Types of therapy
At Paracelsus Recovery, sleep therapies are a cornerstone of our holistic treatment model. The aim of our sleep therapies treatment is to address any sleep issues and optimise your sleep quality.
What are sleep therapies?
Sleep therapy is a collection of treatments and techniques which aim to treat sleep conditions and improve the quality of your sleep. Sleep therapy works by helping you break any unhelpful patterns that are not supportive of sleep and create new ones that are conducive to more restful sleep. At Paracelsus, we use sleep therapies to treat sleep disorders as well as part of our comprehensive treatment for mental and physical health conditions. Forming the basis of our targeted sleep therapies are our extensive sleep diagnostics that monitor various metrics such as your brain waves, eye motions and heart rhythms during sleep. A central element of sleep therapy is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi). This evidence-based approach aims to help you identify any unhealthy sleep-related thought patterns, habits and behaviours and replace these with healthier ones. CBTi is regarded as the gold standard for treating sleep conditions and has been found to have a positive impact on insomnia symptoms, energy levels and overall well-being.
Biofeedback is another technique that can improve your sleep. By becoming more aware of various physiological functions such as your heart rate or skin temperature, you can learn how to manage them, having a knock-on effect on stress and relaxation. Improving your sleep hygiene is another key aspect of sleep therapy. This involves custom building health-supportive sleep habits and routines. In practice, this means modifying any nutrition and lifestyle habits that may influence sleep such as exercise, caffeine, smoking, alcohol, drug use and sleep-wake schedules. To this end, working with a personal trainer, working with a nutritionist and detoxing from any substances are elements of sleep therapy treatment.
What are sleep therapies helpful for?
As sleep is a fundamental pillar of health, sleep therapies can help treat a variety of conditions. These include sleep conditions such as insomnia, sleep apnea, sleep walking, narcolepsy and restless leg syndrome (RLS). Sleep therapies have many benefits. Not only do they promote healthy sleep habits, and address unhelpful sleep-related thoughts but they can also help to reduce dependence on sleep medication. While sleeping pills offer a short-term solution to sleep issues, sleep therapies aim to address the root cause of sleep issues. As these may stem from a variety of mental health or addiction issues, a 360-degree approach to treatment is key.
Sleep therapies can also be integral to treating a whole host of other mental and physical health conditions. The relationship between mental health and sleep issues is bi-directional; they can feed into one another. Therefore, sleep therapies can help treat mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD and OCD, as well as substance abuse disorders. Good sleep also has a vital role to play in improving physical health. Lack of sleep or poor-quality sleep has been linked to various physical health problems, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease. As a result, sleep therapies are central to treating physical health conditions holistically.
How are sleep therapies included in my programme?
In order to create your personalised plan of sleep therapies, we carry out a rigorous assessment of your health, including your sleep quality. This involves an elaborate sleep study that includes polysomnography tests, electroencephalography tests and multiple sleep latency tests. This enables us to determine whether you are getting enough good sleep and identify what’s preventing you if you aren’t. Using this information, we curate your bespoke, state-of-the-art sleep hygiene treatment programme. This includes a combination of multiple techniques depending on your unique needs.
Sleep therapy is personalised, taking your unique habits, routines and challenges into account to create a treatment plan that works for you. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi) will be a central part of your treatment programme. As will working closely with our nutritionists and personal trainers; nutrition and lifestyle play an important role in improving sleep disorders. Complementary therapies such as massage, meditation, yoga, reflexology and breathwork are included in your treatment plan to promote relaxation and help you unwind from any stress. Your schedule will also contain regular sleep times to ensure you can access REM sleep as well as regular relaxation periods.
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