Researchers have discovered that cognitive-behavioral training in sleep may be able to prevent depression in older adults suffering from insomnia. CNN reported.
The study teaches those suffering from insomnia tools on how to break habits that may be interfering with a good night’s sleep and retraining your mind and body for some Z’s.
Sleep specialist Wendy Troxel, a senior behavioral scientist at RAND Corporation, who was not involved in the study told CNN that the study’s findings are “highly significant.”
Major depression is very common among older adults and “”It is associated with an elevated risk of cognitive decline and disability, suicide, or all-cause death,” Troxel stated.
“What is exciting about these findings is that they are among the first to demonstrate that treating insomnia with a behavioral strategy, not a pill, can prevent the development of depression in older adults,”Troxel stated.
Numerous studies have shown that insomnia is a major risk factor for depression. The study’s author Dr. Michael Irwin, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said “some 30% to 50% of older adults complain of insomnia,” CNN reported.
The study’s findings were published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
Participants in the randomized clinical study who received cognitive behavior therapy for their insomnia were two times less likely to develop depression. Irwin added that if remission from insomnia was sustained for three years, “there was an 83% reduction in the likelihood of developing depression.”
“That’s why this study is so important,”Irwin agreed. ”We have shown that we can actually target insomnia with cognitive behavior therapy and prevent depression from occurring.”
Two groups were randomly assigned to 60-year-olds with insomnia and no depression. Over an eight-week period, a control group met once a week to receive basic sleep education. It covered sleep hygiene, the characteristics of healthy sleep, stress and how it can impact sleep. Irwin explained that the training was not one-on-one and that all participants had to be trained together. “take that information and figure out how to use it without our help.”
The CBT-1 form of behavioral sleep training was offered to the other group. It was delivered in group settings by certified therapists and lasted for eight weeks.
CBT-I consists of five components: stimulation control, sleep restriction and sleep hygiene. It also includes relaxation and cognitive-behavioral treatment. Sleep hygiene and relaxation involve good sleep habits — going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, eliminating blue light and noise, taking warm baths or doing yoga for relaxation, and keeping the bedroom cool and free of electronic devices.