Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Sleep and Your Local Paper

There was an article in today's local paper about the importance of sleep and the usual list of tips for dealing with sleep issues - mainly insomnia. The tips are the standard good sleep hygiene practices advocated by the sleep community and regurgitated by every newspaper and magazine that deals with health topics. Most people I meet have heard of these proper sleep practices, but rarely does anyone practice them on a regular basis. Since many of those people I meet are my patients, we usually spend some time discussing the importance of good sleep habits.

One word of caution - studies do not support sleep hygiene measures as stand alone therapy for the treatment of chronic insomnia. However, that does not mean they should be ignored. On the contrary, they should be part of a more comprehensive treatment treatment program.

For a list of good sleep habits, click on the link to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's Sleep Education page.

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