Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The best kept secret for good sleep is a pill-free treatment called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) which targets the thoughts and behaviors that mess up your sleep. A recent study shows that CBT-I has helped 86 percent of insomniacs improve their sleep. However, there is one big challenge in that there are only a few hundred CBT-I practitioners available.

Changing habits of thought requires conscious effort and practice and often outside help. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) traces its origins to the teaching of Buddha and a Greek philosopher, Epictetus. To live in accordance with nature is to not judge everything that happens as good or bad and to learn what is within your power to change and what is not. It is a mind-over-body approach that’s proven to work better than prescription sleep drugs for some people.

In a study at the University of Laval in Quebec, researchers measured the effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) on insomnia and found that insomnia practically disappeared. CBT is simply learning new information about what keeps you from sleeping and learning how to manipulate your behavior so that it doesn’t.

A good book on this subject is “The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Anxiety” by William J. Knaus, ED.D.

To try Guided Imagery – turn off the lights, snuggle into bed and use imagery to seduce the brain into seeing and thinking about positive places and things. These images will persuade the stressed part of your brain that it’s time to calm down.

Some people use nature’s music or guided imagery music to help them.  Every time you start thinking about things that you can’t change or problems on your “to do” list, stop and focus on something else that is positive and fun.

• Plan out your garden for next spring.
• Visualize yourself floating above the earth in a hot air balloon.
• See yourself walking along a quiet path leading into a peaceful valley.
• Imagine yourself on a tropical beach with warm sun and breeze.

Hypnotherapists and guided imagery practitioners can help a person learn to relax using visualization techniques.

To Our Shared Journey,                                                                                      

Mary Francis is a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist®,  Certified Law of Attraction Facilitator,  Early Intervention Field Traumatology (EIFT) and Author/Founder of “The Sisterhood of Widows”