Sleepio App Found to Reduce Insomnia Using Digital Therapy

A study recently conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and Northwestern Medicine found that Sleepio, a smartphone app, can have profound effects in insomnia treatment. Published this week in JAMA Psychiatry, the year-long research utilized online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to yield not only improved insomnia symptoms, but better overall quality of life as well.

Sleepio, a sleep improvement app that uses CBT, was designed by Espie and produced by Big Health. The app utilizes these CBT techniques to help users address the cognitive factors associated with insomnia, such as racing thoughts, and to overcome the negative emotions tethered to sleep deprivation. This technique also assists in the establishment of healthy sleep patterns in Sleepio users.

The researchers structured their study into six CBT sessions with an average duration of 20 minutes each, in which participants would use Sleepio. Each of the 1,711 participants had access to the app for up to 12 weeks. Participants were assessed before using the app and at 4, 8, and 24 weeks follow-up. The entire study took around one year to conduct, and the researchers write that they observed “significantly improved insomnia symptoms, functional health, psychological well-being, and sleep-related quality of life [in participants] at 4, 8, and 24 weeks after initiation of treatment.” Symptoms reduced included fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleepiness and cognitive failures. The study also found that those using digital CBT displayed moderate increases in productivity at work and decreases in work absences due to insufficient sleep.

One of the major setbacks those with insomnia experience is the lack of available help. Jason Ong, associate professor of neurology in sleep medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and co-author of the study, claimed that there is often a 4-6 month wait period for a patient with insomnia to be able to see a sleep specialist. By utilizing digital CBT administration, patients would be able to receive immediate, self-administered aid with their symptoms. “We can reach many more patients with insomnia by using a digitally based program,” said Ong.

The disease has been identified as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, mental health disorders and cardiovascular disease. With 10-12% of the population receiving inadequate sleep due to insomnia, the researchers hope that digital CBT may lead to reduction in this number.

“Our study suggests that digital medicine could be a powerful way to help millions of people not just sleep better, but achieve better mental and physical well-being as a result,” said Colin Espie, lead study author, Oxford University professor of sleep medicine, chief medical officer of Big Health.

In previous years, insomnia has typically been treated with medications, however, a 2016 publication by the American College of Physicians lists CBT as the suggested primary treatment source. Technologies like Sleepio that allow those with insomnia to receive digital CBT treatment in real time when they need it most could be a revolutionary way of helping those with the disease.

“In clinical studies, dCBT [digital CBT] has repeatedly achieved statistically significant and clinically meaningful results for outcomes including sleep, mental health and daytime functioning,” said Espie. “Our latest results indicate that dCBT can be an effective, inexpensive way to help insomnia sufferers achieve better health over the long term through behavior change.”

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— Sleepio (@Sleepio) September 26, 2018

Sources: JAMA Psychiatry, Science Daily, Sleepio