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Cheap and Easy: Online Therapy for Insomnia

by Leila Brillson on July 7, 2009 at 03:44 PM


Insomnia and the Internet seem to be good bedfellows; just ask anyone browsing the 'tubes at 3 a.m. But researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have decided to combine the restlessness of insomniacs and the accessibility of the Web, creating an online program that gives advice and plays games with people who have trouble sleeping.

Based on the assumption that cognitive therapy can help those with sleep disorders, Sleep Healthy Using the Internet (or, cleverly, SHUTi) helps users to keep a sleep diary and suggests specific bedtimes, trying to give specific instructions per sufferer. Co-author Frances Thorndike told Fox News, "This is a very interactive, tailored, personalized program." Out of the 45 individuals participating in a study of the program's efficacy, the 22 that used the program slept (and stayed sleeping, six months later) better than the 23 members of the control group.


From every corner of the country, insomniacs who cannot afford or don't have access to therapy could soon access this inexpensive option, meaning they'll have cheap therapeutic options -- rather than just expensive drugs. [From: FoxNews.com]

Tags: health, insomniac, internet, science, sleep, studies, therapy, top

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