Sleep Disorder Treatments - Natural Remedies To Help Improve Your Slumbers!Behavioral Therapies There are many good non-drug treatments for insomnia. These treatments include sleep hygiene therapy, behavioral therapy, relaxation therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Such treatments may be delivered by a primary care physician or family doctor, but commonly are performed by a sleep specialist or psychologist with special training in the field. Scientific evidence supports the use of many of these techniques, and sleep specialists commonly use them alone or in combination with medication therapy. Sleep Hygiene The term “sleep hygiene” refers to one’s sleep habits. People who experience problems falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting good quality sleep may benefit from practicing good sleep hygiene. However, many people aren’t aware of the good sleep hygiene principles advocated by most sleep specialists. Stimulus Control Therapy Stimulus control therapy is based on the idea that people with insomnia develop negative associations between the sleep environment and sleep. This idea, essentially, is that people who lie awake in bed for extended periods begin to associate the bed and bedroom with “hyper-arousal,” rather than comfort and relaxation. So getting into bed is thought to be a stimulus that provokes insomnia. Many people with insomnia can attest to this phenomenon, and describe their ability to fall asleep easily on their sofas or in their favorite recliners, but not in their own beds! A protocol for stimulus control therapy was developed several years ago. This protocol usually is followed under the supervision of a professional who can tailor it to a specific patient’s needs. However, the basic outline of the protocol is provided below: 1. Go to bed only when sleepy Sleep Restriction Therapy Sleep restriction therapy is a treatment that is based on the idea that people with insomnia spend too much time in bed. Time spent awake in bed is thought to contribute to subsequent nights of wakefulness, sleep fragmentation, or poor quality sleep. Therefore, treatment is the process of reducing the sleeper’s time in bed to be roughly equivalent to his or her reported sleep time. For example, if a person reports lying in bed for eight hours per night, but sleeps only six hours per night, the sleep restriction therapist might recommend that the sleeper remain in bed for only six hours per night. Sleep restriction therapy usually is administered by a healthcare professional who can tailor the therapy to a patient’s individual needs. However, the basic sleep restriction protocol is provided below. 1. Determine your usual rise time (e.g., 6:00 AM) 2. Determine the average number of hours that you spend asleep in bed (e.g., 5.5 hours) each night. This can be done using a sleep log. 3. Work backwards to determine what your bedtime should be. For example if you normally rise at 6:00 AM and you sleep 5.5 hours each night, your bedtime should be 12:30 AM. 4. Go to bed at your new “prescribed” time each night for one week. 5. If you do not fill your night with sleep, repeat steps 1 – 3 to identify an appropriate, later bedtime. 6. Continue this plan until your time in bed is mostly filled with sleep, or until you reduce your time in bed to 4 hours 7. If you fill your time in bed with sleep, wait for several days and then begin increasing your time in bed each night by 15 minutes. Do this as long as you can continue to fill your time in bed with sleep 8. Avoid hazardous activity if your are sleepy during the day Over-the-Counter Medications There are many over-the-counter (OTC) medications that are available to treat insomnia. These medications include drugs such as Sominex®, SleepEze®, and Unisom® that contain antihistamines such as diphenhydramine or doxylamine as the active ingredient. They also include pain-reliever/sleep-aid combinations such as Tylenol PM®. Such medications may be appropriate for the relief of short-term insomnia. However, patients should be aware that OTCs may fail to produce the desired result, and also may be associated with some unwanted adverse effects (e.g., dry eyes, dry mouth, next day “hangover”). Melatonin This appears to be a very popular sleep disorder treatment although there is little scientific evidence to suggest that melatonin is valuable as a sleep aid in people with insomnia. Herbal Remedies There is little scientific evidence to suggest that herbal remedies are valuable as sleep aids in people with insomnia. However, tang Kuei is good for general muscle relaxation, thereby reducing your stress levels and making it more likely to be able to fall asleep, especially if you are very tense by nature eg: grind your teeth in your sleep, sleep with your hands bunched into fists, etc. For more information about insomnia, please go to www.americaninsomniaassociation.org. Sleep aid tips web directory is the best way to find information about sleep disorder remedies and sleep disorder treatments. This web page takes the legwork out of finding great sleep disorder treatments resources. We have compiled great links to sleep disorder treatments and sleep disorder remedy information and pages dedicated to sleep disorder treatments here. . . On this directory page you will find links to various sleep disorder treatments and sleep disorder remedy related pages. There you will find great information about sleep disorder treatments sleep disorder treatments site links sleep aid Do you have a contribution to make to this site?Here is your chance to submit your article or resource review! |
 
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....I'm Kevin - this sleep disorder & insomnia cures website is divided into sections that address different ways to achieve healthy sleep for babies, kids, teens & adults using traditional natural remedies as well as modern sleep techniques. We really do hope you enjoy your visit, and please remember to bookmark our site for later reference!.