Do I need to take sleeping pills to treat my insomnia?
Chronic insomnia disorder - meaning difficulty falling or staying asleep that occurs multiple nights per week for 3 months or more - is extremely common. Sleep aids like Ambien and Lunesta are well-known treatments for insomnia. You’ve likely seen commercials on TV and have heard family and friends talk about trying out these medications. If you have insomnia, you may be wondering if you need to take one of these medications to get better sleep. If you’ve heard reports about side effects of certain sleeping pills, like sleepwalking, you also may feel worried and want to avoid taking medication to treat your insomnia.
Interestingly, the gold-standard treatment for insomnia is not a medication. Rather, it’s cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I).
So the simple answer to our question is - people do not typically need to take a sleep aid to improve their insomnia. When compared head-to-head, CBT-I is usually found to be more effective than medications for treating insomnia.¹ One of the reasons it is so effective is that CBT-I directly addresses your body’s systems that help you to sleep, and gets them back on track. It can also be tailored to you and how your sleep is at the very moment in time you’re receiving the treatment. The end result of CBT-I is improved sleep and the knowledge of how to help improve your sleep if you experience insomnia again down the road. These same tools and healthy sleep practices can also help to prevent future bouts of insomnia. In contrast, if you rely on a sleeping pill to treat your insomnia, you’ll likely have to begin taking it again if your insomnia returns. It’s not a long-lasting treatment.
The more complex answer to our question: some people may benefit from talking to their doctor about trying a sleep aid.
While it’s highly effective, CBT-I may not be for everyone. If you’re experiencing insomnia that is very occasional (e.g., after a stressful event like a breakup, you experience two weeks of insomnia), you will benefit more from engaging in healthy sleep practices and some may opt to take a sleep aid during that very short period of time. There are also rare occasions where CBT-I does not work, and for those folks, taking a sleep aid may be helpful.
So what’s the best way to treat my insomnia?
The gold-standard treatment for insomnia is CBT-I. This therapy usually works better than sleeping pills and the effects of the treatment are typically longer lasting. However, there may be certain situations where sleep aids are helpful. If you’re unsure of what type of treatment may be best for you, speak with your primary care physician or a sleep specialist. If you’re in Colorado or Illinois and would like to get started with treating insomnia using CBT-I, you can contact me here.
Mitchell, M. D., Gehrman, P., Perlis, M., & Umscheid, C. A. (2012). Comparative effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: a systematic review. BMC family practice, 13, 1-11.
About Dr. Liz Culnan | Denver, CO & Chicago, IL
Dr. Liz Culnan is a licensed clinical health psychologist with specialized training in the areas of perinatal/reproductive mental health and behavioral sleep medicine. She is passionate about supporting women through reproductive and life transitions. Learn more here.
Other services offered at Mindful Health Psychology:
Mindful Health Psychology is a practice offering online therapy for Denver, CO, Chicago, IL and beyond in the states of Colorado and Illinois. We specialize in therapy for anxiety, depression, depression and anxiety during pregnancy, postpartum anxiety and depression, coping with miscarriage and pregnancy loss, PMDD, coping with fertility-related stressors, birth trauma, coping with a chronic medical condition, insomnia, nightmares, circadian rhythm disorders, and hypersomnia disorders. We provide online therapy, making treatment more accessible, which means you can be located in Denver, Chicago, or another city in Colorado or Illinois to receive services.