#98 - Counting Sheep To Sleep
Tracing the origin of the old wive’s tale that ‘Counting sheep will help you sleep’ is difficult.
Regardless, it’s always important to see if a technique works, by looking at whether it has been scientifically tested.
And if you’re someone who has been doing one of our WINK Short Courses, you have learned how important it is to learn about Sleep Theories.
So what sleep theories can help us understand whether Counting Sheep works?
Harvey & Espie
In the early 2000s, a couple of Insomnia gurus published their own theories.
And these theories were about how thoughts and behaviours can create insomnia.
Prof Colin Espie provided a comprehensive set of inter-related factors that can move a person from being a ‘good sleeper’ to ‘insomnia’.
A unique factor he proposed was ‘Sleep Effort’.
Prof Espie reminded us that we should not chase sleep - we should wait for it to come to us.
Indeed, ‘Counting Sheep’ might be one of those techniques akin to putting in too much effort, and thus pushing away sleep.
From: Espie et al. (2006) Sleep Med Rev
Prof Allison Harvey’s model of insomnia shows that people develop insomnia initially due to racing thoughts that occur as soon as their head hits the pillow.
Racing thoughts then increase one’s alertness in bed.
The implication is that to reduce this heightened alertness in bed, one method is to directly deal with the racing thoughts.
Reduce the thoughts. Improve the sleep.
So does this mean that counting sheep is an effective technique?
Prof Harvey testing various cognitive techniques with people diagnosed with insomnia.
She found that when people with insomnia were told to imagine relaxing images, they fell asleep quicker. This was a great example of a method that blocked the typical mind racing that happens in bed.
But when those with insomnia performed a technique like counting sheep, they fell asleep later than usual.
What Could Be Wrong With Counting Sheep?
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Prof MG
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