By James Randerson
Sleep scientists have discovered an alarming fact - counting sheep does not help you drop off after all. But there is consolation for insomniacs, as they also found that conjuring up a pleasant and relaxing scene will have you nodding off in no time.
Those finding hard to sleep often seek distraction and some distractions work better than others, a team at Oxford University has found. Picturing an engaging scene takes up more brain space than the same dirty old sheep. Plus it's easier to stay with it because it's more interesting.
Investigators asked 50 insomniacs to try different distraction techniques on certain nights, to see which helped them fall asleep more quickly. One group conjured up a tranquil and relaxing scene such as a waterfall or being on holiday, while a second were asked to think of a distraction such as counting sheep. A third group were left to their own devices.
On average, those picturing a relaxing scene fell asleep over 20 minutes earlier than on nights they didn't try the technique. But both the sheep-counters and the controls took slightly longer than normal to fall asleep on the nights of the experiment. Counting sheep is just too mundane to effectively keep worries away.
Thought Suppression
In another study, researchers looked at a different technique for dealing with intrusive thoughts, called "thought suppression". The idea is to nip an anxious or negative thought in the bud by burying it as soon as it pops up. This is similar to a traditional treatment for insomnia that psychologists often try.
This time they asked half the subjects to "suppress" their pre-sleep worries and half to follow their normal routine. The "suppression" group took about 10 minutes longer to get to sleep.
The results mirror those of a classic study known as the "polar bear test". Telling someone not to think about a polar bear only encourages them to think about it even more - a finding that appears to have gone unnoticed by psychologists using the suppression technique to treat insomnia. It simply does not banish your worries.
Chronic Insomnia
Harvey's research will appeal to more than just the academics. One in 10 people suffer from chronic insomnia, and scientists estimate that lost sleep costs the US economy $35 billion a year in sick days and accidents.
Behavior Research and Therapy January 2002 40:267
Clearly, persistent insomnia is a huge clue that something is desperately wrong with one's balance in life. Left untreated, insomnia can destroy one's health.
Following the insomnia guidelines is a first step.
I find overall, that an effective cardiovascular aerobic exercise program where one is raising their heart rate to 75% of their maximum for 45 minutes five times a week, to be an effective solution to many of the adrenal stresses that contribute to insomnia.
Make your exercise vigorous enough to make you sweat a little. Previous studies have shown that non-aerobic stretching and concentration exercises alone did not impart sleep. Stick with it! Studies show exercise may not improve sleep until people had been exercising for 16 weeks.
Next to nutrition, I believe exercise is one of the most valuable tools that we have in our efforts to achieve wellness. I regularly find that people are able to normalize many of their symptoms once they include this into their daily routine.
Here are some helpful exercise tips I have learned in the years.
Swimming is one of the best exercises around, but should be restricted to swimming in natural waterways, with the ocean saltwater being the ideal place. Swimming in chlorinated pools may be highly counterproductive.
For most of us, cycling is not a good practical alternative for two reasons. One has to cycle up to four times longer than most other aerobic activities to obtain similar cardiovascular benefits. However, the more important issue is that most of us ride on the roads and expose ourselves to being seriously injured or killed by cars or trucks.
In conjunction with sleeping, my staff and I use a variety of energetic techniques to rebalance the short circuiting that results from emotional trauma. These results are so consistently effective that I will be writing my first book on this and it should be out next spring.
My personal current favorite technique (this can always change of course) is Gary Craig's Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). He has a web site which is in the top 100,000 on the NET.
You should consider purchasing the ten hours of videos of a workshop that I recently did on EFT as that will provide you with a basic foundation in EFT. The videos are risk free. They have a full one year guarantee refund. If you are not absolutely satisfied that the techniques you learn from viewing the tapes are not worth you can return the videos for a full refund.
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