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Improving sleep & insomnia
Are you sleep-deprived or insomniac?
The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.
- E. Joseph Cossman
The fast-paced and highly competitive nature of the city, along with long working hours and high levels of stress, sleep problems are highly prevalent in Hong Kong. Studies have shown that many people in Hong Kong suffer from chronic sleep deprivation. According to a survey conducted by the Hong Kong Sleep Association, around 60% of Hong Kong residents sleep less than seven hours per night, which is considered insufficient for most adults. People reported insufficient sleep and difficulty falling or staying asleep.
Often times, people may misinterpret their lack of sleep and daytime drowsiness as a result of insomnia, when in reality, they are just sleep deprived. While insomnia is a sleep disorder that makes it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep even when given the opportunity, sleep deprivation is simply not getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is often caused by lifestyle choices like excessive screen time and irregular sleep schedules, but it can also be caused by disorders like sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome. It's important to differentiate between the two because while sleep deprivation can be addressed through deliberate lifestyle choices and healthy habits, insomnia requires more specialized treatment. Insomnia can also be a sign of other mental health difficulties.
This course 'Improving Sleep & Insomnia' is is designed for people who are experiencing sleep difficulties or are interested in learning about sleep health. In this module, we delve into how sleep science can improve our sleep quality and leave us feeling refreshed the next day. The module comprises three parts. In Part I, we explore the fundamentals of sleep, including what sleep drive is and how our brain's internal clock regulates our sleep-wake cycle (i.e. the circadian rhythm for sleep). We delve into the REM and non-REM sleep stages, sleep cycles, and the advantages of each sleep stage, as well as the risks associated with missing them. In Part II, we explore our sleep needs based on age and sleep pattern (otherwise known as the chronotype). This knowledge can help us identify our most productive hours for work and study, as well as our ideal bedtime. In Part III, we will examine the impact of modern lifestyle habits on sleep disturbance and deprivation. We will focus on the role of caffeine and alcohol consumption, prolonged screen time, travel across time zones, and irregular sleep schedules. By understanding these factors, we can adjust our daily routines and develop healthier sleep habits to ensure a good night's sleep. Finally, we will wrap up the module by examining the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for insomnia.
Our supplementary workbook offers a wide range of tools to help you get a better night's sleep. Discover if you're getting sufficient sleep or experiencing insomnia, determine your chronotype, and track your sleeping patterns. The workbook also provides multiple checklists and recommendations, including tips for sleep hygiene, safe nighttime sleep for older adults, and relaxation techniques.
We also have a guest speaker who will introduce you to various sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy, and the use of melatonin and sleep medications (Details to be confirmed).
If you are experiencing sleeping problems, it's important to seek medical advice to identify the root cause of your issues and find the most effective solution. While we cannot offer assistance with other sleep disorders, we offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia as an alternative to sleeping pills. Please book private sessions with us for comprehensive care.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia
Discovering Your Sleep
Let's work together to uncover your perfect sleep formula. We'll investigate your personal sleep style, preferences, surroundings, and even how you feel and think about sleep.
Sleep Restriction Therapy
This technique aims to optimize the time you spend in bed to closely align with your actual sleep time, thereby minimizing the time spent awake and reducing tossing and turning in bed.
Stimulus Control: Bed = Sleep
This technique tackles the negative association that can creep in after multiple unsuccessful attempts to catch some zzz's.
Relaxation Techniques
Physical and mental relaxation is a part of natural good sleep. By incorporating physical and mental relaxation techniques into your bedtime routine, you can experience a deeper, more restful sleep that allows us to wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
Setting the Right Mindset
To improve our sleep quality, it's important to understand the link between our thoughts, emotions and sleep habits. By identifying negative thoughts that can hinder sleep, we can develop effective strategies to overcome them.
Maintaining Progress
To help prevent relapse, we will work together to develop a plan that reflects on the things you've learned. If needed, you can always book a follow-up session in the future.
Therapist
Renee is a registered nurse in Hong Kong, and a Qualified Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner. She delivers Low-intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (LICBT)- based intervention to clients with mild to moderate anxiety and depression in public and private sectors. She has undergone additional training to effectively support clients with insomnia, obsessive compulsive disorder, health anxiety, and long-term conditions, and working with interpreters. She is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
She worked as an Assistant Teacher for the Science of Happiness credit-bearing module at the University of Bristol. She facilitated the learning and development of first-year undergraduate students in weekly happiness hubs, supporting them to build evidence-based wellbeing habits into their lives with findings from Positive and Cognitive Psychology.
Renee is pursuing a Ph.D. in Health Psychology, which helps her shape the resources and services at Person Centre with an additional emphasis on the relationship between mental and physical health, as well as general wellness.
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What are the limits of the Person Centre?There is no magical bullet. We don’t have the answers of what to do with your life and we cannot do the work for you. Our work is a collaborative and active process based on the guided self-help model. We can guide you to get deeper insights into your situation based on psychological science, and, together, we identify strategies and tools that can help. It does require you going away and putting them into practice to make a real change. We are a confidential service with the exceptions if there are concerns about your safety, or the safety of others. We are not a crisis service. Please contact these services if you need immediate mental health support. We are not able to offer you a formal mental health diagnosis. We are not trained to support you to manage certain mental health conditions. If we cannot offer support, we will try our best to signpost you to other services that better suit your needs. We cannot offer support while you are receiving other therapies. We have zero tolerance for aggressive, violent or abusive behaviour.
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Do you offer any low-priced option?We would never want money to restrict you from accessing support for your mental wellbeing. Please get in touch if you need to discuss a payment plan or a reduced fee option. We dedicate 5% of our profit to offer low-cost support individuals with financial difficulties. Families and friends can purchase gift vouchers to support your loved ones to access our service. You will only be charged if the voucher is used.
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Who will offer me the support?Renee is a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner who delivers Low-intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (LICBT)- based intervention to clients with mild to moderate anxiety and depression in public and private sectors. She has undergone additional training to effectively support clients with insomnia, obsessive compulsive disorder, health anxiety, and long-term conditions, and working with interpreters. She is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
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What equipment do I need to access the services at the Person Centre?We offer support through online platforms. You will need the Internet and a device such as a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone.
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How is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy different from Counselling?Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that helps you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. CBT does not remove your problems, but helps you manage them in a more effective way. It encourages you to examine how your actions and thoughts can affect how you feel. CBT is an active therapy and you will be expected to work on your problems between sessions, trying out different ways of thinking and acting, as agreed with your therapist. The aim is for you to develop the skills to become your own therapist. CBT is usually a short-term treatment. For example, a traditional course of CBT may consist of between 6-12 sessions. CBT differs from other types of psychotherapies because it is: pragmatic – it helps identify specific problems and tries to solve them highly structured – rather than talking freely about your life, you and your therapist will discuss specific problems and set goals for you to achieve focused on current problems – it is mainly concerned with how you think and act now rather than attempting to resolve past issues collaborative – your therapist will not tell you what to do; they will work with you to find solutions to your current difficulties Counselling is another type of talking therapy that allows a person to talk about their problems and feelings in a confidential environment. It helps individuals who want to understand issues causing their distress. It can provide a safe and regular space for you to talk and explore difficult feelings. This approach encourages reflection and exploration of underlying conflicts, as well as providing a listening, supportive and containing experience. Counselling can help you to: cope with a bereavement or relationship breakdown cope with redundancy or work-related stress explore issues such as sexual identity deal with issues that are preventing you from achieving your ambitions deal with feelings of depression or sadness, and have a more positive outlook on life understand yourself and your problems better feel more confident develop a better understanding of other people's points of view