Chronic Insomnia is a debilitating condition that impacts about 10% of the population and is linked to the worsening of physical health conditions like cardiovascular disease (Perlis et al., 2021). It is also a contributing factor to depression, anxiety and chronic pain.
Fortunately, there is an effective non-drug treatment for chronic insomnia. It’s called Cognitive Behavoral Therapy for Insomnia or CBT-I.
According to Manber et al. (2023), CBT-I is a therapy that addresses how dysfunctional beliefs and behaviors around sleep can impact a person’s ability to get and stay asleep. CBT-I encourages people to use behavioral experiments and cognitive techniques to improve the quality and quantity of their sleep. Some of the behavioral methods used are called sleep hygiene techniques.
According to Gupta et al. (2023), sleep hygiene refers to a list of lifestyle and behavioral strategies that facilitate healthy sleep. While these techniques are numerous, they often include changes to the ways that people live their lives and the habits that they have around sleep.
For example, Gupta notes that developing routines around sleep that are consistently followed can have advantageous effects on sleep quality. Going to bed at the same time each night and getting out of bed at the same time each morning are behaviors that are associated with better sleep. Avoiding any activity that may arouse a person —like exercising or playing an exciting video game —an hour before bedtime is also a practice that is considered a good sleep hygiene practice. Another good sleep hygiene practice is to avoid using the bed for anything besides sleep or sex. This means that watching television in bed, reading in bed, or even working on a laptop computer in bed would be discouraged in the name of improved sleep hygiene.
According to Sun et al. (2021), sleep problems are associated with increased pain perception for people suffering with chronic pain conditions. A vast majority of people with chronic pain (88%) also reported problems with their sleep. This relationship is bidirectional, which means that as sleep quality degrades, a patient’s perception of pain increases.
Tang (2021) notes that while CBT-I is not a cure-all for chronic pain, there are numerous studies to suggest that improving sleep through CBT-I can make a significant impact in the bi-directional relationship between pain and sleep quality.
Kourbanova et al. (2022) completed a review exploring the factors that may be involved in the pain/sleep dynamic and found that the most important factor that increased pain perception was the total amount of sleep lost. While quality of sleep and other factors were relevant, it was the total amount of sleep that the patient lost that was most critical in increasing their perception of pain.
CBT-I treatment helps people decrease the amount of sleep that they lose and to develop better sleep habits that can have profound impacts on their overall health. Research is starting to show that improving sleep may also improve blood pressure, blood sugar and immune function as well (Perlis et al., 2021).
Deerfield Counseling is proud to provide CBT-I to the Kalamazoo area. Reach out today to see how this therapy might benefit you.
References:
Gupta, C. C., Sprajcer, M., Johnston-Devin, C., & Ferguson, S. A. (2023). Sleep hygiene strategies for individuals with chronic pain: A scoping review. BMJ Open, 13(2), e060401. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-060401
Kourbanova, K., Alexandre, C., & Latremoliere, A. (2022). Effect of sleep loss on pain—New conceptual and mechanistic avenues. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 16, 1009902. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.1009902
Manber, R., Simpson, N., & Gumport, N. B. (2023). Perspectives on increasing the impact and reach of CBT-I. Sleep, 46(12). https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsad168
Perlis, M. L., Pigeon, W. R., Grandner, M. A., Bishop, T. M., Riemann, D., Ellis, J. G., Teel, J. R., & Posner, D. A. (2021). Why Treat Insomnia? Journal Primary Care & Community Health, 12, 2. https://doi.org/10.1177/21501327211014084
Sun, Y., Laksono, I., Selvanathan, J., Saripella, A., Nagappa, M., Pham, C., Englesakis, M., Peng, P., Morin, C. M., & Chung, F. (2021). Prevalence of sleep disturbances in patients with chronic non-cancer pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 57, 101467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101467
Tang N. (2021). Is cognitive-behaviour therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) the new best pain killer? Sleep Medicine Reviews, 60, 101536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101536