| The most effective therapy for the treatment of | | | | subjective ratings of sleep quality. |
| insomnia has been shown in studies to be cognitive | | | | In a well conducted study 46 patients with insomnia |
| behavioral therapy. It is much better than medication | | | | were randomized to receive CBT, zopiclone, or |
| to treat sleeplessness, and results in a significant | | | | placebo medication each night for six weeks.208 |
| improvement in sleep duration and quality without | | | | Sleep was assessed using sleep diaries and |
| side effects. | | | | polysomnography. CBT included sleep hygiene, sleep |
| To truly benefit from cognitive therapy, it is | | | | restriction, stimulus control, cognitive therapy and |
| preferable if you can have a few sessions with a | | | | relaxation. CBT was better than zopiclone for sleep |
| therapist trained in it. The first step it to replace | | | | efficiency, with an increase from 81% to 90% |
| negative thoughts ("I can't sleep without | | | | compared to zopiclone which stayed at 82% before |
| medications") with more positive ones ("If I take the | | | | and after treatment. CBT resulted in an increase in |
| time to relax, I can get to sleep without help from | | | | slow wave sleep and decrease in time spent awake |
| pills."). The underlying theory is that you "retrain" your | | | | at night. Six months after the end of treatment CBT |
| brain to learn to sleep peacefully and deeply again. | | | | resulted in better sleep efficiency using |
| Changing sleep habits is the second piece of cognitive | | | | polysomnography than placebo or zopiclone. Since |
| therapy. For example, using the bed and bedroom | | | | long term use of sleeping pills is not recommended, |
| only for sleep (no working or TV-watching in bed), | | | | what this study shows is that people with chronic |
| setting and maintaining a regular sleep schedule, | | | | insomnia really need to make the effort to get sleep |
| eliminating daytime naps, and minimizing or avoiding all | | | | behavioral therapy treatment, or at a minimum |
| together caffeine, alcohol, stimulants, and heavy or | | | | educate themselves through reading or online about |
| extremely spicy meals four to six hours before going | | | | the principles that are promoted in the types of CBT |
| to bed. Relaxation techniques such as progressive | | | | programs utilized in this study. |
| muscle relaxation often help. It involves alternately | | | | Meditation and gentle yoga can also help some people |
| contracting individual muscles and relaxing with | | | | fall asleep more easily as part of a cognitive therapy |
| exhalation; the individual goes progressively through | | | | program or on their own. Insomniacs often spend too |
| the body one-muscle group at a time. | | | | much time in bed trying to sleep, and the best thing |
| Behavioral changes are highly effective and persist | | | | to do is to get out of bed and read for a while or |
| for a longer period of time than drug therapy. About | | | | listen to soft music. |
| 80% of patients will show improvement. Time to fall | | | | So before you go for a prescription sleeper, try |
| asleep is reduced from 65 minutes to 35 minutes, an | | | | some of these 'side effect free' alternatives instead! |
| increase in sleep time of 30 minutes, and improved | | | | |