Zzz Zzz Z Finally

If you want to think clearly, feel content, maintain a healthy weight, have satisfactory memory and experience joy with some regularity, it is important that you take care to sleep well on a regular basis. If you have frequent difficulty with sleep , there are things you can do to better understand your insomnia so that you can get a full night's sleep on a regular basis.

First, talk about your problem with your health care provider so that you can rule out the possibility that your sleep problems may be related to underlying medical issues. If you learn that your sleep difficulty does not result from an existing medical condition, it is likely that stress or significant changes in your life play an important part in keeping you awake. It is also possible that you have inherited your insomnia from your parents.

Regardless of its basis, it is important that you take care to avoid doing things that may make the problem even worse.....like thinking that going to bed early will help you to "make up for" previously lost sleep. You may also think consistently that your sleep problems are not solvable and you will increase your anxiety about not sleeping as well as you would like.

Your therapist may help you to discover that your sleeplessness increases your anxiety while your anxiety increases your sleeplessness. A treatment plan that includes cognitive behavioral therapy can be useful here to help you to recognize and change the beliefs you have about your ability to sleep.

If you use your bedtime to ruminate about negative thoughts and worries, you are making success more difficult. I have sometimes asked my clients with sleep problems to make a list of their negative thoughts and worries before they go to bed. I then ask them to put the list in a dresser drawer which they promise not to open until the following day. The old "out of sight...out of mind" adage has been helpful. I have further suggested that clients set aside a limited period of time on the following day when it is alright to worry. I have helped people to recognize that when it is not designated "worry time," thoughts have to go elsewhere. After time management, I will also suggest that clients count backwards from a fairly high numerical starting place. Most get so bored that they fall asleep long before they reach zero

Additional sleep hygiene factors will also help:

1. Go to sleep at the same time each night.

2. Wake up at the same time each morning.

3. Sleep in a room that is dark.

4. Sleep in a room that is quiet.

5. Try to avoid taking naps during the day.

6. Work with your therapist to learn about

progressive muscle relaxation, the tensing and relaxing of all body muscles

7. Meditation is also helpful; a therapist who understands this skill can teach you how to use

it to improve your sleep routine.

There are other things you can do to change your stress patterns to help you prepare for a relaxing sleep. Sometimes a physician may offer medication to further assist you.

Night-night....

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