Daily Mail - 30.07.2019

Page 27

I can’t play screen mum

to child who’s not mine,

says Natalie Portman

SHE has played everyone from Anne

Boleyn to a Star Wars heroine throughout

her wide-ranging career.

But it seems that the role Natalie

Portman is most uncomfortable

playing on screen is a mother.

Miss Portman, 38, who has son Aleph,

eight, and two-year-old daughter Amalia

with husband Benjamin Millepied, said: ‘I

just feel weird if I’m at work pretending

to be a mum to some kid who’s not my kid.

So, I’ve been trying out wild experiences

like being an astronaut or a pop star.’

Portman will play an astronaut in the

forthcoming Lucy In The Sky as well as

the ‘female Thor’ for the fourth film in

Marvel’s Thor fantasy franchise.

The Oscar-winning actress, who rose to

fame in Luc Besson’s Leon aged 13, said

that women spend their lives ‘fighting

against only being valued for your looks’.

She told Harper’s Bazaar: ‘It becomes a

very tenuous thing, to be defined by the

gaze of others, the opinion of others. And

beauty is, by definition, ephemeral, it’s a

thing that you can’t trap in time. So, to

make a lifetime worthwhile and have

meaning cannot rest on beauty.’

Miss Portman has been vocal in her sup-

port of the #MeToo and Time’s Up cam-

paigns and recently said that she had built

new friendships as a result.

She added: ‘I’ve been inspired by the

many women I’ve met through Time’s Up

... who are doing such impressive creative

work. They are inspiring activists and also

great friends. Whenever I think I have too

much to handle, I see what they’re doing

and know I can do more.’

The September issue of Harper’s Bazaar

UK is on sale this Friday.

Cover girl: The Oscar-winning actress says ‘beauty is ephemeral’ as she poses for the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar

Mothering role: With son Aleph, eight

By Jennifer Ruby

Senior Showbusiness Correspondent

Mothering role: With son Aleph eight

Therapy better

than pills if you

have insomnia

INSOMNIACS should be

prescribed therapy

instead of sleeping pills, a

study suggests.

It found cognitive behav-

ioural therapy (CBT) tailored

to tackle insomnia was bet-

ter than medication, leading

to ‘effective and enduring

improvements in sleep’.

The analysis of 13 studies

involving several hundred

patients found CBT helps them

fall asleep up to 30 minutes

quicker on average and reduces

waking up during the night.

The researchers from Queen’s

University in Canada said that

compared with sleeping pills, the

therapy ‘has been shown to be

superior in reducing symptoms

of insomnia and in maintaining

sleep improvements for years’.

Patients slept better after only

four to six sessions of therapy.

Most courses of CBT for

insomnia begin with a rigid

sleep-restriction regimen to

stop patients lying in bed awake

at night for prolonged periods.

They are told to leave the bed-

room after 20 minutes of strug-

gling to get to sleep and limit the

hours they spend in bed. Even-

tually sleep deprivation over-

rides any anxiety they feel at

bedtime and slumber follows.

The technique also involves ses-

sions with a therapist and steps

such as reducing caffeine, cut-

ting back on napping and keep-

ing a sleep diary to identify what

might be causing the problem.

GPs can refer people for CBT

on the NHS but patients often

face lengthy waiting times to

get it. Doctors can also pre-

scribe sleeping pills but these

can be addictive and lose effec-

tiveness over time.

Professor Juliet Davidson,

author of the study published

today in the British Journal of

General Practice, said: ‘There is

now a way for GPs to help

insomnia sufferers without pre-

scribing drugs. Widespread

studies have established that

cognitive behavioural therapy

for insomnia (CBT-I) is effective

and lasting. It works well to get

patients sleeping well again.

‘Current medical guidelines

recommend CBT-I rather than

sleeping pills.’

Up to a third of British adults

suffer some form of insomnia.

The sleep disorder is often

triggered by stress and can lead

to irritability, feeling low and

daytime tiredness.

Professor Helen Stokes-

Lampard, chairman of the Royal

College of GPs, said: ‘Sleeping

tablets can seem like an obvious

treatment option but they are

not usually effective for more

than a few days and GPs will use

them only as a last resort.

‘CBT tailored to insomnia has

been a first-line treatment

option for some time and many

patients have found it benefi-

cial, so it is really positive that

its effectiveness has been shown

by this research today.

‘Unfortunately, access to treat-

ments such as CBT in the NHS

can be extremely difficult to

come by and is very variable

across the country.’

She added that GPs should be

given access to more psycholo-

gists trained in CBT.

By Eleanor Hayward

Health Reporter

‘Sshh! I’m trying to sleep!’

Picture: PAMELA HANSON/HARPER’S BAZAAR
Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019