Insomnia, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and a 1000 year old Herbal Guide to Health
I had a 2-night episode of insomnia this week. Before that, I went months without an episode. If you're interested in reading about my initial battle(s) with insomnia, check out this post.
Therefore, I thought I'd talk a little bit about insomnia and also put in a plug for my Cognitive Behavioral Therapy workbook by Knaus and Carlson that helped me through it.
Tacuinum sanitatis, based on an Arabic work Taqwim al-Sihha bi al-Ashab al-Sitta (Rectifying Health by Six Causes), is a Medieval Health Manual outlining the six things every woman needs for her health and wellbeing. Here is a good summary by Daunay, Janick, and Paris, 2009:
[The Tacuinum Sanitatis] was a guide for healthy living written by the Christian physician and philosopher Abu al-Hasan al-Mukhtar ibn al-Hasan ibn ‘Abdun ibn Sa’dun Ibn Butlan (d. 1063), who was born and educated in Baghdad and whose travels took him to localities that are today in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Israel, and Turkey. The Taqwim was a guide for healthy living, based on ancient philosophical concepts of Greek sciences. It summarized in tabular form information on some 280 health-related items, in particular food and especially vegetables and fruits. A Latin translation of the Taqwim was commissioned by the Court of Sicily towards the middle of the 13th century, and was to become known as Tacuinum Sanitatis. One hundred years later the first illuminated copies of the Tacuinum Sanitatis were commissioned.
If you want to pay over $2000, you can obtain a facsimile of the illuminated copy.
Anyway, the six causes of good health are, according to Wikipedia:
- Food and drink
- Air and the environment
- Activity and rest
- Sleep and wakefulness
- Secretions and excretions of humours
- Changes or states of mind (happiness, anger, shame, etc.)
According to Ibn Butlan, illnesses are the result of changes in the balance of some of these elements, therefore he recommended a life in harmony with nature in order to maintain or recover one's health. 1
Photo Credit
I try to keep a good attitude about my struggle with insomnia; after all, a lot of people have a lot harder struggles than I do. So here's a somewhat amusing depiction of a hospital ward for insomniacs (which I think would definitely give me insomnia!)
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If anybody else suffers from insomnia, I am empathetic. I can't help but wonder if this is a #FirstWorldProblem, though.
Given the writings you mentioned, from so long ago, it seems like insomnia has been an issue across ages and cultures. I've had a few times in life where good sleep was hard to come by. I sure do appreciate that I sleep well now. I hope you are able to sleep well, too, more and more.
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Good point, that insomnia was mentioned so long ago that it may just be indicative of the human condition! I find it really interesting from an evolutionary perspective that sleep is so vital to human health and yet it can be difficult for some to sleep. There is even a genetic disorder, Fatal Familial Insomnia.
Insomnia is a strange thing. I think it would be very odd if I all of the sudden couldn't eat, experiencing a mental inhibition, not a physical inhibition. Or if all the sudden I had a mental inhibition to drinking water. Or if I suddenly had a mental block about breathing.
I guess my point is that if something is so vital to health and survival, why can we develop a mental inhibition towards it?
Thanks for the kind words about insomnia. I, too, appreciate a good night's sleep!
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Our human brains are so strange sometimes, that's for sure! And then there are the rare folks that don't need very much sleep. And the polyphasic sleep folks that sleep for several short periods each day. There is a lot to sleep!
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