Reducing cognitive arousal and sleep effort alleviates insomnia and depression in pregnant women with DSM-5 insomnia disorder treated with a mindfulness sleep program.
Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society January 1, 2023 David A Kalmbach, Philip Cheng, Anthony N Reffi et al. 16 citations
A mindfulness-based sleep program for pregnant women with insomnia appears to work by reducing nighttime cognitive arousal and the effort invested in trying to sleep. In a small trial of 12 pregnant women with insomnia disorder, 75% reported high cognitive arousal before treatment, dropping to 8.3% after treatment. All women whose insomnia remitted had low cognitive arousal afterward, while half of non-remitters still had high arousal. Lower cognitive arousal and less sleep effort predicted same-week improvements in insomnia and later reductions in depression. The findings suggest that quieting a racing mind and decreasing sleep effort are key mechanisms through which mindfulness-based insomnia therapy alleviates both insomnia and depression during pregnancy.