By Wendy Haaf
If you are 60 or over and struggle to get to sleep or stay asleep, cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) not only is a highly effective treatment but may also cut in half the odds of your experiencing major depression. In a US study, 291 older adults with insomnia and no history of depression for at least 12 months were randomly split into two groups.
Half underwent sleep education therapy (SET) delivered by a public health educator, and half attended group CBT-I sessions led by a trained psychologist. For both groups, weekly sessions lasted 120 minutes and took place over two months. Three years later, nearly 25.9 per cent of participants who’d undergone SET had experienced a bout of clinical depression compared with only 12.2 per cent of those in the CBT-I group. You can learn more about CBT-I by visiting mysleepwell.ca.
Source: JAMA Psychiatry
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
