Can relaxation, sophrology and meditation help with insomnia?

"Some people have the ability to fall asleep within minutes, but I'm guessing that's not the case for you right now." So listen to me. Concentrate...", suggests the sophrologist in a soft voice at a regular tempo, during an online session intended to restore quality nights. Is it really effective? It depends… “To combat insomnia, I did sophrology for four years, but it wasn’t really that,” says Evelyn, in her sixties. So, what about this technique or alternatives to medications like relaxation or meditation? How are they useful to the insomniac?

“These techniques alone are incapable of solving the problems. The only non-drug approach whose effectiveness is currently agreed upon is behavioral and cognitive therapy for insomnia (iCBT),” warns Joëlle Adrien, neurobiologist and emeritus research director at Inserm. They can nevertheless help the insomniac to slip into the arms of Morpheus, since CBT at the same time allows him to understand how the shift between wakefulness and sleep occurs, and what behaviors to adopt and what to do. preconceived ideas that must be gotten rid of.

“Anxiety is often present in insomniacs. With it, increased muscle tone and negative thoughts that prevent falling asleep or maintaining sleep,” comments Charlotte Chaumereuil, neuropsychologist at Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. “The idea is therefore to reduce this anxiety, whether by controlling breathing, relaxing all the muscles or mental imagery. » And it doesn't hurt to start by getting started with the practice with a few sessions with a therapist. For example, to learn to relax your muscles and free yourself from all the tensions accumulated during the day.

“We can achieve this by following several methods, such as progressive relaxation or autogenic training,” continues the neuropsychologist. Developed in the last century by the American doctor Edmund Jacobson, and can be performed sitting or standing, the first consists of tensing, then successively releasing all the muscles from the feet to the head, inhaling before each contraction, and exhaling for a long time. when the tension is released. The second, developed a little later by the German doctor Johannes Heinrich Shultz, is a self-hypnosis technique where you must concentrate your thoughts on your body. Breathing, again, plays an important role.

Also read: Progressive muscle relaxation, this valuable method for falling asleep easily

Relaxation and breathing are also at the heart of sophrology, yoga and various practices such as mindfulness meditation. Psychiatrists and psychologists, however, point out the risks of these practices in cases of psychological disorders. Moreover, four years ago, during a consensus conference on insomnia, the French Society for Sleep Research was not very positive: it considered that it lacked substantiated evidence for mindfulness therapies or sleep research. hypnosis, not having data for sophrology, and having an insufficient number of studies for yoga.

At the Center for Sleep and Vigilance at the Hôtel-Dieu, Professor Damien Léger also urges caution, emphasizing the absence of “a recognized relaxation diploma.” “The level of people claiming these sophrology or relaxation techniques varies greatly, sometimes none. » You should seek advice from your doctor.

As effective as they are, iCBT today seems to lack therapists. Hence the interest in remote sessions, online or via apps. The period of confinement linked to Covid made it possible to validate the first ones. As for online programs such as that (paid) of TheraSomnia and apps such as the British Sleepio (paid) or the French Kanopée (free), these devices remain under evaluation. But they could replace therapists when the insomnia is not too severe, with immediate treatment.