Having trouble sleeping? You're not alone. More than 70 million Americans deal with some form of insomnia. Now there's a new website that may help you sleep more soundly. 7Healthcast reporter Dr. Deanna Lites explains.
Sallee Dancer says, " My problem is I can fall asleep and then I wakeup in the night and have trouble falling back to sleep."
So she would lie in bed and toss and turn.
"It's like ‘oh my gosh!' I've been awake now for two hours and I'm going to feel terrible the next day. Then, I would worry even more and be even less likely to fall back to sleep," says Sallee.
Finally she found a way to "Conquer Insomnia." It's an online program created by Dr. Gregg Jacobs of Harvard Medical School. "A patient uses the website in many ways similar to how a patient would interact with a therapist," says Dr. Jacobs.
It's a six-week program. There's one treatment session per week. Sallee says, "It taught me that my negative thoughts about sleeping and getting to sleep were preventing me from sleeping."
The patient keeps a sleep diary and answers a series of questions such as how long it took you to fall asleep, and how many times you woke up during the night.
"The computer analyzes and provides individual feedback to the patient based on the diary. Then, the program assesses how well they are implementing those techniques, recognizes when they're not, provides suggestions for improvement and also tracks their progress," says Dr. Jacobs.
And after finishing the program, Sallee is getting a better night's sleep. She says, "Now I can fall back to sleep within half an hour, and I'm not waking up as much."
Dr. Jacobs says if a patient has not seen significant improvement after trying the "Conquer Insomnia" program, they'll be directed to see their primary doctor or a sleep specialist.
The program costs $35.
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