7个偏方帮你摆脱失眠困扰

但凡你百度过“如何入睡”之类的话题，你肯定知道不少关于睡眠保健的小常识，比如“睡前洗个热水澡”或是“晚上6点以后别吃东西”等等，这些窍门有助于打理你的入睡流程，提高睡眠质量。虽然有些诸如此类的建议的确挺有帮助的，但对于那些真正患有入睡困难症的人（比如美国就有7000万人患有睡眠障碍）来说，光靠这些小细节是远远不够的。

美国亚利桑那大学医学院睡眠与健康研究研目主任迈克尔•格兰德纳表示：“所谓的‘睡眠保健’就好像告诉你每天要洗手一样，它可以防止细菌感染，但并不能治愈细菌感染。如果你已经患有睡眠障碍了，那么你就需要一些帮助了。”

下面就为饱受失眠困扰的朋友介绍一些不需要吃安眠药也能入睡的小偏方，其中一些听起来可能颇为奇怪：

刺激控制疗法：很多人上床后喜欢做一些刺激性的事，比如看书和看电视，不过它们丝毫无助于睡眠。你要牢牢记住“上床=睡觉”这一准则。格兰德纳表示：“只要你在床上，你就要睡觉。如果你上了床还睡不着，就不要待在床上。”

这样做是为了让你的身体将床默认为一个只用来睡觉的地方。有些人在实行“刺激控制疗法”的头几周，可能会感到自己被剥夺了一部分睡眠，因为他们一晚上可能得起床好几次。不过这正是失眠认知行为疗法的核心部分，这种疗法就是要通过纠正人们的思想和行为来达到更好的睡眠质量。格兰德纳表示，这种方法虽然简单，但效果十分强大。

限眠疗法：听起来有点讽刺对吧？格兰德纳表示：“对于一种失眠疗法来说，这真是一个最糟糕的名字，但它的效果却是惊人的。”这种疗法需要有一个人来限制失眠者不睡觉时躺在床上的时间。

打个比方，你可能一晚上要睡8个小时，但真正睡着的时间只有5个小时，剩下3个小时的时间都醒着。如果使用这种疗法，就会有一名医生让你夜里只在床上睡五个小时，然后就要起床。缩短躺在床上的时间可能会造成某种程度的睡眠不足，这样的话，第二天晚上你就会感到更加疲劳。随着睡眠质量的改善，你睡在床上的时间也会慢慢增加。但是格兰德纳也警告道，不要在没有医生监护的情况下尝试这种疗法，因为它还是有可能带来一些负作用的。

矛盾疗法：这一招“以毒攻毒”，是指要让失眠者想方设法地保持清醒。格兰德纳指出：“这一招适合那些担忧自己睡不着觉的人。如果你是一个有‘强迫症’倾向的人，与其强迫自己睡觉，不如强迫自己醒着。”一旦摆脱了那种挫败感，你就会放松下来，渐渐睡去。

生理反馈法：一名睡眠专家会把失眠者连到一台机器上，失眠者可以看到自己的生理信号，比如心率、脑电波和呼吸模式等等。这样失眠者就可以训练自己降低这些生理信号的频率，然后在睡觉时也可以使用这些技巧。

多阶段睡眠法：这种疗法背后的理念是，人们的睡眠时间并不是浑然一块的。格兰德纳表示：“一般来说，人们经常会打几个盹儿，即便是夜里，睡眠也是由两三个大块的睡眠时间组成的。”有些人的睡眠习惯可能迥异于常人，他们可以早早入睡，早早起床，做些工作，然后再上床睡觉。而且格兰德纳表示，这种睡眠模式也是完全正常的，而且可能是有益的。

多阶段睡眠已经吸引了很多人的兴趣，他们希望把自己的睡眠时间“砍”成小块，一天零零碎碎地睡上几次，好进一步提高工作效率。但是格兰德纳认为：“这并不是一个好点子，而且有可能是很危险的。好在这种习惯本身很难保持，大多数试过的人都坚持不下来。”

思维挑战法：有些失眠的人会给自己反复强化负面思维，比如他们会想，如果他们不马上睡着的话，第二天就会有非常可怕的事发生——比如遭遇车祸或是被公司炒鱿鱼什么的。格兰德纳表示，挑战这种负面思维的方法之一，就是问问他们这种事情真正发生的机率有多大。在意识到这种可能性微乎其微后，失眠者也就释然了。“这种方法为你提供了战胜非理性思维的武器。”格兰德纳说。

冥想法：想象、冥想或呼吸训练也有助于放松身心和改善睡眠。比如所谓“正念冥想”就主要注重呼吸训练和集中精神力，它对健康的很多方面都有好处，睡眠医生也认为它能改善失眠症状。格兰德纳表示：“冥想是为了在‘你’和你的感觉之间营造一些距离，这样你的感观就会产生自己的精神力。” （财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

Anyone who’s ever Googled “how to fall asleep” knows about the endless supply of sleep hygiene advice: tips, like “take a shower before bed” or “don’t eat after 6 p.m.”, that are meant to help clean up your bedtime routine and enhance sleep quality. Though some might be helpful, people who truly can’t fall asleep—like the 70 million Americans who have a sleep disorder—need more than small changes.

“Sleep hygiene is like being told to wash your hands: it can prevent an infection, but it can’t treat one,” says Michael Grandner, director of the sleep and health research program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine—Tucson. “If you cross the line to a sleep disorder, you need some help.”

Below are some of the strange-sounding, sleeping pill-free therapies a doctor may prescribe for people who can’t sleep.

Stimulus control: People tend to do stimulating things in bed that have nothing to do with sleep, like reading and watching TV. Try adopting a “bed = sleep” mantra. “When you’re in bed, you’re asleep,” says Grandner. “If you’re in bed and you’re not asleep, you get out of bed.”

The goal is to strengthen your body’s association with the bed as a place you only sleep. In some cases, people may feel a bit sleep deprived in the first few weeks of practicing stimulus control, since they may have to get out of bed a few times. But it’s a core part of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which targets a person’s thoughts and behaviors for better sleep, and Grandner says the therapy is simple and powerful.

Sleep restriction: Ironic, right? “This is the worst name for an insomnia treatment, but it’s shockingly effective,” says Grandner. In sleep restriction, another CBT-I practice, a person limits the amount of time they spend in bed not sleeping.

Imagine trying to sleep eight hours a night, but only succeeding for five of them, spending three hours lying in bed awake. Using this technique, a doctor may tell you to only spend five hours in bed and then get up. Reducing the amount of time spent in bed causes some sleep deprivation, which can help a person feel more tired the next night. As sleep improves, more time in bed is added. Don’t try it without a doctor’s oversight, Grandner warns, given the potential for side effects.

Paradoxical intention: It’s a fancy phrase for tricking yourself into trying to stay awake. “This is a technique used for people who are very worried about not sleeping,” says Grandner. “If you need to obsess about something, don’t obsess about trying to be asleep. Instead, obsess about trying to stay awake.” Getting rid of the frustration may help people relax and drift off.

Biofeedback: A sleep specialist hooks a person up to a device where they can watch their own biological signals, like heart rate, brain waves and breathing patterns. People can then train themselves to slow those measurements down and use those skills at bedtime.

Polyphasic sleep: The idea behind it is that humans don’t naturally sleep in one big chunk. “Traditionally, humans took naps, and even at night, sleep was often broken into 2-3 bigger chunks,” says Grandner. Some people may go to sleep early, wake up, do a task, then go back to bed—and Grandner says that’s totally normal and possibly beneficial.

Polyphasic sleep has caught on among those who think they can “hack” their sleep for more productivity by only taking short naps throughout the day. “This is not a good idea and likely dangerous,” says Grandner. “Fortunately, it’s really difficult to maintain and most people who try it can’t keep it up.”

Thought challenging: Some people lay awake and convince themselves that if they don’t fall asleep soon, something horrible—like a car crash or a layoff—will happen to them the next day. One way to challenge those thoughts is to ask people how many times that has actually happened, Grandner says. By making the case that those possibilities are very unlikely, people can let them go. “It arms you with some ammunition to combat irrational thoughts,” he says.

Meditation: Relaxing through imagery, meditation or breathing exercises can help the body ready itself for rest. Mindfulness mediation, which emphasizes focusing on breath and bringing your mind into the present., has been linked to a host of different health improvements, and sleep doctors think it can work for insomnia symptoms, too. “It’s all about creating some distance between you and feelings that can have a mind of their own,” says Grandner.