An investigation of a cognitive refocusing technique to improve sleep

Abstract

Developing techniques designed to minimize arousing cognitions during the evening may be important to help improve the treatment of insomnia. This investigation assessed an intervention that focused exclusively on enhancing cognitive refocusing at sleep onset to change the content and style of presleep cognitions in order to improve sleep. Individuals with primary insomnia (N=10; 90% male, mean age=49.2, SD=12.6) attended four weekly individual meetings. Sleep quality (the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), insomnia severity (the Insomnia Severity Index), sleep parameters based on one week of sleep diaries, and arousing thought content, were compared at baseline, posttreatment, and at a 1-month follow-up. Adherence was high, and participants showed good ability to engage in the procedure. Significant improvements in sleep quality, insomnia severity, sleep onset latency, total sleep time, and arousing thought content were revealed. Large effect sizes were observed on the majority of sleep variables at follow-up. Preliminary results were encouraging regarding a technique that targets the refocusing of thoughts during the evening in order to improve sleep. Further study regarding the efficacy of this procedure is warranted.