Professor Richard R. Butzin has been studying sleep disorders at the Arizona State University Sleep Laboratory for many years. In his opinion, the most successful method of solving problems with insomnia is therapy «Stimulus Control » (Stimulus Control), which, by the way, was already mentioned in the article «Stress Control: experiences on a schedule ».
To fight insomnia, you need to take 6 steps.
1. Go to bed only when you feel sleepy.
2. Use the bed exclusively for sleeping or sex. No watching movies or TV in bed, no books and breakfast in bed.
3. If you can't fall asleep in bed for 10 minutes, get up, go to another room, to the bathroom, to the kitchen, do something until you feel sleepy again. If you can't fall asleep again, then get up and do something else. Your goal — creating a strong bundle «bed — fast falling asleep ».
4. If you still can't fall asleep, repeat step #3 throughout the night until you pass out as soon as your head touches the pillow.
5. Set the alarm every morning at the same time, regardless of how many hours you slept that night. In this way you accustom your body to a certain rhythm.
6. Don't doze off during the day.
This method is based on the same idea as Pavlov's experiments with dogs and saliva secretion. The dogs have developed a clear association of the call with the delivery of food. As a result, even if the bell rang and no food was given out, the dogs still began to salivate.
So you should develop a clear association of your bed with fast falling asleep and sound healthy sleep, and with other activities (watching TV, reading books), the connection should be weakened.
Another therapy option is based on complete muscle relaxation. Instead of trying to fall asleep as quickly as possible, you just have to relax. The paradox is that as soon as you stop trying hard, you can fall asleep much faster.
Well, no one canceled a warm glass of milk and a spoonful of honey before going to bed. Just don't drink it in bed :)
And what do you do to get to sleep as soon as possible?
