chronic insomia...


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pisduck

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Apr 1, 2008
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hi people,

I have a friend who is suffering from chronic insomia for 1 year. She seems to be pretty healthy but just have difficulty falling asleep and sometimes for the whole night. Is there any way to help her? It is really stressing for her as this condition has been going on for some time.

I think she has seen both chinese doctor and western doctor but no improvement.

Any good sleep doctors around? What sort of specialist to see for insomia? Or any suggestions?
 

IMH's Sleep Clinic

may be can make an appointment on evaluation?

Insomia got many causes, may be stress, lifestyle, environment, medicine, food and drinks etc. Some people are just not a good sleeper, especially when people grow older.
 

thanks for the link. do you know how much are the charges?

My friend is not very well-to-do and I think if go IMH, it is not covered by company medical insurance right? (mental stuff are usually not covered)

Kind of sad in singapore where the medical bills are very high and not covered by insurance.
 

unforturnately no idea, usually specialist minimum charges are at least $70 and above for private patient.

May be can check with her HR, if referal by company doctor, it may be claimable. Another way is referal though govn polyclinic, there may be subsidies though that way.
 

well, a short-term medication would be to be drugged with sleeping pills. but that wouldn't solve anything :)
 

have a good workout before going to bed
bring down the body temperature too

watch boring shows on TV

yes, gotta agree by watching boring shows it'll make you wanna sleep. but most of the time if you have cable tv you'll just be so sian you'll switch to an interesting channel. hehe thats what i do...

hmmm as for workout. there are a few kinds of work out. one is like some stretches before going to bed or one is you do vigurous sports. even with both i would still think it will bring up body temperature.
 

nope she has a normal office job 9 to 5.

maybe I should really get her to make an appointment with IMH. but dunno if she wants due to the stigma associated with IMH.
 

nope she has a normal office job 9 to 5.

maybe I should really get her to make an appointment with IMH. but dunno if she wants due to the stigma associated with IMH.

Ask her to go to a polyclinic first, get a referral, will get B2 class rate.
 

nope she has a normal office job 9 to 5.

maybe I should really get her to make an appointment with IMH. but dunno if she wants due to the stigma associated with IMH.

my cousin works daily in IMH. if you need assistance just let me know... :)
 

oh i did a research project on sleep a while ago. generally to have a good night's sleep, avoid exercising 2 hours before bedtime, or any 'exciting' activities excluding sex.

playing games like FPS that increase arousal (not sexually, but your senses) and anxiety before sleeping is not good too. avoid tea and coffee or other caffeinated drinks 2 hours before sleep. warm milk helps, and turning down the lights and temperature makes it easier to have continuous sleep.

it is also recommended to have a little routine before bedtime every night. something that conditions your body so that it knows its time to go to sleep. it can be simply reading a book, or watching low-arousal (aka BORING!) tv shows, or just talking on the phone with your loved one(s).

also from personal experience, don't do homework or other things on your bed. initially you will tend to fall asleep doing homework on your bed, because your body thinks its time to sleep. but after a while, your body gets used to it, and when its time to sleep, your mind thinks its doing homework and keeps alert. i had a rough 6 months of sleep becuase of this, until i stopped doing homework altogether. slept soundly after that. teachers complained like mad. haha
 

I had problems sleeping in the past too. Found out that exercise does help a bit.

I signed up for a gym membership and regularly hit the gym (once every 2, 3 days) after work. Since your friend works till 5pm, there are quite a few gyms that have classes after 5. Can try relaxing stuffs like yoga, pilates, etc. Important thing is to context switch.

After gym walk around a bit, have a light dinner, go home, relax, bath. Once I hit the sack I conked out totally.

Do note that insomia have many causes and this probably helps only for some.
 

try not to take sleeping pills, anti depressants etc...

Seen too many young professionals citing stress and start taking stuff like prozac, domincom (excuse me if I didn't get the spelling right). Result, they get addicted to it and then start to pop it like candy insisting that they cannot function in their work without it....

Maybe ask your friend to give it a thought as to why she cannot sleep? Something she is stressed about, something that she keeps thinking of? Sometimes you cannot sleep because your brain is thinking too much at bed time and hence it keeps you awake.
 

why sometime i sleep for 4 hours then i cant sleep anymore?

like i was sleeping at 2am, woke up at 6am, flip here flip there cannot sleep liao, i got fed up and wake up and play game....


also, coffee wont really prevent sleeping.
 

...anyone else with sleeping problem - like me now? Hehehe
 

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