Insomnia therapy online with Carolyn Tabak

04/11/2024

It's often said that the blue light from screens, especially scrolling on your phone in bed, prevents sleep or even causes insomnia.
However there is increasing research which suggests this is not strictly-speaking the case. Although adolescents and young people do seem to be more sensitive to the light from screens than adults, a more important factor influencing sleep is the content that is consumed. Stay away from stimulating content if you want to fall asleep more easily. But it can also help to turn the brightness of your screen down.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/04/is-it-true-that-the-blue-light-from-night-time-scrolling-can-stop-you-sleeping

04/11/2024

It's often said that the blue light from screens, especially scrolling on your phone in bed, prevents sleep or even causes insomnia.
However there is increasing research which suggests this is not strictly-speaking the case. Although adolescents and young people do seem to be more sensitive to the light from screens than adults, a more important factor influencing sleep is the content that is consumed. Stay away from stimulating content if you want to fall asleep more easily. But it can also help to turn the brightness of your screen down.

We often blame our phone’s glare for finding it difficult to fall asleep. But our expert thinks things are more complicated

19/10/2024

t was my pleasure to be invited to talk with Julie A Kennedy about insomnia, which women in perimenopause and menopause frequently experience. It can be miserable but Cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia offers hope for sleeping well again.



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLvglckFLo

19/10/2024

Are you aiming for perfect sleep, perhaps using a sleep tracker to achieve this?
Chances are you're doing your sleep more harm than good.

There is no such thing as perfect sleep.
Sleep is PASSIVE.
If you're monitoring your sleep and using the data from a tracker to try to ACHIEVE a result, well guess what ... sleep is no longer passive. You could develop Orthosomnia, where you start to become overly-focused or obsessive about sleep.

If you suffer from insomnia, using a sleep tracker is one of the worst things you could do to help you sleep better. It's like rocket-fuel to your anxiety about sleep, when actually the opposite is needed: changing the narrative about sleep and insomnia to reduce the attention and therefore also the anxiety associated with poor sleep.

There is apparently only one circumstance where sleep trackers can be useful: when you are a good sleeper who is not getting enough sleep because you're burning the candle at both ends. A sleep tracker could then help you do a better job of prioritizing sleep.

"Listen to your body, not the data"

19/10/2024

Are you aiming for perfect sleep, perhaps using a sleep tracker to achieve this?
Chances are you're doing your sleep more harm than good.

There is no such thing as perfect sleep.
Sleep is PASSIVE.
If you're monitoring your sleep and using the data from a tracker to try to ACHIEVE a result, well guess what ... sleep is no longer passive. You could develop Orthosomnia, where you start to become overly-focused or obsessive about sleep.

If you suffer from insomnia, using a sleep tracker is one of the worst things you could do to help you sleep better. It's like rocket-fuel to your anxiety about sleep, when actually the opposite is needed: changing the narrative about sleep and insomnia to reduce the attention and therefore also the anxiety associated with poor sleep.

There is apparently only one circumstance where sleep trackers can be useful: when you are a good sleeper who is not getting enough sleep because you're burning the candle at both ends. A sleep tracker could then help you do a better job of prioritizing sleep.

"Listen to your body, not the data"

The UK sleep-tracker industry is estimated to be worth £270m a year – and forecast to double by 2030. Could all this data be making our insomnia worse?

07/10/2024

https://www.thehague-naturalhealthcentre.com/event-details-registration/health-perfectionism

Do you find yourself wondering: Am I eating the right things? Am I living the right life? Why do I feel unhappy when my life seems to be so perfect on the outside? Join us for an exploration about our strive for perfection in life.

07/10/2024

Do you do your best to be healthy? Do you follow Wellness influencers and try to implement their advice? Do you feel you don't do enough?
Join us this friday evening at Natural Health Centre for a discussion of how this pattern has adverse health effects
https://www.instagram.com/p/DAi71-8sC-j/?igsh=OWJkOHMzOWJ4cDNs

11/08/2024

t was my pleasure to be invited to talk with Julie A Kennedy about insomnia, which women in perimenopause and menopause frequently experience. It can be miserable but Cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia offers hope for sleeping well again.

Understanding Insomnia and Sleep Solutions with Caroline Tabak on Fabulous After 50In this episode of Fabulous After 50, join our host as they dive into the ...

17/06/2024

Last week I gave a workshop about insomnia and CBT-i with Sandra Degado Quist of The Hague Natural Health Centre, who presented Homeopathic remedies for insomnia.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8Ub3QzvdqR/?igsh=N3dtanRpc2I0dHpv

14/06/2024

Last week I was on local radio program Dutch Buzz, working together with to talk about insomnia.

27/03/2024

Thank you thank you thank you, James Wilson for articulating in this article what I keep coming up against: that the way sleep advice is frequently presented by the media and popular "health gurus" creates more fear and stress around sleep. Chronic insomnia is caused by fear and stress about sleep when we get overly focused on it,creating (hyper)-vigilance, which keeps us awake!

When you let other people tell you how your sleep should be, and it doesn't match how your sleep actually is, you are creating more, not less, pressure around sleep. In CBT for insomnia we learn to let go of this pressure caused by faulty beliefs about sleep.






(Thank you for that last hashtag James Wilson, I love it)

How pop-culture sleep science messaging hurts people’s sleep, and why sleep professionals need to speak out.