How to deal with your insomnia — and finally get to sleep | Sleeping with Science

Transcriber: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer:

At least one out of every three people will experience some form of insomnia

in their lifetime.

Insomnia is when you consistently have difficulties either falling asleep,

difficulties staying asleep

or you just don’t feel refreshed or restored by your sleep the next day.

Now, when sleep becomes difficult,

there are many things that people understandably turn to for help,

but not all of them work especially well.

[Sleeping with Science]

For instance alcohol and THC,

which is the psychoactive component of cannabis,

are all popular options.

However, both THC and alcohol

will ultimately make your insomnia and your sleep difficulties worse,

rather than better.

Even melatonin will only increase your sleep quality,

or what we call your sleep efficiency,

by just a few percent.

Thankfully, however,

there is a much more effective, drug-free approach

called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia,

or CBTI for short.

And by working with a clinician for several weeks --

which you can do online, by the way --

the therapy helps change your habits,

your beliefs

and your general stress around this thing called sleep.

And there are now many studies

that have shown CBTI to be just as effective as sleeping pills

in the short term.

Yet CBTI has no negative side effects,

unlike sleeping pills.

In addition, after you stop working with your therapist,

the sleep benefits can last for years later.

CBTI is now, in fact, so powerful

that it is our first-line recommended treatment for insomnia,

and it allows you to regain your confidence

in the ability to sleep well each and every night.