Jason Ong, PhD | Rush University Medical Center



I have had insomnia in the past myself, so I do have a connection with how patients feel about not sleeping at night and the impact it has on their day. I think also for me, as a psychologist, insomnia is a very interesting disorder because it's really a mind-body disorder. So what we think about during the day often times can lead to sleeplessness at night. On the flip side of that, the way we change our behaviors and change our thoughts can actually improve our sleep. Most of what we do does not involve any medication or drugs. So these are behavioral approaches. Sometimes they are relaxation strategies. So for example, right now we have a study looking at meditation as a treatment for insomnia. Hopefully what we'll find is a new way to help people sleep better that doesn't involve drugs. And we can then bring that into our clinic, and offer that to future patients.