing to address these properly in order to avoidthem in the future.
Therefore, initially, this therapyfocuses on sleep education, teaching patients about sleeping patternsand cycles, as well as beliefs and behaviors which affect thesleeping process, both directly and indirectly.
Then, through cognitive control andpsychotherapy, this discipline removes negative thoughts which havethe power of keeping the sufferer awake during bedtime. Sometimes,insomniacs spend too much time in beds, knowing that they cannot fallasleep. In these cases, cognitive behavioral therapy reduces thistime and focuses on making the patients sleepier when they finallyget in bed. In fact, worrying that you cannot fall asleep is usuallythe main culprit that paradoxically triggers the insomnia per se.Thus, teaching people how to lie in bed relaxed and calm, with theirminds blank is one of the goals of cognitive behavior therapy.
In order to make this serenitypossible, this therapy may combine meditation, hypnosis and musclerelaxation, making it possible for people who suffer from insomnia toovercome the anxiety and nervousness behind the sleeplessness.Additionally, biofeedback can prove to be helpful, allowing thepatients to carry devices which give them information about theirheart rate and muscle tension, knowing when to react and balancetheir mental and physical state in order to promote relaxation andsleep.
Finally, the patient may need to keep asleep diary for a week or two, reporting the time they spendsleeping, time they spend out of the bed awake and in bed withoutsleeping, as well as all the important information for the insomniatreatment.
Different combinations of theseapproaches may be necessary in order to ensure treatment of insomnia.Nevertheless, most of these have been proven incredibly useful andbetter than the classic medication therapy. Again, patience andpersistence are necessary in order to overcome insomnia throughcognitive behavioral therapy but, once you manage to do this, theeffects will be astonishing.
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