Cork Cognitive Therapy

14/05/2021

15/04/2020

Hi all, I dare you to listen to this song and not feel better, feel free to share the happiness and let me know how you got on, Paul

Share funny stories about this video here.

10/04/2020

Let’s create a happy song playlist…more of that later!

I woke up this morning happy! Now I have many reasons why this should not be the case including a virus that wants to meet me! But when I get up feeling this I always gravitate towards happy things.

One of my happy things is music and here I might digress just to tell a story.

Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole was born in Honolulu in 1959 and started playing music from the age of 11. I was listening to the radio one morning and the guy who used to own a recording studio was telling a story about a late night call he got requesting the use of the studio.

Kamakawiwoʻole called the recording studio at 3 am. Bertosa said, "And in walks the largest human being I had seen in my life. Israel was probably like 500 pounds. And the first thing at hand is to find something for him to sit on." A security guard gave Kamakawiwoʻole a large steel chair. "Then I put up some microphones, do a quick sound check, roll tape, and the first thing he does is 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' He played and sang, one take, and it was over.”

Unfortunately Kamakawiwoʻole died in 1997, just 38 years old but he left one of the most brilliant, simple, happy songs, his version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and this brings me back to my happy mood.

So here I share it with you, and I want you to experience the happiness I get from from it. Take a moment, sit and left your mind wander…Do you have a happy song! Please share and lets create a happy song playlist together...

Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole's Platinum selling hit "Over the Rainbow" OFFICIAL video produced by Jon de Mello for The Mountain Apple Company • HAWAI`I Check o...

03/04/2020

Hi all, just to let you know we are offering online therapy using Skype and it's working very well. I suppose we have to embrace the new methods in this time. If interested give me a ring at 087 7055030, email info@cognitivetherapy.ie. Stay well. Paul

25/03/2020

Hi all, just a few thoughts to consider in this time. We are all facing considerable change in our lives at the moment and for the foreseeable future. These changes require adjustment which is not always easy. Having experienced this in my own home I decided to post a few bits. The first thing is that the basics are important, sleep well, eat well and try and get some exercise.

Here I will focus on the sleep bit. If your having trouble sleeping the best and most efficient change you can make is to have a regular bedtime and a regular up time. I think that this sets up our circadian rhythm into a nice routine and when we get into bed our bodies and mind recognise now is the time to switch off.

Put the phone away a few hours before bed, you don't need to be stimulated, you need to wind down.

Lower the temperature in the bedroom (I always have a window open). Your body needs to drop temperature to fall asleep so if your hot this won't happen!

Dim the lights in the hours before bed to get your body ready for sleep.

Limit your caffeine intake! Caffeine has a half life of between 5 and 7 hour. This means that 50% of the caffeine in that cup of coffee at 10am is potentially still in your system at 5pm! If your drinking many cups of tea and coffee during the day the caffeine is building all day. Caffeine stops adenosine entering the body and adenosine is the thing that makes you tired. If you don't feel tired you won't sleep (had to go to college for many years to make that statement!) :-)

Sorry to say that caffeine and wine are related. We have so much caffeine during the day we can't relax at night, so we have some wine to help us relax and this disrupts the quality of sleep, so we can wake up tired and then we use caffeine to wake ourselves up, and on...

If you get into bed and can't sleep use a simple breathing technique. Slow and deepen you breath as much as you can, but ensure that it is always comfortable. Once you are at the right depth and speed shift your attention to the rise and fall of you chest. Try and focus on the rise/fall and if your mind wanders it's fine, just come back to the rise and fall of your chest.

Finally, if you still can sleep don't lie in bed frustrated that you can't sleep! Get up for few minuets, shake off the frustration and then get back into bed. Don't reward yourself for getting up, just walk around until the frustration retreats and then back to bed. This is like a reset switch and the body will have another go at getting to sleep.

Hope this helps, Paul

20/03/2020

Hi All, just to let you guys know that I am still at my desk! We are now offering therapy online and it's working really well. Stay well, Paul

03/03/2020

A happy song to start the day off...

Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole's Platinum selling hit "Over the Rainbow" OFFICIAL video produced by Jon de Mello for The Mountain Apple Company • HAWAI`I Check o...

01/03/2020

Hi All,
I have a big favour to ask. I'm currently doing a Masters and I begun the thesis. I'm looking at Anxiety and its relationship with various factors in the development stage and the outcomes.

I would really appreciate if you guys would consider completing this survey. It is a little long, but may be interesting.
Many thanks, Paul.

Qualtrics sophisticated online survey software solutions make creating online surveys easy. Learn more about Research Suite and get a free account today.

17/02/2020

What are the most restful activities? Claudia Hammond, author of 'The Art of Rest' discusses the results of the world's largest survey on rest to reveal all. Video by Samira Choudhury/BBC Motion Gallery This interview was originally broadcast as part of the BBC Radio 3 'Free Thinking' series, which....

07/02/2020

First I would like to apologise in advance to all the coffee addicts for this post!

We all love our shot of coffee in the morning but did you know that the caffeine has a half life of between 5 and 7 hours.

This means that half the caffeine from a cup of coffee at 9am is still in your system at 2pm. If you're like me you might have had 2 or 3 more cups in the meantime.

Warning tech bit coming!

Caffeine crosses the blood/brain barrier and blocks Adenosine from entering your system. Adenosine is an important part of sleep regulation as it’s the thing that makes you progressively tired as the day goes on, and then you sleep properly, and when you sleep properly lots of magical things happen!

So golden rule! if you have a problem sleeping, no caffeine 10 hours before bed.

22/01/2019

Love this!
It's a breath of fresh air and tells us what is important.
Enjoy, Paul

We asked three centenarians what their most valuable life lessons were, and also their regrets. The conversations that followed were remarkable. They talked ...

19/12/2018

Hi all, Happy Christmas! I ahve included a radio interview that I recently did with P.J. Coogan on 96fm's opinion line. We were chatting about social anxiety at this Christmas time of the year.

A radio interview about how to deal with social anxiety particularly at Christmas with office parties. Cork Cognitive Therapy with PJ Coogan of 96fm.ie