How to Re-Learn How to Fall Asleep with Computer-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

All you need to access computer-based cognitive behavioral therapy for your own sleep disorder is a computer and access to the Internet. Here are some of the most popular programs, how to find them, and how well they work.

• RESTORE is the best-studied sleep program. It has been available since 2006 in Canada and since 2011 in the United States. Instruction is available in English, French, and Spanish. The multiple clinical trials of RESTORE show that it results in improvements in "the time it takes to fall asleep, the time they are awake in the middle of the night, the amount of sleep they get, and their productivity at work" for about 80 percent of users. Cost of the program varies.
• SHUTi is another well-documented computer program for correcting insomnia developed by researchers at the University of Virginia. About 70 percent of users complete the program and achieve "mild or no clinical insomnia." There is a one-time $135 fee for self-help users to access the program for sixteen weeks, or a one-time fee of $150 for users to access the program with the direction of a sleep doctor for twenty weeks.

• Sleepio is an app developed by experimental psychologist insomnia suffer Peter Hames and sleep expert Colin Espie, clinical and scientific director and professor at the Sleep & Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford, author of 200 scientific papers on sleep. Designed to function like a video game, this app can be used with other computer-based tracking sleep tracking programs. Your physician can get a license to the program for as many patients as desired for $1000 a year.
• Sleep Tutor is a collection of eight on-line lessons on sleep written by Dutch sleep expert Winni Hoffman. Your physician pays $149 for your one-time access to the lessons. The program can not be directly accessed by patients.
• CBT-i Coach is a program designed to be used with the supervision of your physician. Developed at Veterans Administration hospitals in the USA, it requires your constant attention to teaching points designed to improve your attitude toward sleep, and it gives meticulous reports of your sleep data to your doctor. It may be available at VA clinics and hospitals, but it cannot be accessed by patients independently.
• Conquering Insomnia is not as well researched, but it is available online for $40, and it gets generally good user reviews.

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Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is generally a no-nonsense approach to solving the problems of getting to sleep. There is no soul searching or in-depth psychoanalysis. And nearly all the programs will reinforce these rules:

• Use your bed for sleeping and for sex, nothing else.
• Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even weekends.
• Never sleep in more than half an hour.

Getting used to these rules may be the hardest part of recovery for some people who fight insomnia but for any kind of therapy to work, you will have to make at least these changes. Once you do, computer programs can help you get restful sleep every night.