Pri Mithal, BSc. (Hons), MPsych (Clin) Clinical Psychologist Registrar “Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” — Thomas Dekker Ahh…sleep…zzzzz. Some of us love it, and others dread it. Here we debunk a few sleep myths, consider what healthy sleep is and when to seek help for trouble sleeping. So, what exactly is sleep …
Evening exercise and sleep: should we be changing our advice?
Many of us are interested in improving our health and wellbeing. Sleep is a great way to do this was we know that sleep is the third pillar of health alongside physical activity and nutrition. A very common piece of advice for improving sleep is to avoid moderate-vigorous exercise before bedtime. Many official ‘Sleep Hygiene’ Guidelines suggest no exercise after …
Winding Down for Sleep
Many people who come to Sleep Matters for help with their sleep use expressions such as “I can’t switch off” to describe having a busy mind that interferes with sleep. Many people mistakenly believe that switching off or shutting the mind down is necessary for sleep. It’s important to remember, however, that the human brain doesn’t have an off switch, …
Tips for sleeping well when you’re away from home
Jakub Dammer, Clinical Psychologist (registrar) Australians love to travel during the holidays and the thought of seeing new places and being away from home can be exciting. Many of us are able to travel now that COVID restrictions are lifting. However, for some, travel can prompt concerns about trying to get to sleep in an unfamiliar environment. If you’ve ever …
TELEHEALTH CONSULTATIONS AS EFFECTIVE AS IN-PERSON FOR INSOMNIA
It can feel a little strange to think of having a session with your health professional via an online video session or phone. We’ve become a little more used to this during COVID-19 and there is now more evidence accumulating on the effectiveness of telehealth as a treatment format. A recent American study suggests that online telehealth consultations are as …
Treating Insomnia, how can mindfuless help?
Research is uncovering mindfulness to be a powerful aid in the quest to treat Insomnia. In recent years, there has been a huge amount of scientific interest in the benefits of mindfulness to many aspects of health and wellbeing, including Insomnia. After describing what Mindfulness is, we present some interesting summaries of clinical research trials (including one by Dr Melissa Ree from …
Sleep Tips: Get your sleep routines in order
It’s World Sleep Day this Friday March 15th, and to support this we’d like to encourage people to take a step towards building a healthy sleep routine by getting their sleep conditions in order. Give any changes you make a couple of weeks to work. Below are some of the behaviours we help our clients at Sleep Matters to implement. …
2016 Clinical Guidelines recommend that all adult Insomnia patients receive CBT-Insomnia
Insomnia is a very common health problem, affecting 10% of the adult population, but it is often viewed as a symptom of another disorder rather than a condition warranting independent clinical intervention. Further, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) recognised that the previous dichotomy of primary versus secondary insomnia does adequately describe the disorder. Indeed, DSM-5 suggests that ‘Insomnia Disorder’ should be …
Treating Insomnia to treat depression
New research shows great promise in treating people with insomnia and depression, and may ignite new excitement for an inexpensive therapy for these and other conditions. Previously, researchers and doctors believed that depression caused insomnia. Indeed, poor sleep is a diagnostic symptom of depression with about 90% of people with depression experiencing disturbed sleep. Insomnia was considered ‘secondary’ to the …
Results are in! Effectiveness of Sleep Matters’ group treatment for Insomnia
100s of clinical trials have lead to the recommendation that Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) be the recommended first-line treatment for Insomnia. Through 2018, researchers from Curtin University, Dr Clare Rees and Ms Jamie Hardman, have analysed data from the group CBT-Insomnia program developed by Sleep Matters and run through The Marian Centre in Perth, WA. This is important research as it evaluates …
Insomnia and mortality: Results from the world’s largest study
Many poor sleepers come to our service worrying that they are at risk of serious physical illness and even death. It’s easy to see why these worries exist, with there being so much frightening information at our fingertips about the link between poor sleep and health. Contrary to popular belief, an important paper published recently, suggested that Insomnia does not increase mortality risk. …
Partner Snoring?
At some stage in our lives many of us will have a bed partner who has annoying habits that disrupt our sleep. Anyone had the quilt stolen or copped a stray elbow or knee recently? One problematic habit in particular that we often hear about in our clinical work is snoring. Snoring occurs when airflow between your nose and throat …