Getting good quality sleep is so much more than just ensuring we’re rested to greet each day. In fact, our quality of rest directly indicates our physical, mental, and even emotional well-being. When we lose sleep, we can encounter numerous challenges and adverse effects that limit our quality of life. However, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the best methods available today to combat that.
In this article, we’ll examine how CBT helps clients understand and better mitigate the thoughts and behaviors that lead to sleep problems or even severe cases of insomnia. By using CBT techniques, we can help our clients replace troublesome habits and thoughts with positive, new behaviors and thoughts that can help them achieve a restful, revitalized night’s sleep every night. Before we get into that, let’s explore how insomnia happens and why our sleep matters so much.
Why Sleep Matters and How Insomnia Develops
Insomnia is not a condition that appears overnight but often takes several nights or weeks to become a pressing issue. Many experts recommend that healthy adults get roughly 7 to 9 hours of rest per night, including our all-important REM sleep cycle, where our body consolidates memories, helps remove toxins, and prepares us for another day of tackling our to-do lists. Without ample sleep, our bodies would not be as healthy, nor would we have the excellent memory many of us do.
However, when it comes to insomnia, many people still don’t fully understand it. What many have reported is that most cases of insomnia develop because of poor sleeping habits, depression, anxiety, lack of exercise, chronic illnesses, or even the consistent taking of certain medications. Many people have used CBT to help with anxiety, depression, and even couples therapy, much like insomnia, but insomnia can be more complicated to treat.
Truthfully, insomnia is not a one-size-fits-all issue but one that encompasses many unique situations, all leading to one major issue: a lack of sleep that directly leads to our lowered quality of life. Fortunately, scientists have concluded that there are some reasons insomnia develops. Here are the factors that have been identified as associated with insomnia.
#1: Genetic Predisposition
If your client has a family member who has insomnia, this could definitely play a role in whether or not they also develop it in their lifetime. In fact, researchers estimate that heritability accounts for 31% to 58% of the likelihood of experiencing insomnia.
#2: Brain Functions
Much like anxiety and depression, differences in brain chemistry are linked to insomnia. So, if your client has altered chemical balances in the brain, this could be causing their sleepless nights. This is much like other conditions like addiction, which can be treated with CBT, too.
#3: Medical and Mental Conditions
If your patients have chronic illnesses or mental health issues like anxiety, OCD, or depression, this can also lead to sleep disruptions. Much of this is because of the symptoms that they face, leading to them either losing sleep or failing to have a regular sleep schedule. CBT is perfect for helping with chronic conditions!
#4: Stress and Life Changes
Stress is more than just the feeling of being unable to handle what’s happening in your life. Sometimes, it becomes too much. Situations like losing a loved one, job challenges, or even the ending of a relationship can affect your patient’s ability to sleep and lead to other difficulties like procrastination.
#5: Poor Habits and Routines
Unfortunately, many people’s insomnia might be caused by their own habits and routines. Behaviors like high caffeine consumption—especially right before bed—can be bad for rest and lead to hours of no sleep. Scrolling on social media doesn’t help either, no matter how engaging or fun the videos and photos are to view.
So, now that we’ve covered why sleep matters and how insomnia develops, it’s time to examine how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help with insomnia and why it is a great solution to lessen your patients' sleepless nights.
How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Addresses the Causes of Insomnia
While we can’t cure everything that patients face, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) does an exceptional job of helping people overcome insomnia because it addresses the root causes of their sleepless nights. CBT can help guide your clients through their sleep-related issues, teaching them how to identify their beliefs and what negative habits or thought patterns might be plaguing them after bedtime.
Additionally, another reason that CBT works so well for insomnia is because it helps them not only eliminate bad habits but also develop good habits. As specialists in the field, it’s our job to support our clients as they restructure their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. With CBT for insomnia, we can also help them limit stimuli that keep them up. Specifically, we can help them:
- Change Their Routine: CBT helps clients with insomnia recognize what elements of their routine aren’t working and make changes to support consistent sleep schedules, whether it’s changing certain habits or rituals they have in their lives.
- Create a Bedtime Routine: CBT for insomnia can also help patients create a set of habits before bed that helps them relax and unwind so they can finally rest. It’s all about training their body to recognize that it’s time for bed!
- Lifestyle Changes: From smoking to drinking in excess to enjoying too many cups of coffee, these lifestyle habits can make insomnia more likely. However, with CBT for insomnia, we can help guide patients to positive habits, like regular exercise.
- Practice Relaxation Methods: Part of the challenge with insomnia is relaxing before bed, but with CBT, you help encourage your patients to relax. Meditation and muscle relaxation are two of the great techniques you can use to help them.
Upgrade Your Professional Support with CBT Worksheets for Insomnia
Helping patients overcome insomnia is not impossible, but with the right support and resources, you can ensure you provide the best guidance possible. With our range of CBT worksheets, you’ll enjoy support to guide your sessions, including comprehensive and expert-verified information, strategies, exercises, and activities that teach clients how to build healthy habits and eliminate negative thought patterns.
At My Thriving Mind, we provide digital tools and informative resources to support mental health. Created by registered psychologist Veronica West, BPsychSc(Hons), MPH, our products are designed to help you or your clients navigate the challenges of insomnia and related conditions. From worksheets to bundles to journals to overcome overthinking, we have everything you need to upgrade the support you provide your patients. To see our entire catalog, visit our shop today.
