The details can be important, revealing how certain behaviors are ruining your chance for a good night's sleep. To identify patterns in your sleeping problems and decide on the best treatment approach, your therapist may start by asking you to keep a sleep diary. As the name suggests, cognitive behavioral therapy involves two main components:Ĭognitive therapy teaches you to recognize and change negative beliefs and thoughts (cognitions) that contribute to your sleep problems.īehavioral therapy teaches you how to avoid behaviors that keep you awake at night and replace them with better sleep habits. Many CBT treatment programs for insomnia, for example, report significant improvement in sleep patterns following a course of 5 to 8 weekly sessions.Īffiliate Disclosure How does CBT work for sleep disorders?ĬBT addresses negative thoughts and behavior patterns that contribute to insomnia or other sleeping problems. While CBT is rarely an immediate or easy cure, it is relatively short-term. The length of therapy also depends on the type and severity of your sleep disorder. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), for example, is a specific type of therapy designed for people who are unable to get the amount of sleep they need to wake up feeling rested and refreshed. Since the causes and symptoms of sleep disorders vary considerably, CBT should always be tailored to your specific problems. It may be conducted individually, in a group of people with similar sleeping problems, or even online. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia and other sleep disordersĬognitive behavioral therapy is the most widely-used therapy for sleep disorders. The most common sleep disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome (RLS), and circadian rhythm sleep disorders often triggered by shift work or jet lag. What defines a sleep disorder?Ī sleep disorder is a condition that frequently impacts your ability to get enough quality sleep, leaving you feeling exhausted or sleepy during the day. If you’re suffering from a sleep disorder, therapy may be able to relax your mind, change your outlook, improve your daytime habits, and set you up for a good night’s sleep. CBT produced the greatest changes in patients' ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, and the benefits remained even a year after treatment ended. Since sleep disorders can be both caused by and trigger emotional health problems such as anxiety, stress, and depression, therapy is an effective way of treating the underlying problem rather than just the symptoms, helping you develop healthy sleeping patterns for life.Ī recent study at Harvard Medical School found that CBT was more effective at treating chronic insomnia than prescription sleep medication. It also focuses on improving relaxation skills and changing lifestyle habits that impact your sleeping patterns. Even if your sleep disorder requires the use of prescription medication, experts recommend combining a drug regimen with therapy and healthy lifestyle changes.Ĭognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can improve your sleep by changing your behavior before bedtime as well as changing the ways of thinking that keep you from falling asleep. To avoid dependence and tolerance, though, sleeping pills are most effective when used sparingly for short-term situations-such as traveling across time zones or recovering from a medical procedure. That's not to say there's never a time or a place for sleep medication. But sleep medication won't cure the problem or address the underlying symptoms-in fact, it can often make sleep problems worse in the long term. When you're desperate for sleep, it can be tempting to reach for a sleeping pill or an over-the-counter sleep aid. Why therapy for sleep disorders and not medication?
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