The problem of insomnia has become increasingly prominent in recent decades. Suffering insomniacs may know it well: dissatisfaction with sleep, pre-sleep tension, and fear of insomnia, a fear that further leads to a state of high arousal and anxiety, which triggers more severe insomnia, forming a vicious circle.
Insomnia is the result of the interaction of environmental, biological and psychological factors, among which psychological personality traits (such as excessive tension and anxiety before going to sleep, which form a strong subjective emotional tendency) are an important cause of high arousal in insomnia patients. Therefore, doctors and patients should not focus only on the use of medications in their treatment, but on all factors that cause and maintain insomnia, and establish a comprehensive treatment plan. Patients who add non-pharmacological treatment can have their sleeping medication reduced by more than 30% and have a lasting effect. The following is an introduction to the non-pharmacological treatment of insomnia.
1.Cognitive therapy
Most insomnia patients have a lot of irrational thinking, believing that they should sleep for 8-10 hours every night, otherwise they can’t work and live normally the next day; they think that poor sleep will cause great harm to their health and over-exaggerate the seriousness of insomnia. The harsh requirements for sleep, once unattainable, will cause anxiety and fear, fear of sleep, so that the body’s physiological alertness increases, and fall into a vicious circle. Cognitive therapy is to correct irrational thinking and allow to face sleep squarely with a relaxed posture. The methods are as follows.
(1) Identify undesirable sleep-related cognitions and behaviors.
(1) Excessive sleep expectations (sleep should be at least 8 hours per night).
(2) Over-exaggerating the severity of insomnia.
③Dreaming is harmful to health.
④Sleeping pills are toxic and can make people stupid.
⑤Sleep should be able to be controlled.
⑥Insomnia is a result of some chemical change in the body or a lack of some substance.
⑦All physical discomfort is caused by insomnia.
⑧I don’t know or don’t want to admit the relationship between insomnia and mental stimulation.
(⑨) Worry and fear of not sleeping well at night.
(2) Correct irrational beliefs and replace past irrational ideas and behaviors with new ideas and behaviors.
(1) There are great individual differences in sleep duration, and as long as one does not feel sleepy during the day, it indicates that sleep duration has been sufficient. The length of sleep is affected by light, and changes with the season, age, and endocrine, and sleep will be shortened accordingly as age increases. Do not stick to the statement that you need 8 hours of sleep a day. Be fully aware that the quality of sleep is more important than the quantity of sleep.
②There is no evidence that insomnia causes organic damage.
③Dreaming is a normal physiological need of the body, which can regulate emotions and release stress.
④It is safe to take hypnotic drugs under the guidance of a doctor.
⑤Sleep is a physiological activity, not governed by the consciousness, and deliberate control of sleep is counterproductive.
⑥Stress and anxiety before going to sleep is the cause of insomnia.
2.Sleep health education
Insomniacs should know that
① Do not take caffeine-containing food or drugs, do not smoke, drink alcohol or tea within 4-6 hours before going to bed. Caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol all tend to cause nervous system excitement, which is not conducive to sleep.
②No strenuous exercise within three hours before going to sleep.
③Do not sleep within two hours after a full stomach. Eating carbohydrates is good for sleep, and eating protein foods affects sleep.
④Sleep environment (temperature, noise, light, etc.) should be adjusted to the best.
⑤ As we grow older, the ability to sleep decreases.
⑥You can take a proper nap, but not more than 30 minutes.
(7) Getting up in the morning that is to receive sunlight is conducive to the regulation of their own biorhythms. For example, you can organize flowers and plants, walk, etc.
⑧ Do not read, watch TV, quarrel, etc. in bed.
⑨ bed is only for sleeping, if you just want to relax on the chair to rest.
3.Aerobic exercise
Playing ball, walking, swimming, dancing, etc., are very beneficial to sleep, but also very good for regulating emotions, reduce anxiety, increase self-confidence, strong body. Take a brisk walk, for example, walk 1 hour a day, at least 5 days a week is appropriate.
4.Cultivate the body and nature
It is hard to imagine that a person full of inner conflict, entanglement, bad interpersonal, a very unconfident, an excessive pursuit of perfection picky people, a thoughtful, worried, suspicious, small-minded people can sleep solidly, especially the middle-aged and elderly people with these characteristics. If you have these characteristics, it is recommended to strengthen the efforts to cultivate your body and mind, to become internally peaceful, harmonious and relaxed with others, and your sleep will naturally improve. It is also necessary to deal with daily work and life events so as not to interfere with sleep.
5.Contradictory intention method
It is mainly used to weaken anxiety and facilitate sleep by making the patient continuously face the insomnia he fears. Main process.
① Lie down and relax in a dark room (you can take 5 deep breaths), do not try to fall asleep, keep your eyes open and stay awake for as long as possible. For example, in a relaxed state, you can let yourself think about the difficulties you encountered during the day, think about how to solve them, think about what you have learned during the day; you can talk to your subconscious mind, etc.
② Don’t do activities that are incompatible with sleep, such as don’t turn on the lights, don’t read or watch TV.
6.Stimulation control therapy
Many patients have the experience of lying in bed and tossing and turning, and lying in bed when it is time to sleep, but the brain is abnormally awake, which is a conditioned reflex. The way to change this is.
① Go to bed only when you feel sleepy.
② Do not watch TV, read, eat, etc. in bed.
③If you can’t sleep, get up and go to another room, and don’t return to the bedroom until you feel sleepy again, and if you still have trouble falling asleep after going to bed, you need to leave again, and so on. This can interrupt the connection between insomnia and the bedroom, and establish a virtuous circle between sleeping and the bedroom. ④The time of getting up every day should be fixed (such as 6:00 am or other time) to regulate the body to adapt to the regular sleep-wake mechanism.
⑤ Daytime sleep should not be too long, and it is better to stay awake.
7.Sleep restriction therapy
Mainly by limiting the time the patient spends in bed and artificially causing a mild sleep deprivation state, the purpose of improving sleep efficiency is achieved. Spending too much time in bed without being able to sleep is likely to cause depression and lifelessness during the day, prompting patients to spend more time in bed for sleep, which is often counterproductive and forms a vicious circle. The longer the patient spends in bed, the more likely it is to cause a lot of fragmented sleep, shallow sleep and easy to wake up, and this sleep habit is an important cause of many persistent insomnia.
Sleep restriction therapy is designed to address this habit. Specific methods.
① Record a sleep diary for a week to get the average sleep time for a week.
② Set the amount of sleep you get each night to 15-20 minutes more than the average sleep time. For example, if the average sleep time is 6 hours, when you sleep 6 hours and 15 minutes to wake up, do not continue to lie awake. This will keep the sleep efficiency at 80% or more. If the average sleep is less than 5 hours, that is, it should be set to at least 5 hours.
③You can repeat ① and ② steps appropriately to keep the sleep efficiency above 80% frequently.
④Adequate naps can be taken at noon, especially in the early stage of treatment, but the sleep time should not be too long.
8.Relaxation therapy
This therapy is mainly designed for patients’ tension before going to sleep.
①Progressive muscle relaxation training method. Before going to bed, the tension of skeletal muscles is at a high level due to tension. This therapy is used to induce sleep by causing a decrease in the continuous increase in muscle tone throughout the body. Muscle tension training, or stretching muscles can be used to achieve relaxation.
②Listen to light music. Listening to some soothing soft music before bedtime can relieve anxiety and effectively induce sleep.
③Yoga training. It can effectively reduce the patient’s awakening level, improve sleep efficiency and prolong sleep time.
④Other. Such as meditation, used to reduce the perceived degree of arousal.
9.Biofeedback therapy
This method is a training method that uses a specific instrument to display subtle body changes that cannot be felt by oneself in the form of sound or light, and to self-adjust to these changes. Insomnia patients’ body muscles are often under tension, so electromyography is used more often. The electrodes of electromyography are usually put on the forehead of the patient, and the high and low changes of the sound are used to indicate the tension of the muscles.
I believe that, through the above comprehensive treatment, your sleep will be significantly improved, and your little life will be plus happier!