Mindfulness helps veterans sleep easier

Mindfulness programs are effective in helping veterans  improve sleep, according to research presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

Two different studies were presented at the meeting held in Boston. In both, mindfulness programs were shown to improve total sleep time, reduce time between lying down and going to sleep (“sleep latency”), and decrease the frequency of nightmares in veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

In one of the studies, 20 veterans with insomnia (25 percent who also suffered from at least one of the following: PTSD, depression, anxiety/panic, pain/fatigue), took part in Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Insomnia for 8 to 10 weeks. Researchers found the mindfulness therapy improved sleep, especially in reducing sleep latency (the time between lying down and falling asleep) and reducing the frequency of having nightmares.

To read the article written by Boston Public Health Examiner Monica Wahi, click here.

For more coverage about mindfulness and the military here on Mindful.org, click here.

07/05/12

[Photo © Flickr.com/salihguler]