Sleep Restriction Treatment for Insomnia

Sleep Restriction Treatment for Insomnia: a Randomized Controlled Trial

With a prevalence of about 10% chronic insomnia is a common problem. The standard treatment for insomnia is cognitive behavioral therapy. According to many, the core element within this treatment is sleep restriction. This element has been examined separately in a couple of studies and also appears to be effective in isolation. In the current study the aim is to get more information about the effectiveness of this core element of the treatment. For this reason, a randomized study is conducted to compare sleep restriction with a diary control condition.

The second aim in this study is to determine mechanisms behind treatments. Network intervention analysis will be used to determine which specific symptoms are associated with therapy success. This is the reason that throughout the study weekly and daily measures will be conducted.

The expectations are that:

• Participants in the sleep restriction condition will improve more on insomnia complaints than the sleep diary control condition (primary outcome)
• Participants in the sleep restriction condition will improve more on sleep diary outcomes and other secondary outcomes compared to the sleep diary control condition (secondary outcome)

Inclusion Criteria:

• Insomnia Severity Index Score ≥ 10
• 18 years or older
• Self reported insomnia complaints: being awake ≥30 minutes per night, ≥3 nights per week, ≥ 3 months
• Daytime problems related to sleep complaints
• Sleep efficiency < 85%
• Dutch speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

• (1) No acces to internet
• (2) Pregnant or breastfeeding
• (3) working in night shifts
• (4) currently in psychological treatment (started < 6 months) or on wait-list for treatment
• (5) cognitive behavioral treatment for insomnia in last 12 months
• (6) concrete suicidal ideation
• (7) schizophrenic or psychotic disorder
• (8) high level of depressive complaints (BDI-II > 28)
• (9) Instable medication use (medication should not be tampered in last 6 weeks) incidental sleep-medication use is allowed