Who Benefits from Sleep Therapy? | ThinkSleep

Sleep Therapy - Who Is It Good For?

Do you struggle falling asleep, staying asleep or worrying about getting the healthy sleep that you deserve? Do you have trouble adjusting to jetlag, managing your crazy work hours or waking up for work on time since you are a night owl? You are NOT alone. Getting healthy sleep is mostly ignored or put on the back burner, however, everyone needs healthy sleep for their overall health and well-being. Too often, people assume that “therapy” or “treatment” is reserved for those with serious “conditions,” “diagnoses,” or “disorders,” but words like these can confuse and complicate a very simple concept -- we can all benefit from information and skills to improve our sleep.

Sleep therapy (also known as cognitive behavioral sleep medicine) is a short-term, evidence-based, non-medication approach to treating various sleep concerns by addressing thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors around sleep. Put simply, sleep therapy educates you on the science of sleep, helps you identify unhelpful behaviors and thoughts that keep your sleep problems going, and teaches you strategies that work to improve your sleep.

To break it down further, here are a few things sleep therapy can provide you (and anyone else who needs some healthy shut-eye!):

Understanding of Sleep and the Body Clock

There are many myths and contradictory claims out there about sleep, from how much sleep we should get (8 hours isn’t the magic number for everyone) to what time we should go to sleep and wake up (genetics play a role in our ideal sleep and wake times) to when we should stop drinking coffee to what pillow we should use. What is the truth? Sleep therapy is a great way to bust all myths, get your questions answered and understand how sleep and wakefulness really work. When you understand the basics of your body’s sleep systems, you are more likely to understand what helps and hurts your sleep.

Adapting Realistic Expectations and Setting Achievable Sleep Goals

Do you want uninterrupted “deep” sleep for 8-9 consecutive hours every single night? Do you want to be able to sleep through a hail storm with your dogs barking and the lights on? Do you want to wake up without an alarm clock and feel like a million bucks?

I wish I could tell you that I could make this happen---but these goals don’t align with what healthy sleep looks like. Perhaps these goals can be achieved….while you’re dreaming! ;) It’s important for us to set goals that are realistic and achievable.

Learning Strategies to Improve Sleep and Preventing Poor Sleep in the Future

Sleep therapy is an ideal treatment because it is time-limited, which means you can gain valuable insight and tools in a handful of weeks to build practical long-term solutions. By identifying and treating your current sleep problems and preventing them from persisting in the future, we save time, money and energy. Sleep therapy provides you with different strategies and skills based on your individual needs and goals.

Building a Positive and Healthy Relationship with Sleep

When you think about sleep, what comes to mind? Hopefully things like love, restoration, comfort, health, and trust. Just as with other relationships in our lives, we don’t want to spend time feeling resentful, envious, frustrated and hopeless. Let’s transform your relationship with sleep to a healthy and positive one.

Achieving Personal Goals with Confidence

Once you see your sleep improve with the work you have put in, you’ll realize you can achieve more than you thought. It’s time to live your life with confidence and take on your day, week, month, and year with a healthy outlook.