Sleep Well: A Guide on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

By Dr. Renee Tan Huey Jing

Are you suffering from insomnia? Insomnia affects 10-30% of population worldwide. Sleep problems can lead to various health problems such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes which increases morbidity. Insomnia is also associated with many mental health disorders. CBTI is effective for treatment of insomnia. It is recommended as the first treatment options in international guideline. This book helps you identify types of sleep problems and provides a step by step guide to improve sleep quality. The first part of the book take you through sleep promoting habit and relaxation necessary for sleep. The second part of the book looks at behavioral intervention you can engage to help you fall asleep easier. This book also provide opportunity to review and reinforce your motivation for better sleep with suggestions to overcome setback and challenges when implementing steps of CBTI. It’s time to stop suffering and start sleeping well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Nov 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781543761832

Dr. Renee Tan Huey Jing

Dr. Renee Tan is a psychiatrist with a Medical Degree from Royal College of Surgeon, Ireland and a Master of Psychological Medicine. She is skilled in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, Schema Therapy, Motivational Interview and Interpersonal Therapy. She is also author and reviewer of various articles in international journals.

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Copyright © 2020 by Dr. Renee Tan Huey Jing.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Do You Have Insomnia?

Cultivate Good Sleeping Habit

Relaxation Is Important for Sleep

Sleep Diary

Behavioral Intervention

Setting the Right Mindset about Sleep

Allocating Worry Time

Overcoming Lack of Motivation

Notes

To my late father, for being my strength and support,

whose virtues I hold dear

To my beloved mother, for her love and support

To my husband, who enriches the

journey we walk together

To my brother, for his unwavering trust in me

To my companion, Meow Meow,

Hei Hei, Coco and Nicky

To my dear friend, David Birch & HTSIL Team

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Foreword

The time for Sleep Well to be out now has never been more timely as insomnia and depression plagued us during the COVID19 pandemic. Filled with insightful practical advice ranging from cultivating good sleeping habits, relaxation exercises to keeping a sleep diary, Dr. Renee has a refreshing way of making the important practice of sleep therapy accessible to everybody in this invaluable book. Now everyone can have this important resource to combat and prevent the onset of the debilitating disease of insomnia and take the empowering step to reclaim back your health.

Dr. Edward Chan FAMPsy, FMCBTA, FWCP

B. Sc (Hons.) (Psy.), M.Sc. (Learning), Master’s (Nutritional Medicine) D.Phil. (Psy.)

Board Member & Fellow, World Council for Psychotherapy

Chief Editor, The International Journal of Psychotherapy, Counseling & Psychiatry

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Introduction

Feeling frustrated about not being able to sleep?

It takes forever for you to fall asleep but you cannot seem to stay asleep?

Sandy has been struggling with insomnia for many years. It started insidiously where she finds herself staring wide-eyed at the ceiling at two in the morning, going through wheel of emotions of frustration, anger, anxiety, disappointment, and sadness. She’s tossing and turning in bed, checking the time on her phone every few minutes, which feel like an eternity. It’s so unfair! Why is this happening? Looking at her husband sleeping soundly beside her makes her feel like screaming. Tears roll down her cheek as she ponders at the fact that she has not been able to have a good night’s sleep for the past five days. How am I going to work in the morning? How am I going to stay awake in tomorrow’s meeting? My boss is going to be unhappy with me again.

After several cycles of emotional churning, sleep finally comes. Unfortunately, the alarm starts to ring soon after, and she knows it is time to prepare for work. Just five more minutes, she thought. Five minutes is up, and she knows she needs to drag herself up to work. Gosh, I am so sleepy. I feel sleepy when I need to be awake and awake when I need to sleep!

In years of practice, I have come across many who suffer from insomnia. The causes of insomnia can range from jet lag, primary insomnia, stress, mood disorders to other mental health disorders. Many have resorted to popping pills to get a few hours of precious sleep at night.

It occurred to me that one of the effective treatments for insomnia is to work on good sleep habit formation. Scientific research on sleep has help us understand habits that contribute to poor sleep and how we can change to improve quality of sleep. It is now possible to transform habits to help you sleep. Changing habits is not easy or quick, but it is possible with the implementation of techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia.

Many research studies indicate that CBT is effective for treatment of insomnia.¹-² It reduces sleep severity and improves sleep