Sleep for Insomniacs
Reported September 02, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Getting a good nights sleep could be a few weeks away for chronic insomnia sufferers — and theyll get it drug free!
A new study suggests six weeks of sleep therapy can cause changes in the brains of chronic insomniacs, helping them achieve their quest for rest.
In this recent study, researchers scanned the brains of chronic insomnia sufferers and found cognitive abnormalities during verbal fluency tests resulting, they believe, as a result of poor sleep.
After their scans, half of the insomniac participants received sleep therapy, while the other half did not. Post-therapy neuroimaging showed patients in the sleep therapy group recovered the previously identified cognitive abnormalities. The patients who did not receive sleep therapy did not show cognitive improvement.
Study authors say these results suggest sleep therapy should be encouraged as a low-cost, drug-free intervention for insomnia.
SOURCE: Sleep, 2008