Ok, so the world has changed. A lot. We all have higher anxiety, more sleepless nights and many of us are googling things that hardly put our mind at ease. We have been staying at home for a while now and we don’t know when it’s going to end. With all of the uncertainty in the world, it is clear … Read More
4 Tips for Managing Coronavirus Stress
Anxiety and stress about the coronavirus are already taking a toll on our mental health. Feelings of isolation, worry about finances and fears about the state of the world are at all all-time high. As things around us feel more uncertain, here are a few stress relief tips that can help you stay on top of your mental health and … Read More
Why your FitBit is making your sleep worse
Wearable sleep tracking devices are ubiquitous these days. As a therapist who focuses on sleep, I often have clients show me their FitBit data and how much “deep sleep” and REM they are getting. This is something that will bring clients to my office in the first place. One of the first recommendations I make is to stop wearing the … Read More
Chronic Pain and Your Brain
In my practice, I find that many of the people I work with may not be completely aware of how powerful the mind can be. Particularly when we experience any physical pain, our first thought is often what medication to take or what can a doctor do to fix this quickly. Pain-killers or injections tend to be the first stop … Read More
Mind/Body Connection: How The Brain Affects Our Health
Most of us don’t pay much attention to the way our thoughts impact us on a daily basis. We go about our day and let our minds run, not even noticing what our mind is actually doing. Though, for many of us, the way our brain functions impacts how our body feels in a profound way. Medicine has evolved in … Read More
The 3 Biggest Myths That Are Hurting Your Sleep
Lately it feels like we are inundated with news about the importance of sleep. A few recent headlines include: “losing just 16 minutes of sleep can affect next day’s performance”, “you’re not getting enough sleep and it’s killing you” and even “insomnia can kill you.” When we read headlines like this, it understandably creates fear and stress. Many people don’t … Read More
Why People Don’t Meditate Even Though They Should
As a therapist who helps people with issues like anxiety and sleep, I want to focus on one of the most helpful things we can all do for ourselves: meditation. You already know all about the benefits of meditation. Yup, you’ve heard how meditation helps the brain, helps you relax, it provides stress relief and can even be good for … Read More
Healing Trauma with EMDR Therapy
Trauma can be a difficult thing to define. We think of trauma as a really distressing experience, or an emotional response to a disturbing event. I often encounter people who feel that something difficult they have been through shouldn’t be defined as trauma. Perhaps it wasn’t life threatening, or they feel that it wasn’t “bad enough.” But the truth is, … Read More
Should I try Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-i)?
If you are like many people reading this, you struggle with your sleep. Maybe you have trouble falling asleep, or it might be hard to stay asleep through the night. You are a light sleeper and wake up tired every morning. Or maybe you envy your spouse or friends who are “good sleepers” and make it look easy. You might … Read More
What is EMDR?
EMDR uses eye movements, sound or pulses to stimulate both sides of the brain, called bilateral stimulation. Focusing on a disturbing event or traumatic memory, along with the bilateral stimulation can help us to re-process the memory so it doesn’t feel as upsetting. It allows us to see and remember disturbing material in a new and less distressing way. During … Read More