What Really Happens In The Sleepless Brain? Inside The First Study To Track Thought Patterns Around the Clock, Learn Why It's Hard To Stop Thinking At Night

From etvbharat.com

New research has mapped how thoughts rise and fall across the day in people with chronic insomnia versus healthy sleepers

If you’ve ever spent a night lying in bed staring at the ceiling, wondering why your brain insists on replaying every dumb thing you’ve ever said since 2007, congratulations—you may have insomnia. According to Aussie researchers, the issue might not be that you’re “stressed,” “wired,” or “cursed by a vengeful sleep fairy,” but that your brain’s internal 24-hour rhythm is basically running on US time while the rest of you is trying to live in normal human society.

Published in the journal Sleep Medicine, this new research has mapped how thoughts rise and fall across the day in people with chronic insomnia versus “healthy sleepers.” Turns out your night-time brain may not be sabotaging you out of spite, but it may simply be confused about what time it is.

                                                                              Racing thoughts at 2 am? (Getty Images)

Insomnia affects roughly 10% of the population, and up to 33% of older adults. That’s millions of people lying awake thinking, “Why am I like this?” or “What is the correct age to start using night cream?” Many describe their issue as having a “racing mind” (adorable, because the last thing any of us are doing at 2 am is winning a race).

Scientists have long suspected something called “cognitive hyperarousal,” but the source of all this annoying mental activity has remained pretty mysterious. So the researchers did what scientists do best: they took 32 older adults, trapped them in a dim room, made them stay awake in bed for 24 hours, and gave them hourly homework (essentially the plot of a horror movie, except funded by a university!)

Sixteen participants had insomnia, and 16 slept like normal, functioning people. With all environmental cues stripped away (no sunlight, no caffeine, no Netflix) the team could observe the brain’s natural rhythms without interference. Every hour, participants rated the tone, quality, and controllability of their thoughts, which sounds like the emotional version of filling out a tax form. What they found was surprising: everyone’s brain has a circadian rhythm for thinking. Thoughts peak in the afternoon and slump in the early morning. The brain is aware that 3 am is a terrible time to plan your entire financial future. But insomniacs’ brains don’t get the memo.

Healthy sleepers naturally shift into “night mode” like an iPhone screen. Their thoughts dim. Their problem-solving politely packs up and goes home. Meanwhile, people with insomnia are still mentally drafting emails and reorganising their spice rack… at 1:47 am.

Lead researcher Professor Kurt Lushington explains: “Their thought patterns stayed more daytime-like, even at night.” Translation: the insomnia brain is that co-worker who keeps scheduling meetings at unreasonable hours because “time is a construct.” Even more dramatic, cognitive peaks for insomniacs were shifted by 6.5 hours.

Imagine your brain deciding that 11 pm is the perfect moment to begin its afternoon productivity sprint. It’s like having a toddler inside your skull yelling, “Let’s play!” when your entire body is saying, “Let’s not.”

“Sleep isn’t just about eye closure,” Lushington says. “It’s about the brain disengaging.” And in insomnia, that disengagement is apparently happening half a day late, or not strongly enough at all. Co-author Professor Jill Dorrian believes this opens up new treatment possibilities: like using timed light exposure or daily routines to help reset the brain’s internal schedule.

Mindfulness may also help the mind stop behaving like a caffeinated squirrel. Current treatments focus on behaviour: like avoiding screens, caffeine, and existential dread. But these findings suggest a more tailored approach that works with your circadian clock instead of yelling at it. Basically, your brain may not be broken. It may just be… chronically confused.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945725005568

(Disclaimer: The information provided in this health article is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. It is not a substitute for professional healthcare consultation, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.)

https://www.etvbharat.com/en/health/study-sleepless-brain-reasons-for-thinking-enn25120202944

 

Study: Mindfulness helps people with COPD manage anxiety, breathlessness, insomnia

From buffalo.edu

BUFFALO, N.Y. – University at Buffalo School of Nursing researchers have identified a new benefit of mindfulness for people managing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition commonly known as COPD.

The study, “Associations Between Mindfulness and Symptom Severity among Adults Living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD),” was published in the December 2024 issue of Heart & Lung: The Journal of Cardiopulmonary and Acute Care.

Led by Tania T. Von Visger, PhD, and Yu-Ping Chang, PhD, the study surveyed 339 adults with COPD. Participants who practice mindfulness reported significantly less severe symptoms of anxiety, breathlessness, fatigue and insomnia.

Also, a substantially lower anxiety score was found for participants who practice mindfulness, but not for those who only know about mindfulness, emphasizing the importance of applying mindfulness in daily activities.

“The structured practice of mindfulness,” says Von Visger, “such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), has demonstrated effectiveness during the past decades based on the work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, testing it among patients with unresolved chronic pain in Boston.

“It is important to note that the idea of creating MBSR originated from Buddhist traditions outside the American culture, and the actual practice of mindfulness has been in existence in other cultures, such as tai chi, qi gong, yoga, and drum circle, to name a few.”

Von Visger defined mindfulness as “the recognition and awareness of thoughts, emotions and physical body sensation in the present moment with clarity and without judgment.”

Von Visger and Chang's study also conclusively showed mindfulness-based interventions or MBIs, can help people with COPD manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

“What we found in this survey is essential because it confirms what we already understand about mindfulness benefits, as demonstrated in clinical studies across chronic conditions,” says Von Visger.

The study also revealed demographic variations in mindfulness practice, such as variations in depression level, age and education, but not in gender or disease severity. These findings suggest that incorporating mindfulness into COPD care could be beneficial. Understanding different mindfulness levels can help tailor MBIs to ensure they are effective, acceptable and sustainable for individuals with COPD, potentially improving symptom management and overall well-being.

“Mindfulness is associated with better symptom management and improved health-related quality of life,” says Von Visger. “The challenge is how to introduce the practice to those who have never experienced it, support those who begin to learn about it, and those who would like to adopt it to their daily practice. We also need to consider their cultural, age and education before recommending specific mindfulness treatments.”

The study found that a higher proportion of non-white participants engaged in mindfulness than among white participants, which needs further exploration, according to the researchers.

Enrolled participants in clinical trials choose to participate in the mindfulness research, possibly because they may already were  more open to participating in such activities.

“Therefore, we don't know what people understand and how mindfulness is used outside the research venues,” Von Visger says. “Our increased understanding of how they approach this practice in their own environment is helpful in designing appropriate methodologies for introducing, integrating and embedding mindfulness in those with chronic conditions.

“More importantly, it tells us about the level of interest COPD adults living in the community have about mindfulness, their understanding of mindfulness practice and its contribution to symptom self-management,” says Von Visger.

https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2025/02/copd-mindfulness.html 

Opinion: I stopped trying to sleep — and found a different self in the night

From washingtonpost.com

Annabel Abbs-Streets is a writer based in London and Sussex. Her latest book is “Sleepless: Unleashing the Subversive Power of the Night Self.”

I’m closing my bedroom curtains when something catches my eye. I open the window and crane upward. A crescent moon hangs like a slice of ice among a diaspora of stars. I should try again to sleep. But the stars are too bright, too beautiful, flickering too wildly.

Suddenly, I long to be outside, and I do something I have never done. I shunt a mattress out of the window to a narrow ledge of metal roof and make myself a bed — sheet, pillow, duvet. I crawl into it, unsure whether the roof will hold or the English rain will hold off. I lie back and look up.

My world shifts on its axis.

Nights spent outside are just some of the many nocturnal journeys I’ve since taken. But they were the first to transform my relationship with sleeplessness. Of all the gifts of my insomnia — and there were many — the night sky was one of the most poignant and profound.

It showed me that all those wide-awake hours didn’t have to be ruminative and anxious, that my sleepless self was not an enemy to be battled, sedated and despaired of. Instead, she could be my ally, a friendly teacher with wisdom to impart and experiences to share.

                                              An English village church by full moon. (Annabel Abbs)

My penchant for open air nights might be unusual; my inability to sleep is not. In 2020, nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States had trouble falling or staying asleep most nights. Up to half of U.S. adults experience insomnia from time to time. At the last count, 8 percent were taking prescription sleep medication and 11 percent were regularly forking out for sleep aids.

But while huge amounts of time and money have been spent exploring the sleeping and the sleep-deprived brain, virtually nothing has been invested in understanding the brain in its awake-at-night state.

My sleep began to fragment in my early 30s. Pregnant with my first child and working in a demanding corporate job, I pushed on, assuming the wakefulness would eventually pass. It didn’t. After five years of night-feeds, sick toddlers and early morning conference calls, I quit the corporate job. Surely I would sleep now?

I didn’t. For another two decades I tried pills, oils, bedding, endless “sleep hygiene routines” and the rest of what the $101 billion sleep industry has to offer. Eventually, wearily, I whiled away my nights listening to audiobooks and podcasts. Meanwhile, I panicked about imminent death, impending obesity, heart disease and dementia, and the criminal tendencies that, according to some experts, I’d accrue.

Three years ago, I snapped. A series of family deaths within a six-week period left me awake for hours every night. Audiobooks no longer soothed me.

As it happened, I was already researching women of the pre-sleeping-pill past. Many had welcomed the wee hours as a space for solitude, reflection and study. I called these women my “night spinners.”

Their accounts prompted me to dig around in the corners of my own insomniac brain. Instead of seeking distraction from my churning thoughts, I tried to describe and name them. I sensed a subtly different sort of mind, less inclined to judge, more receptive, imaginative and fearful, with the ears of an elephant and the nostrils of a bloodhound. I called her my Night Self.

When light drains from the sky, our bodies respond. Hormones rise and fall, dead skin cells are shed, we metabolize alcohol more slowly, our appetite shrinks, our blood pressure drops, our temperature falls, and much more besides. Come the evening hour, the darkness, wrote Virginia Woolf, “we are no longer quite ourselves.”

As my own night journeys went on, and as my knowledge grew of the sleepless habits of past women, a handful of illuminating studies fell into my inbox. These hinted that insomnia and darkness were infinitely more nuanced than headlines suggested. Most serendipitous was a pioneering study on the “Mind after Midnight.” A group of American sleep researchers found evidence that chimed with my own experiences and historical gleanings. The brain, it appears, resets for nocturne. Some regions go into partial hibernation, others bloom.

No one yet understands how or why, but at night many of us think, feel, behave in ways we might not during daylight. I, for one, am a little more reckless, with a yen for wistfulness and whimsy. This is how I found myself outside on that fateful starry night.

I continued to head out when weather permitted. And — released from the anxious grip of the sleep industry and my own fears — I went further. I followed in the footsteps of the legions of women who once snatched time from the night to write, paint, pray, photograph or simply to observe moths, bats, glowworms.

I discovered dozens of living women, too, who have made peace with their restive nights — who walk cities and forests alone, who swim on full moons or who make art, courtesy of their creative night brains.

A view along London’s River Thames is made visible by reflecting lights, which makes rivers ideal night-walking locations. (Annabel Abbs)

Which is to say, I discovered women who flower in darkness, who thrive on all that we’ve been taught to fear and avoid. I was grateful to the researchers diligently shedding light on the therapeutic nature of darkness. But when my sleep eventually returned, it was my night spinners that I thanked. It has been my privilege to join them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/01/sleep-insomnia-brain-night-self/ 

This is why you keep waking up at 4am – and what you can do about it

From independent.co.uk

Some people might see four o’clock in the morning more regularly than they like. Here’s why your sleep could be disturbed

Ever find yourself awake, staring into space at four in the morning? Is it just a bad habit, or is there something more sinister going on? And why does it always seem to happen at 4am?

“We start to experience less deep sleep after around four to five hours,” says Lisa Artis, deputy CEO of The Sleep Charity, who have partnered with Simba mattresses. And once we’re in that lighter sleep faze, we wake much more easily.

If you generally fall asleep around 11pm – which is a very common bedtime, 4am wake-ups are more likely. And there are many factors leading to these inconvenient stirrings.

Hormones

“Sleep is guided by our internal clock or circadian rhythm. One of the most significant and well-known circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle,” Artis continues.

“Sleep is regulated by the levels of two hormones: melatonin and cortisol, which follow a regular 24-hour pattern. Melatonin assists you in dozing off, while cortisol helps get you up, and keeps you awake,” she explains.

Keeping an eye on your hormones is important in preventing those late-night wake-ups.

“Engage in calming activities before bedtime, such as reading, listening to soothing music, or practising relaxation techniques, like deep breathing or meditation,” says Dr Mariyam H. Malik, GP at Pall Mall Medical.

Equally, pop your phone down for a bit.

“Blue light from electronic devices can suppress melatonin production. Try to avoid screens for at least two hours before bedtime, or use blue light filters. It is best to charge them in a separate room overnight,” Malik adds.

Diet

Caffeine, heavy meals, alcohol, sugar, and a lack of magnesium or B vitamins could lead you to have a more disturbed night’s sleep, according to Malik.

Sugar and carbohydrates may have a particular impact.

“A diet high in sugar and refined carbohydrates can cause blood sugar fluctuations, leading to wakefulness during the night,” she says.

“It’s unlikely you’ll feel hungry in the middle of the night if your blood sugar dips,” notes Artis, “but to reduce ungodly hour awakenings, trial alternatives for your last meal or snack of the evening. Instead of carb or sweet-based snacks, opt for protein-packed and magnesium-rich foods, like hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, pumpkin seeds, spinach, dark chocolate, cashews, chicken thighs or turkey.”

Protein can take the edge off your night-time hunger, she says, while magnesium is known to support sleep.

Needing a wee

Do you wake up needing to wee at the same time every night?

“Try not to drink excessive amounts of fluids before bedtime,” advises Malik. “It’s important to stay hydrated, but try not to drink anything for around two hours before your usual bedtime. Go to the toilet before you go to bed to empty your bladder. ”

Age and life stage

“Sleep tends to become more disrupted as people get older,” Malik explains.

“Sleep patterns change with age, and various factors can contribute to sleep disturbances in older adults. Some common reasons for sleep disruption in the elderly include changes in your circadian rhythm, decreased melatonin production, medical conditions or medications, and potential sleep disorders.”

It can also affect women during the perimenopause. “The reproductive hormones – oestrogen and progesterone – are entwined with the sleep and relaxation hormones, melatonin and serotonin,” says Artis.

“When oestrogen begins to fall before and during menopause, it can create a disturbance in the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, meaning it can’t properly balance out cortisol. When this happens, the ability to fall and stay asleep is affected.”

Recurring hot flushes, night sweats, dry skin, and low libido can signal waning oestrogen.

Artis advises incorporating foods with high levels of phytoestrogens into your diet throughout the day to help with this. “Phytoestrogens imitate the natural oestrogens found in your body. As a consequence, they can bind to your body’s oestrogen receptors and produce similar effects.” Try lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, tofu, edamame, spinach, cauliflower and broccoli.

Worrying

Stress is not good for sleep.

One study by Bupa even found that 32 million Brits wake up worrying about their health at precisely 4:05 am. The report, which surveyed 4,000 British adults, revealed that more than three-fifths of us wake up in the middle of the night.

If you are finding yourself awake at all hours worrying, or waking up with stressful dreams, there are a few things that may help.

“Keep a journal by your bedside and write down your worries before going to bed. This practice can help get your concerns out of your mind and onto paper, making it easier to let go of them temporarily,” says Malik.

You may also want to “engage in mindfulness or meditation exercises before bedtime. Mindfulness can help you focus on the present moment, reducing anxiety about the past or the future.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/waking-up-early-sleep-tips-insomnia-b2383574.html

The nine things that could finally get you a good night’s sleep

From telegraph.co.uk

By Miranda Levy

Whether it’s the odd restless night or chronic insomnia, sleep problems are on the rise – but there are solutions

The world tends to fall into two camps. There are those people whose heads hit the pillow and – snap! – eight hours later, it’s the morning. Then there are the rest of us, who suffer from sleeplessness – ranging from the odd stress-induced broken night to the seemingly endless hell of chronic insomnia.

If you’re a member of the second group, you’ll know the frustration, fury and despair of a night without sleep. The tossing and turning, the staring at the numbers on the clock as they relentlessly count down towards dawn and the first snatch of birdsong, which heralds the start of another day you are simply too exhausted to navigate.

Our sleep is bad, and getting worse. Thirty per cent of adults experience sleep problems (up from 23 per cent in 2012). One in 10 of us suffer from chronic insomnia, defined as having trouble sleeping for three days a week for more than three months. Even for those spared the long-term form of the condition, a recent YouGov poll revealed that 21 per cent of Britons have problems falling asleep a few nights a week.

Women tend to sleep less well than men, and older people less well than younger ones.

“Sleep makes us feel good, helps us learn, improves our concentration, helps us manage our weight, gives us greater self-control, reduces our risk of ill-health and is completely free of charge,” says sleep scientist Dr Sophie Bostock. “Insomnia can affect all the above: it’s an awful, lonely condition. But the good news is that there are effective treatments, and however bad things may seem at the time, there is hope.”

However much you’re dreading another tussle with the duvet, here’s the experts’ guide to understanding sleep – and the knowledge that will ease you into better nights.

How much sleep do I need?

There’s a received wisdom about how many hours a person “should” sleep. The oft-quoted magic number is eight hours, sometimes seven, and this has been backed up by several scientific studies over the years.

A 2022 paper from Cambridge University agreed that a minimum of seven hours is recommended for good health. The research was based on hundreds of studies that followed people’s long- term experience of heart disease, diabetes and mental-health difficulties. Those who slept between seven and nine hours were typically at lower risk of future ill-health, hence the recommendation.

But depending on certain variables, including your genetic makeup, age and lifestyle, your “perfect” amount might fall outside this range.

“Just like your shoe size or height, ‘optimum sleep’ varies from person to person,” says Dr Bostock. “For example, some people have a ‘short sleep’ gene, which means they feel alert and refreshed after just five or six hours’ rest. If you wake up naturally without an alarm, feel refreshed and don’t need caffeine, sugar or a nap to get through the day, then you’re probably getting enough.”

Why do I find it hard to get to sleep?

First, the basics: make sure your “sleep hygiene” is up to scratch. So, check that your bedroom is dark, quiet and at optimum temperature – between 18C-21C. Your bedding should be comfortable and, ideally, made of natural fibres. Ensure you’ve had enough natural light and exercise during the day (more of which below).

Dr Guy Meadows is clinical director of the Sleep School and author of The Sleep Book: How to Sleep Well Every Night. “Unfortunately, for many of us, good sleep involves managing your caffeine intake,” he says. “Try not to drink caffeine after the early afternoon, because it can have an impact on your sleep, even many hours later,” he says. Coca-Cola and tea (even green tea) also contain caffeine.

Spending too much time on your devices can also delay the dropping-off process. “Smartphones and technology can have a negative impact on our quality of sleep and mental health,” says Dr Meadows. “Phones trigger brain stimulation, making it much harder to get to sleep and stay asleep.” The “blue light” emitted by devices has also been shown to delay the production of melatonin, the hormone that sends us to sleep.

For many, stress and anxiety – whether about a specific meeting the next day, or an ongoing life situation – can play havoc with our ability to fall asleep. “Stress comes in all different forms,” says Dr Bostock. “Another way of describing it is hyperarousal, or an inability to switch off. You might not recognise yourself as stressed, but you are always ‘on’ ”. For ways to combat this, see below.

Reasons you might wake up in the middle of the night

Most people wake up once or twice a night. “Waking up at night is a perfectly normal part of the sleep cycle, and usually nothing to worry about,” says Dr Bostock. But there can be factors that make the 3am wake-up call more likely.

While alcohol can initially send us into a deep sleep, it can affect the second half of the night. “As you metabolise the alcohol in the liver, it actually behaves as a stimulant, making you more likely to wake up and meaning you spend less time in REM sleep,” (see below) says Dr Bostock. “So even when you have slept for the same number of hours, you haven’t had as restorative a rest as you would have had if it had been true sleep.”

Physical causes, such as pain, prostate problems (meaning you need to get up to use the loo) and the hormonal changes around the menopause, can make matters worse, as can certain medications, including beta blockers and steroids. People who snore or who have sleep apnoea – a condition where the walls of the throat relax and narrow during the night – also have restless nights.

What are the different stages of sleep?

There are two basic types of sleep: rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep (which has three different stages). A cycle of sleep lasts approximately 90 minutes.

During a typical night, a person cycles through all stages of non-REM (NREM) and REM sleep several times, with increasingly longer, deeper REM periods occurring towards morning.

Stage 1 non-REM sleep is the switch from wakefulness to sleep. During this short period (lasting several minutes) of relatively light sleep, your heartbeat, breathing and eye movements slow down and your muscles relax, with occasional twitches. Your brain waves begin to slow from their daytime wakefulness patterns.

Stage 2 non-REM sleep is a period of light sleep. Your heartbeat and breathing slow down and your muscles relax even more. Your body temperature drops and eye movements stop. Brainwave activity slows, but is marked by brief bursts of electrical activity. You spend more of your repeated sleep cycles in stage 2 sleep than in other sleep stages.

Stage 3 non-REM sleep is the period of deep sleep you need to feel refreshed in the morning. It occurs for longer periods during the first half of the night. Your heartbeat and breathing slow to their lowest levels and your muscles are relaxed. It may be difficult to wake you up. Your brain waves become even slower.

How long should I spend in deep sleep?

Each cycle of deep sleep lasts from 20 to 40 minutes. The average person cycles through this about four times a night, but not everyone needs this amount to feel fresh and rested the next day.

What is REM sleep?

REM sleep first occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. Your eyes move rapidly from side to side behind closed eyelids, your breathing becomes faster and irregular, and your heart rate and blood pressure increase to close to waking levels. Most of your dreaming occurs during REM sleep, although some can also occur in non-REM sleep. “Some believe REM sleep is the brain essentially doing therapy on itself, processing feelings,” says Dr Bostock.

Your arm and leg muscles become temporarily paralysed, which prevents you from “acting out” your dreams. As you age, you spend less time in REM sleep.

9 expert tips to help you sleep through the night

1) Embrace the light

“From the minute you wake up, you’re effectively winding down for sleep,” says Dr Meadows. Our sleep cycle – or circadian rhythm – is governed by our sense of light and dark: studies show that exposure to natural light helps the body to produce vitamin D (important for bone, tooth and muscle health) and sharpen your focus. “As soon as you wake up, aim to get lots of light into your eyes,” says Dr Meadows. “This tells the brain that the day has begun, banishing the sleep hormone, melatonin, and activating the CAR – the cortisol awakening response.”

2) Keep moving

The earlier in the day you exercise, the more likely it is you’ll fall asleep at a reasonable hour. “Being active, getting a few extra steps – that’s going to help to increase that sleep drive, and help to increase the speed at which you fall asleep,” says Dr Meadows. However, it’s best to avoid any vigorous exercise at least three hours before bed, as the adrenaline may make it hard to drop off.

3) Watch what you eat

According to Dr Meadows, you should also aim to eat at least three hours before bed, avoiding spicy food, or anything that might cause indigestion. “Make your evening meals lighter and healthier, and try adopting a Mediterranean-style diet – plenty of olive oil, healthy fats, such as oily fish and nuts, and vegetables,” he says.

A 2020 study from Columbia University agreed that the Mediterranean diet “appears to provide the best sleep outcome”.

4) Build a routine – and stick to it

“Waking up at the same time every day – including weekends – sets you up for a successful night’s sleep,” says Dr Bostock. “Your body clock will recognise the pattern and you’ll start to wake up more alert every morning and feel sleepy at the same time every night. We can adjust our body clocks by an hour from day to day, but lengthy lie-ins can interfere with your internal rhythms.”

Turn on the lights, eat and shower at the same time every day to train the body to associate those actions with morning.

This, and the following tips, are part of a school of therapy called CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia), which has been shown in studies to be far more effective than sleeping pills, which also carry a risk of dependency.

5) Restrict the time you spend in bed

This means spending less “quantity” time in bed for better quality sleep. So, only go to bed when you are tired and get out when you’re not. “Going to bed later increases your natural drive for sleep,” says Dr Bostock.

In the short term, you may feel really tired, but this often means a less broken night. “The idea is to strengthen the link between your bed and sleep in your mind. So, if possible, use your bed only for sleeping, or sex, and nothing else.

Naps can be helpful, but do restrict their duration, and closeness to bedtime.

6) Don’t turn your bedroom into a battleground

After a run of a few bad nights, it’s easy to start to dread going to bed. But, says Dr Bostock, this is counterproductive. “Instead of telling yourself ‘that’s it, I’m never going to sleep again’, reassure yourself ‘I’m a good sleeper, I’m just having a bad night’.”

7) Follow the “quarter-hour rule”

“If you are in bed for 15 minutes and still wide awake, rather than getting frustrated, you should get up, stop stewing and go and read a book,” says Dr Bostock. Television is not recommended because it might stop you feeling sleepy, and the blue light from a phone or a tablet can interfere with the maintenance of melatonin production.

8) Try relaxation and mindfulness techniques

“We also teach clients various tricks and tools to help the brain to switch off its ‘fight or flight’ response to stress,” says Dr Bostock. “Since the mind and body are interconnected, relaxing the muscles can be a shortcut to easing the racing mind. For example, progressive muscle relaxation involves deliberately tensing and then releasing the major muscle groups in turn.”

Meanwhile, the web is full of meditation apps and breathing exercises – there are even sleep playlists on Spotify and “sleep stories” on YouTube.

9) If all else fails, accept your temporary sleeplessness

Dr Meadows is an advocate of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), where those who find themselves up at night are taught to accept the discomfort of a racing mind.

“The point is to actually be OK with being awake,” he says. “Because the more willing you are to be awake, the less obstacles there are in the way of sleep.” If you give up trying to sleep at 4am, you may well find yourself waking up with the alarm at seven.

Miranda Levy is the author of The Insomnia Diaries: How I Learned to Sleep Again (Octopus Books)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/how-to-finally-get-a-good-sleep/

Every breath you take

From luxtimes.lu 

If you cannot eradicate stress, anxiety or insomnia, can you deal with it using sophrology and mindfulness techniques? Two practitioners in Luxembourg think you can

Sophrology and mindfulness therapy are not new, but post pandemic, their popularity is on the rise. Both combine breathing techniques with forms of meditation, and focus on calming the body and the mind.  

“Breathing is a very natural thing, but when you are stressed, it is the first thing you forget. You hold your breath, and this is not good for the body,” says sophrologist Alexandra Barancová.

Barancová came from Slovakia 17 years ago, and worked for ten years at the European Commission. She suffered chronic pain from an ailment, and tried medication and physiotherapy. She even considered an operation. Eventually she enrolled in Luxembourg’s Lifelong Learning Centre for a two-year University course in sophrology.

“It changed my mindset, and made me take responsibility for my own wellbeing. In Western medicine we tend to rely on doctors to fix us with medication, but Eastern medicine is more reliant on using your own resources,” she says.

Sophrology combines East and West

The word sophrology comes from Ancient Greek and translates broadly into the study of consciousness in harmony. It is a healing method that restores the balance between the mind and the body to promote overall health and wellbeing. Created in the 1960s by a Colombian neuro-psychiatrist, Alfonso Caycedo, who travelled across Asia, it incorporates facets from Japanese Zen meditation, Buddhism, and the breath work of yogis. Caycedo took what he discovered and combined it with western techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training, and psychology.

“Breathing is a very natural thing, but when you are stressed, it is the first thing you forget"

Alexandra Barancová

Sophrology mixes breathing exercises, relaxation, visualisation, meditation, and dynamic movements, and can be practised individually or in a group.

“After the pandemic, people are quite overwhelmed with emotions. We talk a lot about burnout, and sophrology helps you learn strategies and techniques so you can regulate stress levels and emotions.”

Sophrology can help one prepare for future events such as giving birth or surgery. Professional athletes use it to train mentally for competitions, and students can turn to it to aid in exam preparation.

Sophrology can be practised standing, seated or in a lying position. Barancová uses a gentle voice to guide you slowly into regular breathing and to relax your muscles from head to toe. “Once you relax the muscles, your mind relaxes. Then you are receptive to what is happening both inside and around you,” she says. In this state, people can focus on the present by using visualisation, and concentrate on a picture of a calm place to lower stress levels, or prepare for a positive outcome of a future event.  

Barancová also uses dynamic movements to focus or to let go of anger or frustration. “A sophrologist gives you tools, but it won’t work if you don’t practise on your own.” Whilst it is a shorter-term therapy than psychotherapy, one session alone is unlikely to make dramatic changes.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction 

Like sophrology, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), developed in the 1970s by molecular biologist Jon Kabat-Zinn, offers a fresh approach to managing issues from stress to chronic pain. The lifelong yogi and meditator had an epiphany on a retreat that mindfulness could be used for a wider audience. He initially took on participants referred to him by a hospital because traditional medicine had failed to help them.

Kate Ensor came to Luxembourg from England in 2013, and found the transition hard. A mindfulness book, followed by an eight-week course, ignited her interest, and in 2020 she started a master’s degree in mindfulness research and practice.

“MBSR works by using mindfulness to develop a different relationship to our experience. It helps to develop a fresh perspective on the stresses in our lives.”

Ensor starts with building mindfulness skills, followed by time exploring the body’s physiological and psychological responses to stress as well as how mindful awareness enables us to make new choices or respond differently.

“It’s about making a shift from reacting to stress to responding in a more considered way. Noticing what we add to our experience and how this can exacerbate stress,” she explains.

Ensor’s sessions start with a meditation, in different postures such as lying or sitting, or using yoga-inspired movement. Time is taken to reflect on how we relate to the moment, and how we can approach rather than avoid stressful situations. Home practise is also an essential part of the course. “It’s about developing and practising the skill of mindfulness and applying that to daily life, including what causes us stress.”

Much like sophrology, MBSR can help with chronic pain, low mood, anxiety and even psoriasis and heart conditions. “It helps you relate to and recognise triggers and take caring actions, such as a mindful pause or breathing space when you first feel a stress or anxiety trigger,” says Ensor, adding: “Mindfulness is a paradox because we are not trying to get anywhere, the end goal is to be more comfortable with things as they are, to develop a different relationship to stress.”

Combining with psychotherapy

How does this relate to traditional psychotherapy? Barancová is clear that the ethics of sophrology mean that she can only guide within the limits of her training. “If people are dealing with seasonal depression, it can be perfect, but for clinical depression, someone should first see a psychologist or psychiatrist. If I have the okay, then it can be combined.”

Ensor sees MBSR, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, which she teaches alongside a local psychologist, as integrative medicine. If someone is already seeing a psychiatrist or therapist or taking anti-depressants, mindfulness could potentially support their treatment. Ensor is also trained to recognise and advise if people might need a more holistic approach, including support from a psychiatrist or psychologist.

“It’s good to know that if you are dealing with stress or anxiety, you can turn to your breathing and body sensations. If you learn the principles, you will know what to do,” says Barancová.

Ensor sees mindfulness as something that “helps us wake up from autopilot. Most of us are on overdrive with our survival responses, triggered by emails or traffic jams – things that aren’t even survival issues. We are missing huge chunks of our lives through constant planning and ruminating.”

https://www.luxtimes.lu/en/health/every-breath-you-take-63e0cf2fde135b923668c709