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Internet programme for better sleep
ISLAMABAD, Jun 22, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) --
An online programme could help people with insomnia get a better nights sleep. Nearly 1 in 10 people suffer from insomnia and while effective treatment is available, most people dont seek it out, Health News reported. Researchers from Canada evaluated the impact of a 5-week, online treatment for insomnia, based on scientifically proven approaches, including information on sleep hygiene and relaxation therapy, and randomly assigned 118 people with chronic insomnia to the programme or to a control group for comparison.
Overall, a third of study participants dropped out before the end of the study. Half of those who had been referred by their doctors dropped out, compared to 18 percent of people who had responded to a newspaper advertisement for the study. Among the 40 people who completed the programme, 35 percent said their symptoms were much or very much improved, 46 percent said they had minimally improved, 16 percent said their symptoms hadnt changed, and one person self-rated his condition worse than before.
By comparison, in the control group, 61 percent reported no change and 30 percent said theyd seen minimal improvement, while one person reported getting much better and another self-rated as much worse. It was found that while none of the people in the completed treatment group were sleeping normally at the studys outset, about a quarter were after completing the programme; 40 percent saw a 10 percent or greater improvement in time spent asleep, and 30 percent were getting an additional hour of sleep. The above findings suggest that an online treatment may be an effective treatment for some people with chronic insomnia.
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