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From sleeplessness wakefulness helps

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.11.2021
 
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20 July 2016, 11:00

Not an ordinary way to solve such a common problem as chronic insomnia, experts from Pennsylvania give - according to their recommendations, a person with sleep disorders needs to be as little as possible in bed, which will help to fall asleep more quickly and get rid of insomnia. The findings of the scientists were confirmed by tests in which people with various sleep disorders participated - according to research results up to 80% of volunteers began to sleep better.

An unusual method also helps people with sleep disorders to prevent the development of prolonged or chronic insomnia

In the course of the tests, the Pennsylvanian scientists recommended to the participants in the experiment to get out of bed and stay awake, if they were still unable to fall asleep a couple of hours before the alarm bell rang. According to experts, this approach is to some extent a cognitive behavioral therapy. In most cases, a person suffering from insomnia spends the whole night in bed, in painful attempts to fall asleep, which is what leads to a disbalance between the natural process of falling asleep and the possibility of falling asleep. Trying to sleep, tossing and turning in bed, a person seems to strengthen insomnia, i.e. As if giving the body the signal "Do not sleep."

In an unusual experiment, more than 400 people participated, the study was conducted at the private research university of the United States (Pennsylvania), 36 participants experienced acute insomnia, but soon most of them managed to cope with the problem, the rest of the volunteers did not complain about serious problems with falling asleep. During the experiment, which lasted 6 months, 394 participants gradually had problems with sleep, but in 31 people the acute form of insomnia acquired chronic.

In the deep sleep phase, participants without any serious sleep disorders were less likely to be in bed, compared to those who got rid of problems with falling asleep.

Part of the participants suffering from acute insomnia, reduced the time spent in bed, as a result of problems with falling asleep gradually disappeared, the participants who did not adhere to the recommendations of specialists and spent more time in bed (lay down earlier, struggled to sleep until the morning) evolved chronic insomnia.

Apparently, wakefulness helps to cope with insomnia, i.e. Many hours of trying to sleep only exacerbate the problem and can lead to the development of chronic forms of sleep disorders. Experts emphasize that the less time to spend in bed in useless attempts to sleep for at least half an hour, it is better to get up and spend time for something pleasant - as a result, the problem with falling asleep will disappear by itself.

Sleep disorders are investigated by scientists from different countries, as millions of people in the world suffer from this pathology. In China, for example, experts have found that the cause of insomnia are pathologies in the brain - a decrease in the integrity of white matter in certain areas of the right hemisphere and the thalamus. Chinese experts suggest that it is the anomalies in these areas of the brain that cause insomnia and depression, and the abnormal processes themselves are provoked by a decrease in the myelin sheath of nerve fibers.

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