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!)
If anybody else suffers from insomnia, I am empathetic. I can't help but wonder if this is a #FirstWorldProblem, though.