Non pharmacological therapy for insomnia: a comparison between sleep hygiene and sleep restriction

Main Article Content

Alessandro Cicolin
Alessandra Giordano

Abstract

Background


Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder and, over the lifetime, affects more than 40% of the population. The first therapeutic choice for insomnia consists of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a non-pharmacological treatment. The effectiveness of CBT techniques, such as sleep restriction therapy and sleep hygiene rules, has been studied over the years, either individually or as part of a more comprehensive program.


Objective


Evaluate and compare the effectiveness of sleep restriction and sleep hygiene in the treatment of chronic insomnia, also related to the quality of life.


Materials and methods


We evaluated the therapeutic efficacy using actigraphy measures and a sleep diary. Quality of life was self-assessed by the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36).


Results


20 subjects completed the study. In the sleep restriction group, Time in Bed (TIB) and Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO) decreased in T1 compared to T0, Sleep Efficiency (SE) increased in T1 compared to T0 and subjects also reported better general health at the SF36 (p= 0.05).


The sleep hygiene group did not show any significant variations of TST, TIB, WASO, or SE after the treatment. However, there was an increase in the SF-36 score related to general health, physical functioning, pain, and mental health.


Discussion


The sleep restriction group improved more on objective parameters but had a moderate drop-out rate. The sleep hygiene group reported better quality of life.


Conclusions


This study shows that both techniques effectively improve sleep in subjects with insomnia, albeit in different aspects.


Key words


Insomnia, sleep hygiene, sleep restriction.

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How to Cite
Cicolin, A., & Giordano, A. (2020). Non pharmacological therapy for insomnia: a comparison between sleep hygiene and sleep restriction. Journal of Biomedical Practitioners, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.13135/2532-7925/4655
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