Sleep Hygiene Top Tips

The Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI) https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/ provides outstanding psychological resources both for clinicians and those looking to help themselves or others. I would highly recommend having a look through their website and bookmarking for future reference as their information is not only very complete, but refreshingly concise!

Their fact sheet on Sleep Hygiene is outstanding. Please see the following link to read the full article.

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/~/media/cci/mental%20health%20professionals/sleep/sleep%20-%20information%20sheets/sleep%20information%20sheet%20-%2004%20-%20sleep%20hygiene.pdf

To summarise, the article is a guide to 'Sleep Hygiene' that is, the things you can do to provide yourself with the best possible chance of a good nights rest and lists 15 top tips. 

1. Keep to regular waking and sleeping times.
2. Only try to sleep when you feel tired to avoid frustrated time 'trying to sleep'. *Contradiction with point 1 noted... see point 3)
3.  If you can't get to sleep for 20 mins get up and do something relaxing/boring then go back to bed to try again, then repeat if necessary.
4. Avoid all stimulants such as caffeine for 4-6 hours before going to sleep.
5. Avoid alcohol 4-6 hours before bed the same reason.
6. Train your body to use your bed only for sleeping by using the bed only when you want to rest (not watching tv, working etc)
7. Avoid taking naps in the day. If you do need a nap make it before 3pm and less than one hour.
8. Make a 'sleep ritual' to prepare your mind/body for sleep. This could be stretching/breathing or anything that is calming in the time period before wishing to sleep.
9. Having a hot bath 1-2 hours before bed. Research shows that sleeplessness can be caused by a low body temperature, thus by raising the body temperature in a bath is can make you drowsy and more able to sleep.
10. Don't clock watch. Constantly checking the time can reinforce anxious feelings and make it harder to sleep.
11. Using a sleep diary can be helpful to track progress (though do it without checking the time constantly!)
12. Regular exercise can assist with good sleep, though strenuous activity in the 4 hours before bed is not recommended.
13. Balanced diet. Sleeping on an empty stomach can be distracting, as can sleeping on a full stomach. A light snack can work well, as can warm milk that is a natural sleep enhancer.
14. Ensure your environment is right. A good temperature, quiet, dark and with adequate, comfortable space.
15. If you have a bad night sleep do not alter daily activities as this can promote insomnia. 

*I wonder if these tips will work on my 5 year old daughter??

Technology Use in Addictions Therapy

Wearable technology is being developed by Case Western Reserve University as an automatic alert system to aid people quit smoking, possibly the first time a mobile alert system has been used to aid addictions in such way.

Two armband sensors have been developed to demonstrate a 98% accuracy in determining movements associated with lighting a cigarette as oppose than other similar motions such as eating or drinking. When these sensors detect the specific movement pattern of smoking a short 'motivational' video message is automatically sent to the user via a smart phone app, with the intention of halting the thought process and stopping the act of smoking. 

The technology is being combined with an online platform that includes mindfulness training and an individualised stop smoking quit plan. In years to come is this what behavioural change therapy is going to look like? I think it is a great example of how increasingly intelligent technology can be used to benefit our health. 

Full article
http://thedaily.case.edu/tech-takes-cigarette-smoking/

Hobbies That Will Make You More Intelligent

Following on from https://healnowtherapyhypnosis.blogspot.com/2018/12/9-types-of-intelligence-infographic.html, Alison Courses recently put together a list of eight hobbies that will make you smarter. https://alison.com/messages/1466/8-hobbies-that-make-you-smarter-according-to-science- I have summarised the article below, while also adding in my own thoughts.

1. Photography. Altering various components in order to capture the right picture aids problem solving and sensory awareness. Editing photos can also be a challenging pass time that connects several different aspects of intellect and creativity.

2. Gardening. Soil bacteria releases serotonin in the brain, boosting positive feelings and learning. It is also good exercise (see below) while often requiring research and creativity in design.

3. Learning Music. Our brains constantly look for patterns to overcome problems, something which music learning aids us in doing. Learning music also takes high levels of both concentration and memory, while making your own music stimulates creativity.

4. Reading Literature. Gains intellectual and emotional stability through 'deep reading'.

5. Language Learning. Improves leadership, problem solving and planning skills that enhance creativity and intelligence.

6. Exercise Regularly. Stimulates proteins in the body that boost memory, learning, concentration and understanding.

7. Quizzes. Improve both subject specific knowledge and brain activity.

8. Meditation. Brain waves of monks in meditation shown to reach 'deeply compassionate state' where they could control brain activity.

To add to their list I suggest the following:

9. Arts and Crafts Like photography only perhaps involving even more aspects of intelligence. Arts use spatial, sensory and motor skills in mixing colour and shape to design and create. Painting, drawing, sculpting, making or computerised design requires a lot of brain power!

10. Puzzles. A bit like quizzes above. Crosswords, Sudoku, anagrams etc. Stimulate brain function through problem solving in logical, linguistic, maths, language and other subject specific themes.

11. Cooking. It takes a combination of several intelligence 'ingredients' to cook well, often while multi-tasking. From researching different recipes or specific diets, to mixing aspects of taste, colour, smells and textures in order to design unique creations, cooking uses tablespoons of creative grey matter, as well as elements of spatial, naturalist and intra-personal intelligence. 

12. Video Games. Many people on the street will tell you video games are making children less intelligent. I don't necessarily agree. If used in the correct way, in proportional amounts, I am an avid believer that interactive tech, such as video games, can be more intellectually stimulating than reading a book. They are more multifaceted, including reading, looking at pictures, videos, sounds and touch, while they can also be very social as games now link people all across the globe interactively. Like books, there are video games now about every subject matter you can think of, so potentially you can find video games that concentrate on any type of intelligence.

13. Travel. Is travel a hobby? Debatable. But travel means you encounter new places, people, language and scenarios plus experiencing the logistics of successfully moving yourself, your belongings and possibly your group around. You will learn intra-personal, interpersonal, linguistic and spatial skills in particular.

14. Sports. I would be tempted to group this with 'exercise'. Sports give you all the benefits of exercise while in addition including several cognitive and social challenges in playing competitively and/or in teams. Learning and teaching new techniques, adjusting training, tactics and strategy to aid performance, multi-tasking... there is a lot of cognition in sports. Lots of major sportspeople are labelled 'dumb' in the media, but I would say at least in some aspects of the spectrum top sports stars are off the scale in areas such as spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.

Have I missed anything from the list? Which hobbies do you think are best for boosting intelligence?


See also https://healnowtherapyhypnosis.blogspot.com/2013/08/25-ways-to-make-yourself-more.html

https://www.betterhelp.com/online-therapy/

Adolescent Online Counselling

The Problem

Being young can be incredibly challenging. Adolescents can have all the problems an adult might experience with the added bonus of the raging emotional turmoil of teenage hormones, plus a very volatile social environment where in-group/out-group themes can feel like everything. At that age you don't know its normal to feel up and down and its likely you don't really understand why you feel the way you do.

On the extreme end of the spectrum, Japan has seen a thirty year high in youth suicide https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46096626  while there have been recent similarly concerning findings in the UK https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/04/suicide-rate-rises-among-young-people-in-england-and-wales

Adolescents can feel angry, depressed, scared, lonely, frustrated and very much in need to talk to someone - but talking to someone they know could be the very last thing they would want to do for a variety of reasons. They can feel embarrassed or ashamed to own up to their problems, too emotionally insecure to put such trust in someone close to them. Teens can readily feel the pressure of expectation from family, friends and school, networks that should exist to help them can end up having an opposite, negative effect.

How Can Counselling Help?

Counselling and advice services can provide help to teens by supporting them in a confidential, non-judgemental and near anonymous format. Services can take the form of face-to-face counselling, phone calls or online through webchat, email or forums.

Counselling is the most common form of talking therapy and can help young people deal with their issues and the impact they have been making upon their mental wellbeing. The counsellor will help explore the individual's problems and symptoms, and will aim to develop coping strategies to use in future scenarios.

Counselling can address a wide range of problems from anxiety, depression, bullying, relationships and self-harm, but is not recommended for more serious mental conditions which require more specialised treatment plans.

Different Types of Counselling

https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/parents-guide-to-support-a-z/parents-guide-to-support-counselling-services/ names these different types of counselling:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
The approach of CBT is about thinking more positively about life, looking at  how you can get stuck in patterns of behaviour and ways of changing these rather than dwelling on past events. There are typically six or 12 weekly sessions and the therapist sets goals with the young person, often with ‘homework’ to do in between.

Mindfulness
Mindfulness is often combined with CBT and helps a young person to focus on difficult thoughts and feeling, rather than avoiding them, so that the fear of them gradually lessens. Therapists can also include meditation, yoga and breathing exercises.

Psychotherapy
This is a more long-term therapy and involves talking about the effects of past events and can be more helpful with long-term problems such as depression or eating disorders. NHS psychotherapists work in clinics or hospitals; some private psychotherapists work from home.

Family Therapy
The whole family works with the family therapist to try and understand the problems they are all having. It can help improve communications between family members and issues such as children’s behavioural problems, disability, family breakdown, addiction and domestic violence.

Online Counselling

The modern adolescent is very much at home with using technology in the form of smart phones/social media to communicate. With this in mind https://www.teencounseling.com/ has developed a system whereby teens receive counselling over their smart phones in webchat style forums, ideal for individuals who struggle to open up in a face to face environment.

9 Types of Intelligence Infographic

We often hear references to different types of intelligence, how x person has a y type of intelligence and how that relates to their personality. This info-graphic courtesy of https://blog.adioma.com/9-types-of-intelligence-infographic/ really makes a wonderful succinct summary of the different intelligence types.

Where would you place yourself?