Cognitive Therapy Techniques, more commonly known as Cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT for short, has been found to help insomnia in older patients suffering with the pain (not to mention the disturbed sleep) of osteoarthritis according to new work appearing in the August 15, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
Cognitive behavioral therapy emphasizes the key role our thoughts play in how we feel and what we do – our thoughts (not things outside ourselves such as people, situations and events) cause our feelings and behaviors.
With CBT you learn how to change the way you think – so you feel better even if the outside situation doesn’t change. This makes the therapy well suited to helping patients dealing with a chronic (unchanging) condition like osteoarthritis.
The study involved 23 older volunteers, mostly females ages 66-69, diagnosed with osteoarthritis and dealing with insomnia symptoms that had persisted for at least six months being assigned cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at helping them sleep better.
Twenty-eight control subjects, of the same age range and also with osteoarthritis, were assigned to a stress management and wellness program. In home polysomnographic assessment was done to exclude potential subjects with sleep apnea. Neither of the treatment options directly addressed pain management.
The CBT treatment involved weekly two-hour sessions with four to eight participants that met for eight weeks in a row. At the start, and again at the end, the participants reported on their sleep and pain levels. The CBT group did one additional report on their sleeping patterns and pain levels after one year.
The subjects who got the CBT reported immediate improvements in their sleep and pain after treatment, and a year later. The control subjects, who participated in the other program saw no improvements in the quality of sleep or amount of pain.
The team believes that insomnia isn’t just a symptom of osteoarthritis, but should be considered a coexisting condition.
Improvements in sleep can begin improvements in other conditions, particularly important for older adults who often deal with sleepless nights as well as another health problem for which lack of sleep doesn’t help.
“The particular strength of [cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at insomnia] is that once an individual learns how to improve their sleep, study after study has shown that the improvement persists for a year or more,” points out Michael V. Vitiello, PhD, professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
An estimated 60% of those with osteoarthritis report pain during the night, and experts know that chronic pain is certainly involved in disturbed sleep.
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This lack of good quality, restful sleep exacerbates chronic pain – a vicious cycle that’s no help to anyone.
The findings of this work suggest that successful treatment of sleep disturbances can dramatically improve the quality of life and that CBT therapies might be quite useful.
Sleep is when your body detoxifies and the immune system recharges. Lack of sleep causes big problems for the body, and the mind.
Insomnia has been linked to diabetes, heart disease and cancer, as well as being known to bring on depression and thinking troubles. It may even shorten your life – this according to a 2002 study that found people who slept less than 4 hours a night had higher mortality rates compared to those who slept 6-7 hours.
Better sleep can bring a variety of benefits, to both body and mind, improving coexisting illnesses. “Sleep quality is a major concern of people with osteoarthritis, with 60 percent of people with the disease reporting pain during the night… Whether sleep disturbance preceded or follows pain onset is unclear, but reciprocal effects are likely,” write the team of researchers.
If you’re coping with insomnia now, don’t let it get ahead of you. Do something today and maybe talk your doctor and ask about cognitive behavioral techniques as a more natural, prescription free alternative to getting the rest you need.
