A recent study found that people who are insomniacs and get cognitive therapy through the Internet may experience more severe symptoms than those who only receive guidance to improve their sleep.
The researchers randomly selected 1700 insomniac patients, either for online cognitive behavioral therapy or by teaching healthy sleep habits and behaviors aimed at improving the normal sleep schedule and encouraging the avoidance of substances such as caffeine and alcohol that can affect sleep.
Behavioral cognitive therapy can train patients in ways to overcome the mental (or cognitive) factors associated with insomnia, such as brainstorming, anxiety and other negative emotions that often accompany inability to sleep.
Previous research has shown that cognitive behavioral therapy can also help people with sleep disorders to follow a healthy sleep routine and improve their patterns.
The Cognitive Behavioral Therapy group used a program called Slipio and its associated IOS application, which provides 20-minute treatment sessions that people can get for up to 12 weeks, Reuters reported.
Patients reported an improvement in the symptoms of insomnia after 4, 8 and 24 weeks of receiving cognitive behavioral therapy through the Internet than they did with learning healthy sleep habits, according to the research team of the Gama Psychiatry.
"This new study suggests that digital cognitive behavioral therapy can help people who suffer from insomnia not only sleep better but enjoy better health and quality of life," said lead author Colin Esby, co-founder of Bag Health, which developed the Sleepy program. "He said.
