Chronic insomnia, or in other words insomnia, is a condition characterized by any type of sleep disorder: difficulty falling asleep, dissatisfaction with the quality of sleep or its duration. For some, insomnia is noted at certain periods of life, but after a certain time it goes away by itself. However, if this phenomenon occurs more than 15 times a month, then we are talking about chronic insomnia. The most important decision in insomnia treatment is the right specialist. It is also not recommended to self-medicate and prescribe sleeping pills without a doctor’s recommendation. There can be several ways to solve this problem.  

Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Insomnia

If sleep disturbance begins to bring too many problems, it is recommended to analyze your own behavior and make the necessary adjustments to it, which will be individual for each person. Of course, in this case, you can turn to a psychotherapist for help – a competent doctor will help identify the true cause of insomnia and help the patient cope with it.

Sleep rules

You can independently work on the problem of sleep and create all favorable conditions for its early elimination:

• do physical exercises 3-4 hours before bedtime;
• try to keep every day in the same schedule, at least go to bed and get up at the same time;
• create a “sleepy” atmosphere in the bedroom;
• do not go to bed on an empty stomach but also do not overeat before bed;
• after five o’clock in the evening, refuse coffee and other invigorating drinks;
• do not smoke before going to bed, do not drink alcohol.

Relaxation therapy

For some people with sleep disturbances, relaxation therapy is great. For carrying out it is necessary to rid the head of all worries and thoughts. Going to bed, you need to completely relax. Carrying out the following exercises helps well: for 1-2 seconds all muscles are strongly tense, and then slowly relax. The technique is used in the following sequence: jaws, neck, shoulders, upper arms, forearms, fingers, chest, abdomen, thighs, buttocks, legs, feet. The exercise is repeated 2-3 times. The effectiveness of the exercise depends on how much a person is able to drop all thoughts and focus on each action. 

Sleep restrictions

Sometimes insomnia is associated with only one moment – lunchtime. A person, trying to make up for lost hours without sleep at night, makes up for them during the day, applying for a few hours of sleep at lunchtime. Especially if this dream happens in the afternoon. As a result – night insomnia again, and so every day in a circle. This is why it is important to limit sleep to only nighttime hours.

Cognitive therapy

If the listed methods did not help fix the problem on your own, it is recommended not to waste more time and seek help from a specialist. The psychotherapist helps the patient to understand himself and find out what causes sleep disturbance. Perhaps it is anxiety, fear, depression, separation anxiety, or some other life problem. Of course, cognitive therapy works well when combined with other methods. The doctor may also recommend taking certain medications. 

Medications

Medicines are prescribed only by a doctor. The specialist selects the necessary remedy, depending on the type of insomnia (difficulty falling asleep or restless sleep). In addition, the doctor takes into account all the side effects of the drugs, which may include morning sleepiness or addiction.

It is also necessary to remember that the sleeping pills recommended by the doctor are not combined with alcohol and narcotic pain relievers, therefore, at the time of taking them, this must be abandoned.