1) In a dark bedroom, lie on your back in a comfortable bed, close your eyes and inhale and exhale several times in a row.
2) Continuing deep breathing, you need to strain your big toes with simultaneous movement down. Notice how tense they are. Then relax.
3) Continuing to strain and relax each group of muscles from the bottom up (feet, calves, hips, abdomen, shoulders, arms, hands, abdomen). Remember how you feel when they are tense or relaxed.
This exercise can be rehearsed throughout the day and doing it automatically before bedtime will serve you well.
– Deep breathing and the account of imaginary sheep help to relax the active and intensely working consciousness.
– Take a deep breath and count a sheep – “one” – attention is focused on breathing.
– On the second deep breath, count – “two”. If thoughts drift away from the sheep count, start counting first. In time, you will fall asleep before counting ten in “your otar.”
The other two methods of treating behavioral insomnia are more specific, and they are best applied after consulting a doctor.
– The method of control of the stimulus is aimed at destroying the negative association associated with being in bed during sleepless night hours.
It consists of the rules:
– You need to go to bed only when a person wants to sleep.
– If you cannot fall asleep within 15 minutes, you should get up. You can only lie down when sleepiness appears. If you lay down, and there is no sleep again, then you need to rise again. Repeat this exercise as many times as necessary to eventually fall asleep for a few minutes.
– Do not look at the clock.
– Get up in the morning at the same time and do not sleep at the weekend, so as not to disturb your circadian rhythm.
– Use the bed to sleep, not read, watch TV, etc.
– Never sleep during the day.
By following these rules for the first time, you will be very sleepy the next day, and therefore it is better to start a stimulation control therapy program on the eve of the weekend. On the second night it will be easier to sleep. If these exercises did not help, then you need to combine them with the previous relaxing methods and remember that the full course of treatment if properly performed is 3-4 weeks. This period is necessary in order to completely destroy the wrong behavior before bedtime, which has become a conditioned reflex – these are the laws of physiology. When the unwanted pattern of behavior disappears, sleep is completely restored.
– The method of restricting sleep is based on studies that showed that prolonged stay in bed leads to fragmentary anxious sleep with frequent awakenings. On the other hand, the less time before bedtime is spent in bed, the stronger the sleep.