Question

Application:
Practice motivational interview (MI) with someone that you know is struggling with inadequate sleep. Write-up your experiences to include what your efforts entailed (use MI terminology), how your efforts went, and how the individual responded. Briefly discuss your thoughts regarding MI and its value or lack of value when working with individuals to change behavior.

Answer 1

In the general population, insomnia is typically common and most insomnia patients remain untreated. Hypnotic drugs and CBT treatments are both effective, with many advantages over the former associated with the latter. CBT-I is a multi-component approach to cognitive-behavioral therapy and has gained ample validation from researchers and clinicians. Available data indicate that CBT-I is an efficient, and possibly cost-effective, insomnia treatment that provides both younger and older adults with safe, robust, and long-term benefits. Professional training on the part of the therapist would be required to offer structured CBT-I. Relaxation preparation, stimulus regulation therapy, sleep restraint therapy, sleep hygiene, paradoxical intention therapy, cognitive restructuring and other techniques are therapeutic treatments for insomnia. Research demonstrates that behavioural approaches are efficient, effective, and likely to be cost-effective treatments for insomnia that provide adults of all ages with safe, stable, and long-term benefits.

These safe lifestyle tips include other ways to encourage sleep:
•   Shortly before bedtime, stop big meals.
•   After mid-afternoon, avoid stimulants, such as caffeine.
•   Early in the day get daily exercise.
•   DO NOT take any naps.
•   Use the bed for sleeping or sexual activity only.
•   Get up every morning at the same time, ideally at a decent time, regardless of the amount of time you've been asleep during the night. The lack of sleep would help to make it easier for you to fall asleep the night before if you did not sleep well the previous night. However you will start to find it hard to sleep at night if you sleep late in the morning.
•   Adopt techniques for stress management and time management to reduce the lifestyle-related anxiety or other emotional disruptions. Similarly, take up hobbies and leisure activities that help you unwind. Make sure that any medical, psychological, or other problems that might interfere with your sleep are handled. Check with your doctor if any of the medications you are taking are messing with your sleep; if so, ask your doctor if they can be changed.