The worst thing in the world is trying to sleep and not to. F. Scott Fitzgerald
Not sleeping for a night or two is maddening, but not sleeping night after night is treacherous.
The experience of struggling to get to sleep or waking during the night and not getting back to sleep or both, can cause feelings of frustration, hopelessness, and irritability, and is associated with physical and mental health issues.
The increased use of sleep aides,
Consider cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.
Over 50% of adults now complain of difficulty sleeping, half of these chronically. We now know that sleeping pills are not the solution to insomnia, and that it is possible to successfully treat insomnia using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT has been endorsed by the National Institutes of Health as an effective and preferred method for treating insomnia.
Research on CBT shows the following:
CBT achieves these results because it is based on the idea that insomnia can only be treated effectively by addressing the underlying causes of insomnia—thoughts and behaviors—which are learned and can be unlearned.
