Yoga as a Treatment for Insomnia
Summary
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a daily, 8-week treatment for insomnia using yoga, relaxation exercises or sleep hygiene.
Description
Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by a chronic difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep which has a relatively high prevalence and a significant socioeconomic cost. There is good evidence that cognitive and/or physiological arousal, associated with sustained sympathetic activation, is one of the underlying causes of insomnia. Relaxation treatments such as progressive relaxation and meditation which address the cognitive and somatic arousal associated with insomnia have been found to be effective. Yoga is a comprehensive discipline which includes physical exercises, postures, breathing techniques, and meditation, for the purpose of improving health and well being. Research studies have documented the effectiveness of yoga in reducing sympathetic activation and cognitive and somatic arousal and in the treatment of specific medical disorders. Although it has been used and recommended for the treatment of insomnia, its effectiveness has not been evaluated in a randomized, controlled study. The aim of this proposal is to evaluate the effectiveness of yoga, relaxation exercises or sleep hygiene in the treatment of chronic psychophysiological insomnia. A subjective measure of sleep onset latency will be derived from daily sleep diaries, and an objective measure will be drawn from polysomnographic recordings. Sleep onset latency will be evaluated before and after a two month treatment period in a total of 48 young men and women who have been carefully screened for psychiatric and medical disorders. Subjects will be assigned to a yoga, relaxation exercise, or sleep hygiene treatment group. We anticipate that yoga practice will prove to be an effective treatment for insomnia which will yield significant improvements in sleep onset latency. We also anticipate that these improvements will be maintained at long-term follow up evaluation.
Study Design
Allocation: Randomized, Control: Active Control, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Treatment
Conditions
Insomnia
Intervention
Yoga, Relaxation Exercises, Sleep Hygiene, Sleep hygiene and relaxation only
Location
Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Sleep Medicine
Boston
Massachusetts
United States
02115
Status
Completed
Source
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Results (where available)
Links
- Source: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00033865
- Information obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov on July 15, 2010
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Sleep Stages
Periods of sleep manifested by changes in EEG activity and certain behavioral correlates; includes Stage 1: sleep onset, drowsy sleep; Stage 2: light sleep; Stages 3 and 4: delta sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, telencephalic sleep.
Sleep Disorders, Intrinsic
Dyssomnias (i.e., insomnias or hypersomnias) associated with dysfunction of internal sleep mechanisms or secondary to a sleep-related medical disorder (e.g., sleep apnea, post-traumatic sleep disorders, etc.). (From Thorpy, Sleep Disorders Medicine, 1994, p187)
Parasomnias
Movements or behaviors associated with sleep, sleep stages, or partial arousals from sleep that may impair sleep maintenance. Parasomnias are generally divided into four groups: arousal disorders, sleep-wake transition disorders, parasomnias of REM sleep, and nonspecific parasomnias. (From Thorpy, Sleep Disorders Medicine, 1994, p191)
Hypersomnolence, Idiopathic
A sleep disorder of central nervous system origin characterized by prolonged nocturnal sleep and periods of daytime drowsiness. Affected individuals experience difficulty with awakening in the morning and may have associated sleep drunkenness, automatic behaviors, and memory disturbances. This condition differs from narcolepsy in that daytime sleep periods are longer, there is no association with CATAPLEXY, and the multiple sleep latency onset test does not record sleep-onset rapid eye movement sleep. (From Chokroverty, Sleep Disorders Medicine, 1994, pp319-20; Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 1998 Apr:52(2):125-129)
Sleep Disorders
Conditions characterized by disturbances of usual sleep patterns or behaviors. Sleep disorders may be divided into three major categories: DYSSOMNIAS (i.e. disorders characterized by insomnia or hypersomnia), PARASOMNIAS (abnormal sleep behaviors), and sleep disorders secondary to medical or psychiatric disorders. (From Thorpy, Sleep Disorders Medicine, 1994, p187)
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