A doctor recommended for me to seek biofeedback, and I having trouble understanding it. First I'll give some preface so you know my situation.... So I've always been a real heavy sleeper, to the point where it can be extremely difficult for me to wake up to an alarm. Buts it's never really affected me until now, because I have a day shift job for the first time, where I have to be there really early in the morning. I'm now at risk of losing my job because of being late, and I have to do something about it. I have special alarms that are extra loud and some require me to solve puzzles and what not to turn the alarm off. Ive changed my diet, as well as stopped eating so close to bed time. I've cut back on my cannabis use because I've read studies that shown heavy cannabis users can have trouble waking up. But it's still happening. I'll either just sleep right through all of the alarms or I will get up and turn them all off without me even realizing what I'm doing. Even the days that I do hear my alarms and get up on time, it feels like a great battle just to get my ass out of bed. Last night I went to sleep around 11, and woke up this morning around 9:30......THREE AND A HALF HOURS AFTER MY FIRST ALARM WENT OFF. After frantically turning off all the alarms that are spread out all across my room, I decided to go to the doctor because I'm all out of ideas. Maybe I have sleep apnea? Chemical Imbalance? I don't know. But I do know that it's not normal for your body to completely shut down like that and not respond to any loud noises at all. They ran my blood work to check my thyroid, electrolyte levels, and other imbalances....but the doctor seemed to think my best bet is biofeedback. I didn't really understand what it is, and he didn't recommend a specialist, or give me any kind of source to seek this service out. He just told me to look it up online. An that it helped him to conquer a similar problem he had when he was younger. I've been looking into it but it all seems so confusing. And sounds expensive. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with biofeedback? Do you think it could help me? Is it anywhere close to being affordable??? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
I think he should have told u more about it than "just look it up online". I looked it up and it seems it has a variety of applications, but how to apply it to sleep issues I have no idea. And it seems like it would require some expensive medical equipment, tho the Wikipedia article says it can be practiced without any additional equipment I would imagine it would be hard to get started without it.
Biofeedback I know from psychology courses as something that.. well, it can help a person to regulate their unconscious bodily functions such as heart rate and blood pressure and I do believe it likely to be expensive and I have no idea it's use on sleep/wake issues- although I have heart that it can be truly beneficial to some people for various reasons. I used to have issues waking up in the morning and had problems when I was younger with some morning jobs because of sleeping through or turning off alarms in my sleep. For me, I am just not a morning person-wasn't then and still am not (though I am forced to be now)...the ONLY thing that helps me is going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day. When I do that I always wake up when I need to-when I don't it's anyone's guess.
I completely understand. Check out circadian rhythm disorders like Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (also called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome) and Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder (also called Free-Running Disorder). I have Non-24 which is rare and a disability. These are neurological conditions, not psychological. psychiatric drugs are sometimes prescribed but I personally caution STRONGLY AGAINST them.
