Developing a routine that triggers sleepiness is the best way to deal with insomnia, clinical psychiatrists said on Saturday during a seminar held by the Taiwan Society of Sleep Medicine on chronic insomnia.
Taoyuan Chang Gung Medical Hospital Sleep Center doctor Wu Chia-shuo (吳家碩) said one in every 10 people in Taiwan suffers from chronic insomnia, adding that treatment in Taiwan is still mostly centered around medicine, which does not address the root of the problem.
While hypnotics or sleeping pills can put the brain into resting mode and aid sleep, there are many side effects: The body could become dependent on the drug or build up a tolerance to it, he said.
Sleeping pills put the brain into sleeping mode, but the body does not receive the same orders, which might result in sleepwalking, Wu said, adding that in one case, a patient got up to cook and eat after falling asleep while on pills.
Doctors around the world are beginning to introduce their patients to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) rather than prescribe medication, because it achieves the same effects in the early stages and outperforms drugs in the long term, he said.
This method of treatment also cuts down on a patient’s dependency on drugs, Wu added.
CBT aims to change insomniacs’ behavior and concept of sleep, he said.
Insomniacs often have rigid ideas regarding sleep, for example that they must fall sleep before 11pm, but they often work or use cellphones before going to bed, Wu said, adding that these habits can cause presleep anxiety and do not allow the body to relax.
Different groups have different reasons for not being able to sleep, he said, adding that students often suffer from insomnia at the beginning of semesters because their schedule is different from when they were on vacation.
Workers often cannot sleep because of stress from work, while the elderly suffer from insomnia due to not being active enough or sleeping during the day, he said.
To prevent insomnia, Wu said individuals should develop a personal routine, such as taking a shower before bed or keeping a journal in which they write about their day’s worries, that tells their body when it is time to sleep.
Another method is finding time to relax, whether it be by practicing yoga, doing stress-relieving activities or listening to music, Wu said, adding that if an individual is relaxed they should be able to fall asleep more easily.
Wu also said that people should avoid working, using their cellphones or watching television when in bed, allowing beds to remain a place for sleep only.
Should individuals have trouble sleeping after lying in bed for 30 minutes, if they wake up during the night on a weekly basis, or if they wake up early three times in a row for three consecutive months, they should visit their nearest clinic or hospital before their sleep pattern becomes a vicious cycle, he said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods