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guidelines (Mind/Body)
insomnia guidelines
psychospiritual approaches
definition
Following these GUIDELINES will probably relieve 90% of sleep difficulties, and visualization will take care of the remaining 10%:
eliminate medical problems - including dependency on sleeping pills or alcohol, depression
no stimulants after dinner or stimulating activity (mental or physical) 2 hours before bed
no naps or going to bed early, even if you've had a restless night
use your bed for sleeping only, (except for sex!) to eliminate wakeful associations
correct your sleeping environment - temperature, air, comfortable, dark, and quiet
get up if not asleep in 15 minutes - read or do something quiet until extremely drowsy, then go back to bed. Repeat as needed until success. This is the MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD!
use thought-stopping and breath-counting to silence worries
(Fanning, p. 163)
Habit-bound insomnia: person knows that they will not get to sleep and each night will be torture. Research shows that people do achieve multiple brief periods of sleep during the night, but they focus on their difficulty and have amnesia for sleep periods. With this type of insomnia there is usually some past event that has led to an imprint-like behavior of sleep avoidance. Insomnia may not present for years and may be triggered by a later event or there may be a build up of consciously unrecognized alarm.
associated with sexual molestation or physical abuse as a child, which usually happens at night with the child being frightened immediately upon waking
fear that a relative may die during the night, or by having that experience.
trauma during an operation
recurring traumatic dream that interrupts sleep and eventually results in reluctance to go to sleep.
(Rossi, 1988, p. 383)
footnotes