In some sleep disorders, online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) would be a simple and effective way to help insomniacs not only get back to sleep but also improve their overall quality of life.
Sleep disorders are one of the main plagues of the 21thcentury in developed countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 20 to 30% of Western adults suffer from chronic insomnia, but sleeping pills are not recommended due to the addictions they tend to cause and the places in specialized clinics are very rare. . However, poor or insufficient sleep can cause serious health problems for those affected and have catastrophic economic repercussions due to the cost of absenteeism.
Faced with this public health issue, more and more scientists are looking for alternative solutions to traditional treatments for insomnia. And according to an Anglo-Saxon study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) would be a simple and effective way to not only overcome it, but also improve physical and mental well-being in general.
An effective digital program on CBT
A few years ago, Colin Espie, from the University of Oxford (UK), created Big Health, an application offering different programs to help improve the mental and physical health of its users according to the particularities of each one. During the study presented in the JAMA, the researchers tested for a little over a year the digital program Sleepio, which offers CBT techniques adapted to the profiles, on 1,711 people. The researchers asked participants about their sleep patterns, then subjected them to six sessions of around 20 minutes via Sleepio.
Results: One month after the start of the study, the participants were already recognizing marked improvements in their daily lives. They were less tired, less absent from work and more efficient and happy in their professional life. Two weeks and five months after stopping treatment, these significant changes were still there, the researchers note.
“An inexpensive and effective way to help insomniacs in the long term”
“Along with the quality of the air we breathe, water and food, sleep is an essential part of life, and yet 10 to 12% of the population (English) do not get enough sleep due to ‘insomnia,’ says Colin Espie, one of the study’s lead authors. While insomnia is a risk factor for the development of mental disorders, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, it can take between four to six weeks for an insomniac to find a place in a sleep clinic, explains Dr. ‘study.
“In clinical studies, online CBT has consistently provided significant results in terms of sleep quality, mental health and energy throughout the day,” continues Colin Espie. “Our results show that it is an effective and inexpensive way (Sleepio still costs 224 euros per year) to help insomniacs in the long term,” he says. In addition, “we can reach many more patients who suffer from insomnia by using an online program”, adds Jason Ong, professor at Northwestern University (United States) and co-author of the study. Thus, “our study suggests that digital medicine could help millions of people sleep better and be in better physical and mental shape,” the researchers conclude.
Effective cognitive behavioral therapy
CBT, practiced by psychologists and psychiatrists, is a brief, scientifically validated therapy that focuses on the interactions between thoughts, emotions and behaviors. It focuses on the current problems of the patient while taking into account his past and helps him to identify the mechanisms at the origin of his difficulties in order to experiment with new behaviors. The goal is to push the person to gradually get out of the vicious circles in which he was locked.
In 2016, Canadian researchers had already demonstrated the benefits of this behavioral therapy in the treatment of insomnia. According to the works published in the journal Behavior Research and Therapy, participants who had been treated with CBT during the study reported a reduction in symptoms related to insomnia such as mood disturbances or difficulty concentrating.
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