但凡你百度過“如何入睡”之類的話題，你肯定知道不少關于睡眠保健的小常識，比如“睡前洗個熱水澡”或是“晚上6點以后別吃東西”等等，這些竅門有助于打理你的入睡流程，提高睡眠質量。雖然有些諸如此類的建議的確挺有幫助的，但對于那些真正患有入睡困難癥的人（比如美國就有7000萬人患有睡眠障礙）來說，光靠這些小細節是遠遠不夠的。

美國亞利桑那大學醫學院睡眠與健康研究研目主任邁克爾?格蘭德納表示：“所謂的‘睡眠保健’就好像告訴你每天要洗手一樣，它可以防止細菌感染，但并不能治愈細菌感染。如果你已經患有睡眠障礙了，那么你就需要一些幫助了。”

下面就為飽受失眠困擾的朋友介紹一些不需要吃安眠藥也能入睡的小偏方，其中一些聽起來可能頗為奇怪：

刺激控制療法：很多人上床后喜歡做一些刺激性的事，比如看書和看電視，不過它們絲毫無助于睡眠。你要牢牢記住“上床=睡覺”這一準則。格蘭德納表示：“只要你在床上，你就要睡覺。如果你上了床還睡不著，就不要待在床上。”

這樣做是為了讓你的身體將床默認為一個只用來睡覺的地方。有些人在實行“刺激控制療法”的頭幾周，可能會感到自己被剝奪了一部分睡眠，因為他們一晚上可能得起床好幾次。不過這正是失眠認知行為療法的核心部分，這種療法就是要通過糾正人們的思想和行為來達到更好的睡眠質量。格蘭德納表示，這種方法雖然簡單，但效果十分強大。

限眠療法：聽起來有點諷刺對吧？格蘭德納表示：“對于一種失眠療法來說，這真是一個最糟糕的名字，但它的效果卻是驚人的。”這種療法需要有一個人來限制失眠者不睡覺時躺在床上的時間。

打個比方，你可能一晚上要睡8個小時，但真正睡著的時間只有5個小時，剩下3個小時的時間都醒著。如果使用這種療法，就會有一名醫生讓你夜里只在床上睡五個小時，然后就要起床。縮短躺在床上的時間可能會造成某種程度的睡眠不足，這樣的話，第二天晚上你就會感到更加疲勞。隨著睡眠質量的改善，你睡在床上的時間也會慢慢增加。但是格蘭德納也警告道，不要在沒有醫生監護的情況下嘗試這種療法，因為它還是有可能帶來一些負作用的。

矛盾療法：這一招“以毒攻毒”，是指要讓失眠者想方設法地保持清醒。格蘭德納指出：“這一招適合那些擔憂自己睡不著覺的人。如果你是一個有‘強迫癥’傾向的人，與其強迫自己睡覺，不如強迫自己醒著。”一旦擺脫了那種挫敗感，你就會放松下來，漸漸睡去。

生理反饋法：一名睡眠專家會把失眠者連到一臺機器上，失眠者可以看到自己的生理信號，比如心率、腦電波和呼吸模式等等。這樣失眠者就可以訓練自己降低這些生理信號的頻率，然后在睡覺時也可以使用這些技巧。

多階段睡眠法：這種療法背后的理念是，人們的睡眠時間并不是渾然一塊的。格蘭德納表示：“一般來說，人們經常會打幾個盹兒，即便是夜里，睡眠也是由兩三個大塊的睡眠時間組成的。”有些人的睡眠習慣可能迥異于常人，他們可以早早入睡，早早起床，做些工作，然后再上床睡覺。而且格蘭德納表示，這種睡眠模式也是完全正常的，而且可能是有益的。

多階段睡眠已經吸引了很多人的興趣，他們希望把自己的睡眠時間“砍”成小塊，一天零零碎碎地睡上幾次，好進一步提高工作效率。但是格蘭德納認為：“這并不是一個好點子，而且有可能是很危險的。好在這種習慣本身很難保持，大多數試過的人都堅持不下來。”

思維挑戰法：有些失眠的人會給自己反復強化負面思維，比如他們會想，如果他們不馬上睡著的話，第二天就會有非常可怕的事發生——比如遭遇車禍或是被公司炒魷魚什么的。格蘭德納表示，挑戰這種負面思維的方法之一，就是問問他們這種事情真正發生的機率有多大。在意識到這種可能性微乎其微后，失眠者也就釋然了。“這種方法為你提供了戰勝非理性思維的武器。”格蘭德納說。

冥想法：想象、冥想或呼吸訓練也有助于放松身心和改善睡眠。比如所謂“正念冥想”就主要注重呼吸訓練和集中精神力，它對健康的很多方面都有好處，睡眠醫生也認為它能改善失眠癥狀。格蘭德納表示：“冥想是為了在‘你’和你的感覺之間營造一些距離，這樣你的感觀就會產生自己的精神力。” （財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

Anyone who’s ever Googled “how to fall asleep” knows about the endless supply of sleep hygiene advice: tips, like “take a shower before bed” or “don’t eat after 6 p.m.”, that are meant to help clean up your bedtime routine and enhance sleep quality. Though some might be helpful, people who truly can’t fall asleep—like the 70 million Americans who have a sleep disorder—need more than small changes.

“Sleep hygiene is like being told to wash your hands: it can prevent an infection, but it can’t treat one,” says Michael Grandner, director of the sleep and health research program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine—Tucson. “If you cross the line to a sleep disorder, you need some help.”

Below are some of the strange-sounding, sleeping pill-free therapies a doctor may prescribe for people who can’t sleep.

Stimulus control: People tend to do stimulating things in bed that have nothing to do with sleep, like reading and watching TV. Try adopting a “bed = sleep” mantra. “When you’re in bed, you’re asleep,” says Grandner. “If you’re in bed and you’re not asleep, you get out of bed.”

The goal is to strengthen your body’s association with the bed as a place you only sleep. In some cases, people may feel a bit sleep deprived in the first few weeks of practicing stimulus control, since they may have to get out of bed a few times. But it’s a core part of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which targets a person’s thoughts and behaviors for better sleep, and Grandner says the therapy is simple and powerful.

Sleep restriction: Ironic, right? “This is the worst name for an insomnia treatment, but it’s shockingly effective,” says Grandner. In sleep restriction, another CBT-I practice, a person limits the amount of time they spend in bed not sleeping.

Imagine trying to sleep eight hours a night, but only succeeding for five of them, spending three hours lying in bed awake. Using this technique, a doctor may tell you to only spend five hours in bed and then get up. Reducing the amount of time spent in bed causes some sleep deprivation, which can help a person feel more tired the next night. As sleep improves, more time in bed is added. Don’t try it without a doctor’s oversight, Grandner warns, given the potential for side effects.

Paradoxical intention: It’s a fancy phrase for tricking yourself into trying to stay awake. “This is a technique used for people who are very worried about not sleeping,” says Grandner. “If you need to obsess about something, don’t obsess about trying to be asleep. Instead, obsess about trying to stay awake.” Getting rid of the frustration may help people relax and drift off.

Biofeedback: A sleep specialist hooks a person up to a device where they can watch their own biological signals, like heart rate, brain waves and breathing patterns. People can then train themselves to slow those measurements down and use those skills at bedtime.

Polyphasic sleep: The idea behind it is that humans don’t naturally sleep in one big chunk. “Traditionally, humans took naps, and even at night, sleep was often broken into 2-3 bigger chunks,” says Grandner. Some people may go to sleep early, wake up, do a task, then go back to bed—and Grandner says that’s totally normal and possibly beneficial.

Polyphasic sleep has caught on among those who think they can “hack” their sleep for more productivity by only taking short naps throughout the day. “This is not a good idea and likely dangerous,” says Grandner. “Fortunately, it’s really difficult to maintain and most people who try it can’t keep it up.”

Thought challenging: Some people lay awake and convince themselves that if they don’t fall asleep soon, something horrible—like a car crash or a layoff—will happen to them the next day. One way to challenge those thoughts is to ask people how many times that has actually happened, Grandner says. By making the case that those possibilities are very unlikely, people can let them go. “It arms you with some ammunition to combat irrational thoughts,” he says.

Meditation: Relaxing through imagery, meditation or breathing exercises can help the body ready itself for rest. Mindfulness mediation, which emphasizes focusing on breath and bringing your mind into the present., has been linked to a host of different health improvements, and sleep doctors think it can work for insomnia symptoms, too. “It’s all about creating some distance between you and feelings that can have a mind of their own,” says Grandner.