How to get a better sleep

February 03, 2009 | Patricia Nicholson

Doctor’s CD program helps patients rest easy by teaching skills required for a good night’s sleep

Trouble sleeping is a common complaint, but Dr. Edward Leyton of Kingston, Ontario, approaches getting a good night’s sleep as a skill that can be learned. His new CD set, Learn to Sleep Peacefully—Awake Refreshed, was produced to teach patients to do just that.

“I wanted to create something for doctors to say to their patients, ‘Here, use this CD—maybe that will help, before I prescribe,’ ” Dr. Leyton says. As a family physician, he ran a holistic practice for about 15 years, and now focuses on complementary and alternative care.

The first CD of the two-disk set is educational, covering sleep cycles and sleep hygiene. Many of Dr. Leyton’s tips target the habits that may make it difficult to fall asleep.

“For example, I talk about taking a half-hour before you actually go to bed to wind down,” he says. “A lot of people will watch the news, get upset and then go to bed. . . . That’s not the kind of thing that’s conducive to sleep.”

For worriers—those whose minds start to fret as soon as their heads hit the pillow—Dr. Leyton suggests rescheduling all that fretting.

“I suggest an actual conscious worrying period earlier in the evening,” he said. “Take 10 or 15 minutes and actually worry consciously. Bring up all the things that are bothering you and see if there are any solutions to them—sort of a brainstorming session for solving problems.”

Hypnotic language
The second CD is designed to put listeners to sleep. It opens with 15 or 20 minutes of hypnotic language, followed by about 45 minutes of ambient music that gets gradually quieter, with changes in beat to help bring brainwaves from an alert state into a sleep state.

Learn to Sleep Peacefully is Dr. Leyton’s third CD. He has also recorded a stress reduction CD and a CD for those who are anxious about flying.

“What I want to do here is create CDs that are easy for people to carry out themselves, so that they’re self-empowering. They don’t have to go to their doctor and get sleeping pills or Valium for stress, or anything like that. It’s easy for them to listen to the CD and learn a technique,” Dr. Leyton says.

“Obviously people really need that because there are so many stress-related illnesses, and doctors just don’t have the time to sit down with people.”

Dr. Leyton’s CDs are available through his website (Accessing Resources for Empowerment at www.arfe.ca), as downloadable MP3s or on CD via mail order.