Insomnia: seniors must choose behavioral therapy to medication

Behavioral therapies appear to be a good alternative to sleeping pills to relieve the elderly with insomnia, confirm the results of a synthesis on the subject published in the journal "Health Psychology".

According to different data, sleeping pills often appear effective in the short term, but they have significant side effects such as the risk of addiction or daytime sleepiness, recall Dr. Michael Irwin of the University of California Los Angeles ( UCLA), and colleagues. Moreover, they report, the long-term effectiveness of these drugs also appears questionable, since sleep disorders can get worse when stopping such treatment.

However, if a few weeks are needed to feel the first effects of behavioral therapy, it seems that his influence then maintain longer, although studies on the subject are rare.

The team of U.S. researchers has reviewed 23 clinical trials evaluating three different forms of behavioral therapy and involving a total of over 500 participants.

Most of this work was devoted to cognitive-behavioral therapy, which aims to change the habits and attitudes of older about their sleep through learning people with practical tips to overcome their problems (lie only when they fall asleep, get up and read a book when they can not fall asleep in less than twenty minutes ...), and by analyzing behaviors that can influence this parameter (activity physical, alcohol ...).

Some studies focused on two approaches: the therapies based on relaxation and only behavioral strategies (eg reduction of sleep time in order to improve its quality).

This synthesis has enabled the authors to note that these three forms of therapy have similar efficacy in terms of efficiency. Quality of sleep, difficulty falling asleep and waking at night indeed seem to know better "moderate to high" following this treatment, which appears comparable to that observed with pharmacological treatments.

Behavioral therapies seem effective in relieving sleep disorders, the authors note, which also recall that most mental health professionals, as well as some GPs should be able to provide such treatment.