Neurotopia Neurofeedback and Sleep Disorders

Sleep problems can be attributed to neurological immaturity of childhood or correlated with attentional problems: bedwetting, sleep walking and talking, night terrors, anxiety-related difficulties falling asleep, and insomnia. Also among adult sleep disorders, promising evidence exists for alleviation of insomnia and sleep apnea.

Quick Relief

The first reported signs of change upon initiating brainwave training often relate to the quality of sleep. We believe that the principal mechanism of efficacy of neurofeedback training is that it normalizes self-regulation of physiological arousal, and the beneficial effects of the training on sleep can be explained in the same manner. When self-regulation is deficient, this should be most apparent when arousal level is least tightly regulated, i.e. during sleep in general, and during transitions between sleep stages in particular. With improved quality of sleep, you will simply feel better. There is an indisputable connection between insomnia and disorders of arousal such as anxiety and depression.

More Than Sleep

Sleep disturbance is a key feature of fibromyalgia. A survey of over 1000 patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) showed that prior to their illness fewer than 1 percent had disturbed sleep, whereas during their illness this rose to over 90 percent. The findings reveal that muscular aches and pains in a patient with fibromyalgia are frequently the result of the same processes that disturb their sleep. The same biochemical or hormonal imbalances that cause sleep disturbances also create muscular symptoms. The lack of deep sleep again impacts the pain symptoms setting off a chain reaction.