Insomnia Therapy

Is Your Overly Active Mind Preventing You From Getting A Good Night’s Rest?

Despite how exhausted you are, is it hard for you to fall asleep?

Do you find yourself ruminating on the past and worrying about the future when you’re in bed?

When you finally fall asleep, does it seem impossible to stay asleep?

Maybe you toss and turn all night because you’re so anxious about what tomorrow will bring.

Perhaps you constantly wake up in the middle of the night and can’t stop thinking about work issues, relationship problems, or a significant decision you must make soon.

You may often think, “If I could just fall asleep and stay asleep, I would feel better and have more energy.”

Insomnia therapy could be the answer to a peaceful night’s rest and improved emotional wellbeing.

Lack Of Sleep Can Make Mental Health Issues Worse

If you are not getting enough sleep at night, you may start suffering from emotional irritability, feeling worn down, a lack of motivation, and what is known as “fog brain.” Fog brain can severely impact your cognitive processing and this can often be experienced at work. You aren’t as productive, have challenges remaining on task, or even feel so sleepy that mistakes start to increase.

Cognitive processing is a  series of chemicals and electrical signals in your brain that are responsible for your ability to perceive, process, and understand the world around you. It involves various cognitive functions such as attention, perception, memory, and reasoning.

If you fall asleep at work, this is an obvious distortion in your cognitive processing. This distortion could also lead to an increase in anxiety, risk-taking, and depression.

You don’t have to continue suffering from lack of sleep, and you can regain your productivity.

An insomnia therapist can teach you how to get the sleep you need, enabling you to function better at work, be more present in your relationships, and experience peace in both body and mind.

Stress Is A Big Factor In Sleeping Issues

Approximately 35% of the general population experiences sleep disorders (1). These disorders may manifest as insomnia, delayed sleep, movement disorders (restless leg syndrome, sleepwalking), obstructive sleep apnea, nightmare disorder, and waking up in the middle of the night.

We live in a stressful culture, and placing high demands on ourselves is normal. Unfortunately, this is what leads to ideas of perfectionism.

Due to mass media, we get the false impression that everyone is living the perfect life. These unrealistic ideals can lead us to wonder, “What’s wrong with me?”

Naturally, these feelings of inferiority only drive us to work ourselves harder. Europeans aim to work so they can live, but Americans live to work. Our values are centered around “living the American dream” and having riches such as a big house, a nice car, etc.

In this kind of stressful, success-crazed world, it’s no wonder so many of us struggle to fall asleep. We are taught to prioritize work over rest and career success over self-care. Therapy is a chance to invite rest and relaxation back into your life and achieve a healthier sleep routine by doing so.

Insomnia Therapy Can Help You Learn To Cultivate Healthier Sleeping Patterns

Therapy with Philip J Fauerbach LMHC allows clients to learn about sleep and discard any false ideas about sleep that they once believed.

We also teach techniques and tools to help clients get into healthier patterns that promote sleep. These patterns are what is often called “sleep hygiene.” Simply put, sleep hygiene is consistent behaviors that help us “wind down” to signal our bodies and mind to prepare for sleep.

Learning relaxation techniques that promote sleep and changing belief systems around sleep are two of our main goals.  Believe it or not, changing how you think about sleep makes for better sleep disorder treatment. If you continue believing that you can’t sleep, sleep becomes your enemy. Eventually, this way of thinking can create a conflict between yourself and your ability to sleep.

A trained sleep specialist can identify specific sleep issues in your life and help you restore your ability to get a good night’s rest through a highly individualized treatment plan.

What To Expect In Sleep Disorder Therapy Sessions

We’ll begin by taking down your history so that we can determine whether trauma, anxiety, or other mental health issues are causing the sleep disorder. Knowing your history will help us better understand the underlying sleep problems. This will also include a sleep history and assessment to pinpoint the sleep disturbance.

Next, your insomnia therapist will combine sleep education with emotional and behavioral techniques to help you get the most well-rounded sleep disorder treatment possible. .

We may ask you to keep a sleep log of your bedtime, when you fall asleep, and your wake times. The log will assess the severity of your sleep disorder and document the information to obtain an accurate sleep record. Most importantly, we will explore what your beliefs about your sleep issues are – thus being able to provide personally targeted sleep interventions.

Modalities Utilized For Insomnia Treatment

Here at Philip J Fauerbach, LMHC, we specialize in providing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for insomnia. Simply put, we will teach you that your thoughts and beliefs impact your emotions and behavior.

For example, thinking “I believe I won’t sleep” can make it much harder to fall asleep.

You will better understand what prepares you for a good night’s sleep and learn techniques to assist you in achieving healthier sleep patterns. Such techniques include:

• Diaphragmatic Breathing: Or sometimes called “yoga breathing” or “belly breathing.” Taking slow deep breaths so they fill your abdomen instead of your chest.  This sends messages to your brain to calm yourself and relax.
• Progressive Relaxation: This technique uses diaphragmatic breathing to achieve healthier muscle rhythm. You tighten the muscles in your neck and face, then shoulders and chest, then nose and toes.
• Good Sleep Hygiene: What are you doing to prepare for sleep? Sleep hygiene is about preparing your environment and your mind for a good night’s rest, whether that means meditating, listening to soothing music, or engaging in other peaceful pre-bedtime activities.
• Sleep Log: To better understand your sleep patterns, we may ask you to keep a journal of when you fall asleep and wake up. Do this for 10 days to get a clearer picture of your sleep habits and identify any patterns that may be affecting your quality of sleep.
• Sleep Education: Educating yourself on the difference between being tired from not enough sleep or not having enough rest and peace in your life. You will learn how to set up a routine to wind down and properly fall asleep. We will also assess how much sleep you actually need.

You are not alone if you struggle with getting sleep. We tell our clients that we will begin with sleep education and then move to tools and techniques to help them fall asleep and awaken refreshed. Sometimes, the right guidance and tools are all you need to improve your sleep and feel more rejuvenated in daily life.

You May Be Thinking About Trying Insomnia Therapy, But You Still Have Some Concerns…

We all experience nights when sleep seems to escape us. But when it interferes with our lives, it is time to seek the help of a sleep specialist. You would have already overcome insomnia if you knew how to fix the problem yourself. When you understand why you are getting insufficient sleep, you can learn how to address it more effectively and achieve more restful sleep.

Why shouldn’t I just take sleep aids?

There are times when a sleep aid is helpful for the short term. However, they all have side effects. When taking a sleep aid, we are not sleeping “better.” We are just sedated, which is different. Sleep aids often run the risk of dependency or addiction. They often exacerbate the situation rather than fix it. What’s more, therapy is often effective enough on its own that sleep aids are not needed.

What happens if therapy doesn’t work?

Sometimes it’s tempting to believe your problems are too big to be handled or fixed. But once you better understand what’s leading to your sleep issues, it becomes easier to figure out the course of action that will work best for you. Through our work together, we will evaluate how effective our plan of action is and modify it to meet your specific needs. Ultimately, our goal is to assist you in getting a full, restful night’s sleep.

Are You Ready To Have a Peaceful Sleep?

You can improve your sleep patterns, and enjoy an overall better quality of life through insomnia therapy with Philip J Fauerbach LMHC. To get started, I invite you to contact me through the online contact page or call me at (813) 759-3278.