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Simple Rules for Better Sleep
By PAULA SPAN

This sounds way too good to be true: a quick, effective solution to the insomnia that plagues an estimated 15 to 30 percent of older adults — without drugs, without even needing to consult a physician.

But a University of Pittsburgh team, testing its method on 79 seniors with chronic insomnia (average age: 72), has reported very encouraging results. The treatment required just two explanatory sessions (the first lasts 45 to 60 minutes, the second about half an hour) with a nurse-practitioner, plus two brief follow-up phone calls, over the course of a month.

Afterward, the researchers recently reported in The Archives of Internal Medicine, two-thirds of those treated reported a clearly measurable improvement in sleep, compared with 25 percent of those in a control group.

“Their total sleep time improved,” the lead author, Dr. Daniel Buysse, a psychiatry professor and sleep specialist, told me in an interview. Indeed, 55 percent of those treated no longer had insomnia at all. And six months later, three-quarters of those tested had maintained or improved their better sleep patterns.

So what was this potential wonder nondrug? That’s the interesting part. The treatment was a “brief behavioral treatment intervention” known to be an effective antidote to insomnia, as documented by extensive research for over 30 years. It’s a change in what you do, not in what you ingest. Emphasis on brief.

The idea is to stick to a schedule that maximizes your “sleep efficiency” — the amount of time in bed you spend sleeping, instead of tossing and hoping that sleep will descend. That involves four rules: Reduce the time spent in bed. Get up at the same time every day. Don’t go to bed until you feel sleepy. Don’t stay in bed if you’re not sleeping.

However obvious the strategy may sound, “the reality is, people gravitate toward the exact opposite behavior,” Dr. Buysse said. “It’s common to see older adults spend 10 or 12 hours in bed in order to get five hours of sleep. It’s very frustrating.”

Read the rest of the article here.