How Do I Turn off My Mind at Night?

How Do I Turn off My Mind at Night?

One of the most common complaints I hear from my insomnia patients is “I can’t turn my mind off at night”! This is a very common problem and I’d estimate that about three quarters of the people I see in the sleep clinic suffer this to some degree. Whether we’re thinking about what’s happening the next day, worrying about big things like the health and welfare of our kids, or just random fleeting thoughts, the phenomenon of the overly active mind at night can really get in the way of falling asleep. Many patients have told me they wish there was a big switch in their head they could simply turn off at night. Unfortunately, such a simple switch hasn’t been invented yet.

Daylight Savings is 3/12. Start Adjusting Your Sleep!

Daylight Savings is 3/12. Start Adjusting Your Sleep!

Your body works to constantly coordinate it's "biologic clock" with the outside world. When the time changes, you are suddenly "out of sync" with the world. Here are a few tips to help re-synchronize your biologic clock as we approach the start of Daylight Savings Time:

ProjectZ Sleep Health Program Achieves 8X ROI for Hyatt Corporation

A recently released case study by Optisom, creators of the ProjectZ Sleep Health Program, measured significant productivity gains for Hyatt Corporation employees.

Hyatt Corporation, a leading global hospitality service provider, deployed the ProjectZ Sleep Health Program to assist its employees with sleep health issues. 

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

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A majority of people experiencing chronic insomnia can experience a normalization of sleep parameters through the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) suggests a new study.

Results indicate that 50 percent to 60 percent of participants with chronic sleep onset insomnia, sleep maintenance insomnia or both experienced remission of their primary sleep difficulty.

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Sleep Matters: Aetna Issues Wake Up Call in Sleep-Deprivation Campaign

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Scientists, psychologists and public-health advocates have been assailing Americans for years about not getting enough sleep and how it can hurt health, job performance and satisfaction with life.

Now Aetna is presenting its own message about the problem of sleep deprivation that, research shows, affects 40 percent of Americans. The giant health insurer has launched a campaign called “Sleep Matters” on digital and social channels to educate people about the acute and long-term dangers of not getting enough sleep.

Jet Lag and Sleep

Whether you're a "Road Warrior" who has piled up thousands of Frequent Flier Miles, or someone who is planning a vacation to a distant location, you are likely to experience the phenomenon of "jet lag," which can have a profound effect on your sleep and alertness. Every day, millions of travelers struggle against one of the most common sleep disorders — jet lag. For years, jet lag was considered merely a state of mind. Now, studies have shown that the condition actually results from an imbalance in our body's natural "biological clock" caused by traveling to different time zones. Basically, our bodies work on a 24-hour cycle called " circadian rhythms ." These rhythms are measured by the distinct rise and fall of body temperature, plasma levels of certain hormones and other biological conditions. All of these are influenced by our exposure to sunlight and help determine when we sleep and when we wake.

How to beat jet lag: A sleep expert's top 10 tips

“Budging the circadian clock” after leaping several time zones is hard – but a sleep doctor says it can be done.

When he got to Yorkshire, England, on a recent trip, Robert Rosenberg began one of his standard routines: He laced up his sneakers and took an afternoon jog.

Rosenberg was, in reality, doing more than getting fresh air and exercise; he was adjusting his body to the local time zone, which was eight hours ahead of his home in Arizona. Rosenberg, a doctor of sleep medicine who runs the Sleep Disorders Center of Prescott Valley, in Prescott, Ariz., was beating jet lag with exercise and exposure to afternoon sunlight. Both are elemental to overcoming jet lag, he said.

Identify and Treat Insomnia Early to Reduce Risk of Other Illnesses

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, but despite advances in diagnosis and management, it often goes unrecognized and untreated. Left untreated, insomnia increases the risk of developing other illnesses including depression, diabetes, hypertension, and possibly even death in older adults. Therefore, much more needs to be done to identify and treat insomnia early, and to ensure that patients are treated according to clinical guidelines rather than with off-label drugs that have little evidence for their effectiveness, concludes a review of the evidence published Online First in The Lancet.

"In view of the high prevalence and substantial morbidities of insomnia, patients should routinely be asked about sleep problems by health-care providers," say Charles Morin from the Université Laval, Québec City, Canada and Ruth Benca from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA, authors of the Seminar.

Studies Show Insomnia is a Major Health Problem

Madison, Wisconsin - Insomnia is a serious medical condition that should be treated with evidence-based medicine because it is linked to depression, diabetes, hypertension, drug abuse and even death, according to a review of recent research co-authored by a leading University of Wisconsin-Madison sleep researcher.

"This review underscores the fact that insomnia needs to be taken seriously, and that health care providers should routinely ask their patients how they are sleeping," says Dr. Ruth Benca, director of the Wisconsin Sleep laboratory and clinic.