Web-based therapy offers insomnia cure

Web-based therapy for insomnia is an effective option that could reach “previously unimaginable numbers of people,” researchers suggest.
 
Although cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the first-line treatment for adults with chronic insomnia, there aren’t enough trained clinicians to deliver the treatment, according to Lee Ritterband of the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville and her colleagues.
 
To investigate whether web-based CBT-I is effective over the long term and might enable more people to benefit, the team randomly assigned 303 adults with chronic insomnia to a six-week automated, interactive and tailored web-based programme (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet, or SHUTi, at www.myshuti.com).
   
To be included in the study, participants had to take more than half an hour to fall asleep at the beginning of the night or be awake for more than half an hour after initially falling asleep at least three nights per week for at least six months; average 6.5 hours or less sleep time nightly; and experience significant stress or impaired functioning due to sleep disturbances. About half of participants also had at least one medical or psychiatric condition.