Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of Insomnia (CBT-I) is a therapeutic technique for changing the thoughts and behaviors that keep us from getting the sleep we need. While there’s no substitute for a healthy diet, regular exercise, and good sleep hygiene habits, CBT-I can help us integrate these practices into our daily lives and make them stick. Together with our therapists, we can identify thought patterns that get in the way of good sleep habits, then work to replace them with more helpful ones.
By shifting our focus away from our sleep problems and toward the goals we have for ourselves, CBT-I helps us feel like we are reclaiming control over our lives—and that alone can help us start getting better sleep.
Traditionally, CBT uses talk therapy to challenge negative thoughts that may influence behaviors and emotions. However, CBT for insomnia focuses less on addressing negative thoughts and more on identifying behaviors that may be interfering with your ability to sleep. This typically includes having trouble falling asleep because you have been lying awake in bed for too long, waking during the night and not being able to fall back asleep, or waking up earlier than desired. It also addresses concerns about the quality of your sleep.
The goal of CBT for insomnia is to establish a regular pattern of sleep that enables you to wake up feeling rested. This is accomplished through a variety of techniques designed to identify and replace behaviors that interfere with good sleep habits with those that encourage good sleep habits.
Insomnia is a sleep disorder where someone has difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep. People with insomnia may wake up during the night or have problems falling back to sleep if they wake up. Insomnia is usually not very serious, but it can be because it can cause physical problems and lead to depression or anxiety.
CBT helps people with insomnia by changing the negative thoughts and behaviors that may be contributing to your insomnia. CBT can help you control your worrying and make it easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep through the night.
CBT-I is a form of therapy that focuses on how thoughts and behaviors affect a person’s sleep. It is recommended by the American College of Physicians as the first line treatment for chronic insomnia. CBT-I is typically conducted by psychologists and other behavioral health professionals, but variations can be practiced independently.
The goal of CBT-I is to help you fall asleep more quickly, sleep more deeply and wake less frequently during the night. It also involves identifying unhelpful thoughts and behaviors that may be keeping you up at night so you can replace these with healthier alternatives.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, is a series of techniques that you can use to manage and overcome insomnia. CBT-I helps you to develop a more positive relationship with sleep, which can help you feel more rested even if you don’t get as much sleep as you did before. Importantly, these techniques are all based on scientific evidence and have been proven effective in treating insomnia.