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In 2021, approximately 65.8% of the French population suffered from sleep disorders. In 30 years, our average sleep time has gone from 8 hours to just 6h30. A disaster for our health.
This lack of sleep increases :
Neurofeedback is an innovative method to treat insomnia in an effective and long-lasting way, regardless of its duration or severity.
It has many advantages over other insomnia treatments such as medication: no side effects, no addiction or risk of addiction…
Since 2010, the AABP (Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback) has classified neurofeedback as a Level 3 solution for the treatment of insomnia: this means it has a very high probability of success, with a solid foundation of clinical and scientific studies.
Studies by Martijn Arns and Pérez-Elvira (2019) show that after a Neurofeedback treatment, more than 90% of the patients’ EEG data improved (the brain functions better and is more balanced) and insomnia symptoms were reduced by more than 82%.
In addition to Neurofeedback, we use a variety of tools, tailored to your needs to treat insomnia.
Discover our practice by consulting the dedicated pages in the “Tools and methods” tab in the menu.
Thanks to the quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) used, the electrical state of the brain is accurately measured. A tired brain has a lot to tell us, we just have to listen to it.
Example of 2 Brainmaps obtained by qEEG of people with insomnia and fatigue
Here is what the brain of a person suffering from insomnia and fatigue can look like and the consequences:
Learn more about eeg, brain map and brain waves on the dedicated page Quantitative EEG & BrainMap →
Here is a typical example of results obtained after insomnia treatment with Neurofeedback (and neuromodulation):
Before neurofeedback: difficulty falling asleep, fatigue, anxiety, nightmares, cognitive problems (concentration, memory)
After 10 neurofeedback sessions: fast sleep, recuperative sleep, energy, motivation, disappearance of nightmares and reduction of anxiety
Neurofeedback has many benefits for many applications. In cases of insomnia and fatigue, Neurofeedback is a beneficial treatment:
Note: Always remember to check that you or your child does not suffer from sleep apnea. It is a severe impediment to the quality of your nights, which can have a negative impact on your health.
Many people think they are sleeping well, but they are wrong… Sleeping for a long time does not mean sleeping well. There are signs that tell us about the quality of our nights:
Do you want to know if your sleep quality is good? If you have good recovery capacities?
Do you suffer from insomnia but medication has not helped? Are you constantly exhausted?
Take stock of the state of your nervous system and the quality of your sleep: qEEG Brainmap with HRV measurement.
To find a solution to your insomnia, you must first measure it to identify the origin of your fatigue and insomnia. To do this, we use the EEG to measure the central nervous system (brain) and the HRV to measure the autonomic nervous system.
The HRV allows you to record an electrocardiogram over 24 hours: this way, you can measure your heart variability. That is to say how your heart reacts and adapts to the various activities of the day (sport, meals, work, relaxation…). The device is small and is installed on your chest for 24 hours, you just have to fill in an activity book.
This assessment has nothing to do with the polysomnography used in laboratories.
Balance of both systems for optimal operation
The parasympathetic system comes into play when we are active. It is especially activated in case of stress or threat. If we are built in an insecure or threatening environment, live under constant stress or experience psychological trauma, this system can remain chronically active and put our body in a state of hypervigilance. Its activation results in increased heart rate, blood flow and metabolism, release of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and increased brain activity.
In case of danger, these phenomena are useful for our survival. But when it is chronic, the long-term consequences are devastating. Constant sympathetic activity causes a rise in body temperature when it should be falling in order to fall asleep. High levels of cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine speed up the heart rate, making the transition to deep sleep difficult. And brain activity does not decrease in the part of the brain related to emotions (the amygdala) and memory (the hippocampus). This is how insomnia starts.
The medications most often used to treat insomnia are :
Natural supplements to help with sleep disorders:
Insomnia always has an origin! Do not neglect the impact of your environment on the quality of your nights. Identifying the origin of your insomnia allows you to find the appropriate treatment.
Stress, anxiety, ruminations, trauma, depression ... These are the first responsible followed by health professionals, holistic and natural care, relaxation, meditative activities ...
The blue light deceives the brain into thinking that it is still daytime and delays the process of preparing for sleep.
Soft light, calm atmosphere, relaxing music and temperature around 18-19°C.
Excess of sugar, coca, coffee... they are excitants (caffeine has an effect of action until more than 6 hours after the intake).
Working shifts, shifts or night shifts deteriorates the quality of sleep.
improve your diet (avoid fatty and heavy meals in the evening), stay sufficiently hydrated, engage in physical activities but not at the end of the day or too intensively.
Benefits | Conséquences |
|---|---|
Rest | Physical and mental fatigue, cognitive difficulties |
Cleaning of cells and toxins | Accumulation of toxins in the organs |
Cellular regeneration | Accelerated aging of cells |
Managing emotions through dreams | Accumulation of unpleasant emotions |
Too little sleep has short and long term consequences:
Our daytime metabolism is different from our nighttime metabolism. Normally, when we sleep we do not eat, our digestive organs must be at rest after 10 pm: this is how the internal biological clock works when we have a regular rhythm. If we eat after a certain time, we digest poorly and this negatively impacts the quality of our sleep.
Conversely, when we sleep badly with fatigue we will increase our food intake by favoring foods rich in fat, sugar and carbohydrates: the brain needs energy quickly and will demand it. This increases the tendency to snack regularly. Insomnia, fatigue and a deregulated diet/digestion drastically increase the risk of obesity.
Sleep is extremely important for our cognitive functions. For example:
A deficiency in slow wave sleep alters cognitive abilities, which increases the presence of senile plaques (beta-amyloids). These plaques in turn deteriorate the quality of sleep. An accumulation of plaques contributes to the appearance of Alzheimer’s disease.
In the case of ADD/ADHD, sleep disorders are similar to jet lag: their circadian phase is delayed (= falling asleep appears later in the night). This changes the sleep architecture and therefore the ability to recover is diminished. This process increases the sleep debt: the frontal lobes are under-activated. Cognitive functions are weakened because the brain is less efficient and attentional and memory capacities decrease: it becomes difficult to learn and school results decrease as the level of education increases.
Sleep and emotional or mood management are closely related.
In children as well as in adults, fatigue makes us agitated or even irritable (with behavioral problems) because we have fewer resources to self-regulate and manage ourselves. We lose our patience, we can’t stand change, we can get angry very easily…
In the case of depression and anxiety, it is common to have difficulty falling asleep or insomnia, drowsiness…
Check out our page on Anxiety →
Nature is well done: our brain knows when to sleep thanks to a specific process. At night, the absence of daylight activates a gland in the center of the brain: the suprachiasmatic nuclei which are the central biological clock of our organism. The activation of the nuclei will activate the pineal gland which will produce “the sleep hormone”.
Sleep gives the brain the opportunity to clean up its neurons worn out by wakefulness: to update and repair the connections they make with each other and to eliminate neurotoxic waste from its metabolism; then to replenish its energy to face the next period of wakefulness.
During the course of a night, 3 to 5 cycles are repeated, each consisting of different phases during which the nature of sleep changes. From light sleep, we go to a deeper phase, then to the famous REM sleep during which the cerebral activity is more intense and generates dreams.
Here is a healthy sleep architecture with deep sleep at the beginning of the night. Image source: https://www.inserm.fr/dossier/sommeil
Each sleep phase has specific brain waves, each playing a different role. Image source: https://www.britannica.com/science/electroencephalography
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We are not doctors or psychiatrists. Therefore, we do not diagnose, we do not prescribe medication, we do not cure illnesses and we are not an emergency center. We often help people reduce or even stop their medication in agreement with the health professional who follows you. Please note that you do not need a prescription or a diagnosis to make an appointment at Neurofeedback Luxembourg.
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