For Insomnia Sufferers, This is For You!
A new study revealed the Sleep Healthy Using the Internet (SHUTi) program, an online insomnia program, is an effective tool in helping people overcome their sleep problems.
The study showed that users of the online program have experienced significant improvement in their sleep. In fact, approximately 70 percent of the SHUTi users had significant improvements. And the other good news is, more than half (56.6 percent) were in the “no insomnia” range one year after using SHUTi.
In addition, SHUTi proved significantly more effective than online sleep education information including tips that might be found online.
This key result was confirmed by University of Virginia School of Medicine Professor Lee Ritterband, PhD, who said, “We found that those who got the SHUTi intervention did much better … and the main symptoms of insomnia were significantly improved and stayed improved over time.”
SHUTi comes with a mission to help people overcome their sleep problems by retraining them in healthy sleep behaviors. It is created through cognitive behavioral therapy, a widely used treatment for insomnia.
Online Programs vs In-person Human Involvement
The online program was found to have yielded benefits for the users of SHUTi. To prove this assertion, out of 303 people enrolled in the study, more than half of the participants reported significant improvements in their sleep problems.
The study suggests the enormous benefits of SHUTi especially for those who are suffering from insomnia.
In addition, the researchers concluded that online programs without in-person human involvement can significantly improve sleep. Compared to in-person human involvement, the internet “provides a less-expensive, scalable treatment option that could reach previously unimaginable numbers of people.”
Overall, the study found that the benefits of SHUTi were similar to those found in trials of cognitive behavioral therapy delivered by healthcare providers. The measure of effectiveness was based on experiences self-reported by study participants rather than a measurement of time spent sleeping.
