Mindfulness to treat people suffering from insomnia

By Cristiano Antonino On Jul 30, 2022

Numerous studies show that Mindfulness improves sleep quality and quantity in people with insomnia

Mindfulness refers to achieving awareness of self and reality in the present moment and in a non-judgmental manner.

Mindfulness has been shown to

significantly reduces the severity of insomnia, sleep latency, pre-sleep arousal levels and intra-sleep wakefulness;
increases total sleep time, sleep efficiency and sleep quality in people with chronic insomnia;
reduces sleep problems in people with cancer, depression, anxiety and obesity.

The benefits of Mindfulness in people with insomnia

Two of the causative factors of insomnia are the excessive focus on information related to the pre-sleep situation and the difficulty in accepting that the physical and psychological processes (e.g. cognitive inhibition and lowering of physiological arousal) of sleep occur spontaneously.

It teaches one to observe what is happening in the body and mind without the intention of voluntarily controlling it, and also helps the person not to seek sleep at all costs.

This kind of relationship with sleep also promotes changing dysfunctional beliefs about insomnia.

Mindfulness appears to influence psychological flexibility with respect to sleep through the modulation of process variables such as awareness, decentring, acceptance, defusion, readiness to change and motivation (Rash et al., 2019).

Efficacy data

Experimental data in the literature confirm that using M. is an effective adjunctive treatment choice.

For example, the study by Lee et al. (2018) compared insomniac patients who received either CT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) or MBT (Mindfulness-Based Therapy) treatment after 4 sessions of TCC (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).

Greater improvements in mindfulness-related measures were found after MBT than in those who received CT.

The study by Hassirim and co-workers (2019) showed that a short 4-week Mindfulness protocol also produced improvements in sleep quality (assessed by subjective measures and actigraphic recording).

The study by Peters and co-workers (2020) showed that a 6-week Mindfulness-based group intervention resulted in improvements in objective and subjective measures of sleep.

The specific factors explaining why Mindfulness improves sleep have not yet been much investigated.

The underlying mechanisms that should modulate suffering and symptoms appear to be attentional monitoring, mindfulness and acceptance.

Indeed, the study by Lau and co-workers (2018) suggested that mindfulness and acceptance are the main contributors to improved sleep quality, in part through reduced psychological stress.

Bibliographic references

Hassirim Z., Lim E.C.J., Lo J.C., Lim J. (2019). Pre-sleep Cognitive Arousal Decreases Following a 4-Week Introductory Mindfulness Course. Mindfulness, 10 (11): 2429-2438.

Lau W.K.W., Leung M.K., Wing Y.K., Lee, T.M.C. (2018). Potential Mechanisms of Mindfulness in Improving Sleep and Distress. Mindfulness, 9(2): 547-555.

Lee C.W., Ree M.J., Wong M.Y. (2018). Effective Insomnia Treatments: Investigation of Processes in Mindfulness and Cognitive Therapy. Behaviour Change, 35(2): 71-90.

Peters A., Reece J., Meaklim H., Junge M., Cunnington, D., Ong, J., Greenwood, K. (2020). Mindfulness and Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia: An Assessment of Treatment Effect in a Sleep Disorders Clinic Population with Insomnia. Behaviour Change:1-15. doi:10.1017/bec.2020.18.

Rash J.A., Kavanagh V.A.J., Garland S.N. (2019). A Meta-Analysis of Mindfulness-Based Therapies for Insomnia and Sleep Disturbance: Moving Towards Processes of Change. Sleep Med Clin 14(2): 209-233

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