First came diet coaches, exercise coaches, career coaches and spiritual and life coaches. There should be no surprise that as the population ages and increasingly has trouble staying asleep that the next step would be sleep coaches.
Insomnia is the most common sleep problem for adults, and has been linked to depression, falls, stroke and memory problems. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBTI, is considered a highly effective method for treating the disorder, but many do not receive it due to a lack of therapists with CBTI training, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Enter the sleep coach.
The research team trained “sleep coaches” who weren’t therapists to administer weekly cognitive therapy sessions for people with insomnia. The coaches were supervised over the phone.
The 159 study subjects were split into three treatment groups. The first group received one-on-one sessions with the specially trained sleep coaches, while the second group received treatment in a group format. People in the third group received a general sleep education program instead of cognitive behavioral therapy from a sleep coach.
The participants in the first two groups outperformed the third group in improving their sleep. Participants fell asleep 23 minutes faster and spent 18 fewer minutes in a light sleep. Overall, they reported an improvement in the quality of their sleep.
Researchers hope there will be more studies that focus on a more diverse demographic. The participants were mostly white, male veterans; investigators believe the results for women and non-veterans might be different.
Previous studies have found that older people sleep less deeply and wake up more frequently during the night, which may be why they take naps during the day. Night time sleep schedules also change with age, said the National Institutes of Health. Older adults get sleepier earlier in the evening and awaken earlier in the morning.
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