Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia or CBT-I?
CBT-I is a therapy that helps people recover from insomnia and resume healthy sleeping patterns. Sometimes it works as a primary tool and sometimes it’s used along with medication and is still of enormous help.
(CBT-I): How does it work?
“My sleep is terrible. I toss and turn all night.”
“I am usually up until 3 or 4, just messing around on the Internet. I don’t even try to go to sleep anymore.”
“I go to sleep, but cannot fall asleep. It’s been like this for a few years.”
“I wake up way before my alarm goes off.”
“I am exhausted, tired, anxious, and irritable all the time.”
“I am a shift-worker and find that I can not regulate my sleep schedule – I end up not sleeping at all sometimes, between shifts.”
“I work graveyard shifts and find myself angry and irritable all the time.”
This is how people who struggle to fall asleep sound like.
The inability to sleep is called insomnia.
People with insomnia often go to doctors for prescriptions. However, medication does not solve the problem in the longer term.
Fortunately, there is an effective long-term solution with which a therapist can help you treat insomnia – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia or CBT-I.
How does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia work?
This form of therapy focuses on how the things we do during the daytime impact our sleep.
This includes information about:
- what we eat and drink
- when and how much we exercise
- caffeine or nicotine use
- and our overall daily schedule.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia also emphasizes that naps, screentime, and bedtime routines are important parts of healthy sleep.
In CBT-I, you use a sleep diary to understand how you sleep.
Different people face different problems. Some people struggle to fall asleep and some wake up early. Some people also have dreams and nightmares that wake them. Sometimes people also toss and turn all night.
CBT-I addresses each of these problems to gradually adjust your sleep patterns back to where they should be.
A CBT-I therapist also addresses the way you think about your sleep.
Is CBT-I a proven method to help someone fighting insomnia?
Yes. Studies show that with a trained CBT-I therapist, you can learn to identify a healthy amount of sleep that works for you.
Good sleep matters for all of us. It affects our feelings, thinking, activity, and relationships. CBT-I is an effective and safe way to help you get the sleep you need to live your life to the fullest.
