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By Michael Cohen,
Founder, Center for Brain Training,
Renee Chillcott, LMHC
Have medications failed – or aren’t a good solution?
New Technology Focused on Brain Health Can Help You Sleep Better, Feel More Rested and Fall Asleep Easier.
If you struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep, or you never feel rested, you’re not alone. It’s estimated that millions of people are affected. Regardless of the cause – insomnia, anxiety, a racing mind, chronic pain, or something else, getting better sleep is critical. It is possible to improve how well you sleep.
Many resort to supplements or prescription drugs in order to slumber more easily. But what if you still struggle? Or what if you can’t tolerate medications, or you’re concerned about the effects of taking drugs long term? Fortunately, there’s new options.
Sleep and the brain
Sleep is important to overall health and wellness. Studies show that over 40 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders every year.
Getting enough sleep isn’t a luxury. Chronic insufficient sleep doesn’t just make you drowsy – it can contribute to a whole host of health problems, including increased stress, lowered immune functioning, decreased cognitive functioning, depression, anxiety, ADHD, and other emotional and behavioral challenges.
Often times, sleep problems are brain issues.
Our brain regulates our sleep. When your brain is functioning optimally, it smoothly transitions from an alert and awake state, to a relaxed state, and then into a sleep state, allowing a healthy amount of rest so that your entire body can recharge and repair itself. If the brain’s timing is out-of sync, the brain has difficulty shifting into these states, if at all.
Sleep problems can become more pronounced and difficult to manage if the brain waves are too fast or too slow. If we’re struggling with sleep issues, our brain may need a tune-up in order to help it function better and maintain healthier patterns.
Improving Sleep Rhythms
Neurofeedback is one option that consistently and effectively helps improve sleep. Neurofeedback helps your brain change itself and create healthier patterns – without medication. It’s a powerful tool to help regulate sleep naturally.
Cheryl, a woman in her 60s, came to us because she had struggled since high school with falling asleep and staying asleep. She shared that she had averaged about four hours of sleep for most of her life, and rarely slept for more than five hours. She was always tired and concerned about cognitive decline.
She began brain training with neurofeedback and within three months her sleep gradually increased.
She’s now able to fall asleep more quickly and reports sleeping up to seven hours most nights.
“I feel much more energy and optimistic as a result of the increase in sleep. It’s made all the difference,” shared Cheryl.
How Neurofeedback Works
Neurofeedback is a painless, non-invasive technique that helps change brain patterns naturally. It measures your brain’s rhythms and rewards the brain when it makes healthy patterns. With sleep problems, for instance, certain patterns in the brain are often moving too fast. Neurofeedback helps your brain learn how to make healthier patterns by giving your brain a reward when it slows down.
With repeated training, the brain learns to maintain these healthier patterns. Correcting sleep issues with neurofeedback just takes practice and reinforcement.
Can’t fall asleep?
Wake too early?
Don’t feel rested?
Can’t shut off your mind?
Another client, Sherry, came with a history of anxiety and sleep issues. She had increasingly bad sleep over the last 6 months, reporting 2 to 5 hours a night sleep, even with medications from her doctors. She could not quiet her mind. Poor sleep corresponded with a huge increase in anxiety. She could hardly work.
By the fifth visit to our center, Sherry’s sleep was significantly improved. She slept consistently longer, up to 3 hours a night on average and her sleep was more restful. It was a tremendous relief for her. Better sleep also reduced her anxiety. Sherry continued with neurofeedback to build a sustained sleep pattern and to further help her anxiety and depression.
Sleep Typically Responds Quickly
Many doctors aren’t aware of neurofeedback, its role in helping improve sleep and the research. Improved sleep is often the first significant change noticed by people when they start neurofeedback, even if they came for other symptoms.
Once doctors learn about the positive results in their patients and understand it, they’re usually receptive to neurofeedback and biofeedback. The EEG is fundamental to sleep. Neurofeedback helps individuals regulate their EEG to produce a more normal sleep pattern.
Sleep hygiene issues and medical issues such as sleep apnea should also be carefully addressed.
Does Neurofeedback Work for Children?
People of all ages can have brain patterns that cause disruptions to their sleep. Many parents report to us that children get to sleep easier and wake much easier as a result of training. When sleep is improved, it often improves attention, behavior and emotional responses. People often see a noticeable improvement in sleep within the first four to six sessions.
About The Center for Brain Training
We offer a variety of other biofeedback and brain tools that can be helpful with sleep problems, and we encourage our clients to try different methods to see which works best.
Neurofeedback is a powerful tool to help regulate sleep. If you are interested in additional information about how neurofeedback can help your sleep issues, call our office at 561-744-7616.
The Center for Brain Training is a team of compassionate professionals dedicated to helping brain issues. These include anxiety, depression, ADHD, sleep, brain injury and stroke.
We have offices
in Jupiter and Boca Raton.
Learn more at
www.CenterForBrain.com
Michael Cohen, President and Founder of the Center for Brain Training is one of the leading experts in brain biofeedback. For 16 years, he’s taught courses and provided consulting to MD’s and mental health professionals around the world, helping them incorporate new biofeedback technologies for chronic pain, anxiety and mood disorders, ADHD and neurological problems.
Renee Chillcott is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and is the clinical director of the Boca Office of CenterforBrain.com. She has been practicing neurofeedback for almost nine years. She has worked for years using neurofeedback with sleep issues, anxiety, ADHD and depression. Renee obtained her Master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University in counseling She has also received continuing education in the diagnosis and counseling of attachment disorders, teaching positive parenting skills, and peak performance neurofeedback.
