![]() ![]() I plough through the resource section on the website, packed with videos on everything from how much sleep we need, to how our age affects sleep from sleeping pills to sleep apnoea (which causes snoring). Signing up was simple and the website was easy to navigate. ![]() The coaches work with mental health experts and clinicians. The difference with Sleepstation is that while the service is purely digital, it employs human sleep 'coaches' who answer questions (via private message on the website), provide encouragement, and can tailor the programme specifically. A pilot study in 2014 found Sleepstation had similar outcomes to face-to-face CBT-I. My GP offered me a six-week online course with Sleepstation, a web-based service which has been running for almost 11 years and has been available on the NHS since 2012. There is also Sleepful, a free app developed at Loughborough University, which uses similar CBT-I techniques. ('Clinical evidence presented from 12 randomised controlled trials showed that Sleepio is more effective at reducing insomnia than sleep hygiene and sleeping pills,' NICE said last year.) Sleepio was developed by Colin Espie, a professor of sleep medicine at the University of Oxford. This was done face-to-face, but NICE says digital CBT-I (dCBT-I) is as effective and recommends an app-based programme called Sleepio (available on the NHS in some parts of England). The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends CBT-I as a first-line approach for short-term and chronic insomnia. The NHS has been moving away from prescribing sleeping pills, recognising that they not only have side-effects and may cause dependency, but they have only a very limited effect on insomnia in the long term. After all, what did I really have to lose? So when I got a text from my GP offering a CBT-I course, I rolled my eyes. It never crossed my mind that my sleep could be psychological, simply a bad habit. The one thing I hadn't tried was CBT-I, a form of cognitive behavioural therapy geared to treating insomnia. I've been on sleep retreats, tried visualisation, hypnotherapy, herbal remedies and sleeping pills. The GPs I've consulted over the decades didn't investigate my insomnia in any depth.Īlternative practitioners surmised that my stress hormone levels were too high, that my energy was 'disturbed' or that I couldn't find a place of safety in the world (all very existential, but not particularly helpful). Unfortunately, it just made me feel claustrophobic. I bought a weighted blanket - the theory runs that firm, controlled pressure can make you feel safe and secure, rather like a baby being swaddled. I changed my mattress: it's certainly more comfortable but didn't net me any more sleep. I obediently turn off my devices two hours before bedtime and stick to a beatific wind-down routine involving a warm aromatherapy bath, a milky drink and soft, dimmed lights. I don't eat or exercise too late and I drink only one cup of coffee first thing in the morning. My sleep 'hygiene' - the one thing all sleep experts say is key to sleep - is squeaky clean: I have blackout curtains and keep my bedroom cool and quiet. When well-meaning people suggest lavender pillow sprays or herbal teas, I grit my teeth and resist the urge to scream. It team-tags with stress, anxiety and depression, and can seriously impact our work and relationships There simply isn't a part of life insomnia doesn't touch. ![]()
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