Sleepless nights, headache, tired eyes but still not falling asleep- seem familiar? Then, maybe this blog will talk to you. Having insomnia, anxiety, and other manifesting health disorders can be tough. But Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia comes to cure such situations.
Let’s learn more about CBT and some tips for insomnia for better coping! But to start with, let’s understand insomnia better.
What is Insomnia?
Insomnia is a common sleep disorder. Its symptoms, as given by Mayo Clinic include difficulty falling asleep at night, waking up during the night, waking up too early, not feeling well-rested after a night’s sleep, daytime tiredness or sleepiness, irritability, depression or anxiety, difficulty paying attention, focusing on tasks or remembering, Increased errors or accidents and ongoing worries about sleep.
What is CBT Counselling?
CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a psychotherapy treatment to help people solve problems better. It is supposed to be time-bound and steered by a particular goal. CBT helps in treating people with conditions like stress, anxiety or any disorders that can change your mental perspective.
CBT counselling is today being used with the goal of better sleep to help deal with sleep disorders, particularly insomnia.
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Insomnia?
Cognitive behavioural therapy can assist with sleep deprivation and is a more secure yet powerful non-drug treatment to the problem.
is a form of therapy, or psychotherapy. In CBT, mental health professionals work with you to identify, address, and correct negative or inaccurate thinking and behaviours. They’ll help you come up with coping strategies so you can respond to problems more effectively.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Insomnia is a form of behaviour counselling tailored specifically to address insomnia.
CBT-I centres around the pessimistic considerations that individuals have about sleep compared to not getting sleep or not being able to work ideally the following day because of not having enough sleep. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy replaces these with optimistic thoughts and helps you develop healthy sleeping habits.
The mental piece of CBT-I includes investigating and assessing your impression, sentiments, and practises around rest. You’ll figure out how to rethink erroneous or pointless considerations about sleep.
The behaviour counselling part of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia centres and addresses hazardous propensities to advance better sleep. This incorporates creating good sleep habits through:
- Resting
- Control Sleep
- Restriction Of sleep
What are the Cognitive Therapy Techniques?
Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia consolidates reliable psychotherapy strategies with science about sleep. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia is a structured program that involves identifying thoughts and behaviours that cause bad sleep patterns.
After identification, the program helps replace the thoughts and corresponding behaviours that promote better sleep. Apart from the fact that CBT-I is a non-drug approach, it is also a step ahead from sleeping pills as it tackles the root cause of bad sleep in the patient.
3 Cognitive Therapy Techniques
1. Cognitive Restructuring
The first and foremost step followed by a therapist for any individual facing insomnia is to change the patient’s perspective regarding the feeling of misconduct and concern about not sleeping. The initial idea followed by the therapist is that it directs its patient to record a diary for weeks to handle insomnia.
2. Exposure Therapy
This is a CT technique that helps confront all phobias and fears. In this session, your therapist will gradually expose you to situations that will trigger anxiety or fear within you.
Moreover, the therapist will suggest ways to cope with your fear in that situation. And this makes you feel less anxious and vulnerable. Therefore, you tend to be more confident with continuous sessions.
3. Relaxation and Stress Reduction Techniques
In this technique, the therapist takes you through certain progressive anxiety-reduction steps like muscle relaxation, deep and mindful breathing, etc. Also, you tend to understand the skills that help you take control of your senses and lower stress. Thus, you know how to deal with phobias and social anxieties.
Is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Insomnia Effective?
Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is generally effective as a lot of people have the benefit to get rid of insomnia. This treatment has an impressive turnout, but sometimes it doesn’t work immediately. Some people often take time to adjust to these therapies and leave in between. The best way to get rid of insomnia is to track your progress to see changes and continue with treatment. Additionally, individuals should also follow some relaxation training methods to see changes.
Some Tips To Manage Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Insomnia
Other than cognitive restructuring or some other methods, therapists also suggest a few other tips for insomnia to intensify the power of therapy. Some tips like exercise before sleep, meditation or bedtime yoga can be helpful.
Once you start the therapy, it is advisable to make better sleep choices, you might also want to invest in a good sleeping mattress. The best mattress for deep sleep will conform to your body shape.
Moreover, it will distribute your bodyweight uniformly so that no pressure points are created in your neck, shoulders, and hips. Bonded Foam Mattress will keep your spine naturally aligned by not bending it in an unnatural way during sleep. Wondering where you will find such a mattress? You might want to check out Wakefit’s Orthopedic Memory Foam Mattress here.
No Comments