Therapy for Sleep Disorders
By Madhusudhan Tammisetti
Therapy can be an effective solution for sleep disorders, such as insomnia and sleep apnea, than taking sleeping pills that can cause long-term health problems or unpleasant side effects.
If you're having trouble sleeping, reaching out to sleeping pills or over-the-counter sleeping aids can be tempting. Instead of curing or solving the underlying symptoms of sleeping disorders, medications may worsen the condition in the long-term. It doesn't mean there isn't a time and place for medications. Sleeping pills are effective for the short-term when you're traveling across different time zones or recuperating from a medical procedure. But overdependence may lead to health concerns. Experts suggest combining medications with therapy and lifestyle changes that may give positive results for people who need prescription drugs for sleep disorders.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Sleep Disorders
Cognitive-behavioral therapy may help improve your sleep by bringing some changes in your behavior before bedtime and changing the way you think that keeps you from sleeping. It also concentrates on changing your lifestyle habits and improving relaxation skills that may affect your sleeping patterns.
Since emotional health issues, such as depression, stress, and anxiety can cause sleep disorders, therapy can be an effective way to deal with the underlying problems instead of just treating the symptoms. Thus, helping you develop a healthy sleep pattern for life.
According to a study conducted by Harvard Medical School, CBT was found to be more effective than prescription drugs in treating chronic insomnia. With CBT, patients could fall asleep and stay asleep and benefited from the treatment even after a year.
The time needed for the therapy depends on the severity of the sleeping disorder. After going through 5-8 weekly CBT sessions for different sleeping disorders, many significant improvements were seen in patients' sleeping patterns.
How Does CBT Work?
CBT concentrates on disconfirming thoughts and behaviors that may cause insomnia or other sleeping disorders.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy involves cognitive therapy and behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy trains you to identify and change disconfirming beliefs and thoughts that cause sleeping disorders. Behavior therapy trains you to stay away from certain behaviors that disturb your sleep and implement better sleep habits.
It takes time and commitment to develop a healthy sleep pattern. It's essential to find a therapist that you can trust, comfortable to talk to, and someone who helps you as a partner in recovery from sleep disorders. After seeing the right therapist, it's important to stick with the therapist's treatment and follow the advice. If you feel the treatment is taking too long, remember, in the long-term, therapy is an effective way to treat sleep disorders, and you can benefit from it if you go through the treatment.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Melbourne, Fla.