Sleep Restriction and Sleep Compression For Insomnia BY

Sleep Restriction and Sleep Compression For Insomnia BY AHMAD YOUNES PROFESSOR OF THORACIC MEDICINE Mansoura Faculty of Medicine

Sleep Restriction Therapy (SRT) • SRT limits the time in bed to the total sleep time (TST) (or 0. 85 TST) as derived from sleep logs. • The goal is to improve sleep continuity, thus enhancing sleep drive with sleep restriction. • Sleep will become more consolidated when long periods in bed and napping are prohibited. • As sleep continuity improves, the time in bed is gradually increased. • When using this technique, the patient should be cautioned about sleepiness to prevent accidents or other mishaps.

Sleep Restriction Instructions 1. A sleep log is kept for 1– 2 weeks to determine the mean total sleep time (TST). 2. Set bedtime and wakeup time to achieve a mean TST with sleep efficiency >85%. - The minimum time in bed (TIB) is 5 hours. - If TST ÷ TIB= 0. 85, then TIB=TST/0. 85 3. Adjustments: A. If TST / TIB >0. 85 for 7 days, then add 30 minutes to TIB. B. If TST /TIB <0. 85, then decrease TIB 30 minutes.

INDICATIONS • Sleep restriction therapy is indicated for the treatment of insomnia, including trouble sleeping during the beginning, middle or end of the time spent in bed. • Sleep restriction therapy is indicated for sleep difficulties in which the subjective sleep efficiency = (sleep time/time in bed X 100%), based on a 1 - to 2 -week sleep log or retrospective report, is less than 85 percent (or less than 80 percent in older individuals).

CONTRAINDICATIONS • Individuals who need to maintain optimal vigilance to avoid serious accidents should not engage in SRT. For example, long-haul truck drivers, long-distance bus drivers, air traffic controllers, and operators of heavy machinery, would be placed at unacceptably increased risk because of the sleepiness produced by SRT. • Similarly, individuals with conditions that are exacerbated by sleepiness or deep sleep, such as epilepsy, parasomnias, and sleep disordered breathing, should not engage in SRT. • Individuals who fall asleep quickly and have short, compact sleep prior to a terminal early morning awakening (even on non-workdays and holidays) are unlikely to benefit from SRT.

CONTRAINDICATIONS • Judgment will be necessary IN Paradoxical insomnia (sleep-state misperception), individuals may be unaware that they are getting some sleep after the major sleep period. In cases where some light or unappreciated sleep does occur at the end of the night, SRT may be of benefit. • Some individuals may be very sensitive to the side effects of SRT and therefore find the restrictions too demanding. Intolerance may develop to even a short period of fatigue, sleepiness, memory impairment, irritability, or diminished concentration.

RATIONALE FOR INTERVENTION • One of the most reliable ways to strengthen the homeostatic sleep drive and thereby increase the propensity for sleep during upcoming nights is to limit the amount of sleep currently being accumulated BY restricting time in bed over a number of nights. • Sleep restriction redresses such indicators of poor sleep as elevated amounts of light Stage N 1 sleep, prolonged sleep latencies, and excessive wakefulness after sleep onset. • Rapid sleep onset and a well-consolidated night of quality sleep, core goals of insomnia treatment, are achieved rapidly and reliably at the start of SRT.

RATIONALE FOR INTERVENTION • Other treatment objectives are deferred, such as accruing sufficient sleep to function well during the day. As treatment proceeds through adjustments in time in bed, a balance is sought whereby better daytime functioning is restored while sufficient sleep quality is maintained. • Behavioral practices and cognitive tendencies that perpetuate sleep disturbance are often the most promising targets for intervention such as spending too much time in bed, anticipatory anxiety about the prospects for sleep, and inordinate concern about daytime performance deficits, are addressed by SRT.

RATIONALE FOR INTERVENTION • There is little doubt that it is an “active treatment, ” even if it does have significant side effects. • Patients learn that they can at least muddle through the day on what sleep they reliably accumulate, lowering the stakes regarding sleep loss. Finally, hyper-arousal (whether a traitlike predisposing factor or reactive to events) is directly dampened by sleep loss. • SRT tightens regulatory control of sleep by the endogenous circadian pacemaker. Patients with chronic insomnia often display widely varying times of retiring to and rising from bed, with consequent variability in the timing of light exposure, social interaction, physical activity, and other stimuli that entrain the circadian system. • By closely regulating the time of “lights out” and “lights on” SRT gradually returns sleep regulation to effective circadian control, resulting in more reliably timed phases of sleep and

STEP BY STEP DESCRIPTION OF PROCEDURES • After a 2 -week sleep log we set the initial TIB equal to the average estimated sleep time. Regardless of reported sleep time, no individuals were assigned less than 5 hours of TIB. • Time to get up in the morning was set to the time subjects needed to be up on work days. • A 5 -day window was analyzed for sleep efficiency and changes were made to TIB according to the following rules: 1 - If SE was >90 percent (85 percent in seniors), TIB was increased by 30 minutes. 2 - If SE was <85 percent (80 percent in seniors), TIB was decreased by 30 minutes. 3 - If TIB was 85 - 90 percent, no changes were made. • Subjects were not permitted to lie down or nap at times other than the assigned TIB.

STEP BY STEP DESCRIPTION OF PROCEDURES • The timing of the sleep period now takes into account the time of the night when sleep is the most likely to be experienced as deep and refreshing. • In later clinical applications we did not end treatment after 8 weeks but when TIB is sufficient to sustain daytime functional capacity without leaving the individual too vulnerable to a recurrence of insomnia.

Initiation of SRT • SRT begins by estimating three key features of sleep: (1) typical sleep duration; (2) workday wake-up time; and (3) the portion of the night likely to contain the best sleep. • These features are best assessed via a representative 1 - 2 week graphic sleep diary (by averaging estimated total sleep times and logged workday wake-up times, and perusal of the patterning of sleep segments within a night) along with a clinical interview. • TIB at the start of treatment is set equal to the average sleep duration. (The minimum amount of TIB should not be less than 5 hours. ) • Wake-up time on SRT should be no later than the average logged workday wake-up time.

Initiation of SRT • The specific bedtime period assigned will depend on the individual’s sleep pattern. If, for example, a patient’s verbal report and sleep log show that the best sleep is obtained in the first two-thirds of the night, with erratic sleep thereafter, the assigned wake-up time should be earlier than the average logged workday wakeup time.

Completing SRT(when to end treatment) • Maximizing sleep efficiency cannot be the sole endpoint, since sleep efficiency will tend to be highest when time in bed is cut to the prescribed minimum of 5 hours, yielding very sleepy and likely non compliant patients. • Satisfying nocturnal sleep and good daytime functioning are seen as primary “benefits” whereas the time spent in bed in order to accumulate sleep and vulnerability to insomnia are “costs”.

Completing SRT(when to end treatment) • Prior to treatment, costs are high and benefits low, in that patients are spending a lot of time in bed, only to garner broken, unreliable and non refreshing sleep. Daytime functioning is poor, marred not only by the effects of sleep loss but also by anticipatory anxiety over what the next night will bring. • At the start of SRT there is a dramatic lowering of costs, as much less time is spent in bed, and susceptibility to very poor nights of sleep is reduced due to an increased homeostatic sleep drive. There is often a concurrent reduction in benefits, in that typically less sleep is accumulated, leading to increased sleepiness and deficits in mood, attention, and other aspects of daytime functioning.

Completing SRT(when to end treatment) • As treatment progresses, there is an increase in both costs and benefits (e. g. , less time is spent in bed, but more sleep is obtained, with only slightly increased susceptibility to insomnia). The increase in benefits rises at a greater rate than the increase in costs. • As the titration proceeds, a point of maximal net benefit is reached. Time in bed is restricted enough to maintain a reliable pattern of well-consolidated sleep, but not so much as to yield significant daytime deficits. This is the desired endpoint of treatment, and the schedule the patient should strive to maintain on his or her own.

POSSIBLE MODIFICATIONS • The initial prescribed in the SRT approach may be experienced by the patient as a severe deprivation and result in significant daytime sleepiness. • Allowing or prescribing a daytime nap has been used to limit daytime sleepiness at the start of treatment. • All changes in TIB must be on the basis of > one week assessment of sleep log. • Sleep compression(modest reduction in TIB compared to SRT) avoids the shock of a radically reduced TIB. • During the first session, patients were advised to reduce TIB by half of the difference between baseline TIB and baseline TST.

POSSIBLE MODIFICATIONS • During the second and third sessions, TIB was further reduced by one-quarter of the difference between baseline TIB and baseline TST. • We have frequently suggested that when SRT is used clinically it is important to negotiate initial TIB with the patient so that resistance is minimized. • In individuals with paradoxical insomnia who do not report sufficiently greater sleep efficiency on a significantly restricted schedule to trigger extra allotments of TIB, following the initial restricted schedule (determined as usual from the average reported sleep time across a baseline week), we do not further reduce TIB. Instead, we increase TIB by either 15 or 30 minutes on a weekly basis regardless of reported sleep efficiency.

PROOF OF CONCEPT • Administered SRT to adults with psycho- physiological insomnia and insomnia co-morbid with psychiatric disorders in eight weekly individual sessions. Treatment outcomes, as measured by subjective sleep onset latency (SOL), total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), and ratings on insomnia symptoms were all improved after treatment as well as at a 36 -week followup. • Although initially restricted, TST eventually increased from 320 minutes to 343 minutes and SE improved from 67 percent to 87 percent.

PROOF OF CONCEPT • Modified the SRT procedures (gradual sleep compression instead of abrupt cut-down of TIB, and/or installing a mandatory or optional daytime nap ) for elderly patients with insomnia, with more flexibility in the prescription of TIB were intended primarily to enhance the patients’ tolerance of sleep restriction and/or to reduce daytime sleepiness due to partial sleep deprivation. • The outcome on SOL was not as consistent as the other measures (SE and TST, and WASO). Treatment effects were at least partially maintained at short term (2 -month) and long-term (up to 2 years) follow-up. • SRT was more effective in increasing SE and TST than relaxation training.

PROOF OF CONCEPT • Compared sleep compression with SRT that reduced TIB gradually in 5 weeks with relaxation training; It was found that both treatments produced significant improvement in SOL and WASO at post-treatment, but WASO benefits were maintained only in the sleep compression group at 1 -year follow-up. Relaxation did better than sleep compression in enhancing TST. • The American Academy of Sleep Medicine rated SRT as a Guideline treatment, clinically it is typically incorporated into the multi-component treatment that involves an educational component (sleep hygiene), a behavioral component (stimulus control, SRT, relaxation), and a cognitive component (cognitive restructuring). • while relaxation was more effective for sleep onset problems, a combination of stimulus control and SRT had more benefits for sleep maintenance variables

Sleep Compression Therapy

Sleep Compression Therapy • INDICATION: Sleep compression is ideal for those who exhibit sleep continuity disturbance but not substantial daytime deficits. Poor sleep accompanied by little daytime impairment suggests that enough sleep has been obtained to satisfy biologic need. Decreasing wake time in bed , not increasing sleep, becomes the primary therapeutic goal. • Sleep compression does use an incremental approach to decreasing time in bed, as compared to abrupt contraction in the method of sleep restriction, and sleep compression may be better tolerated by individuals who are experiencing daytime fatigue or mild sleepiness. • CONTRAINDICATIONS : Temporary, increased daytime sleepiness that sometimes occurs with the introduction of the similar procedure of sleep restriction has not been observed with sleep compression.

RATIONALE FOR INTERVENTION • Individuals gifted with a short need for sleep may create an insomnia sleep pattern when they strive for the common goal of 7 hours and 30 minutes of sleep, even when less sleep is needed to satisfy their biologic need. • By their night-time sleep pattern, this insomnia subtype resembles individuals who do fail to obtain sufficient sleep, but may be distinguished by the absence of daytime sequelae expected to follow inadequate sleep.

STEP BY STEP DESCRIPTION OF PROCEDURES • Sleep compression begins by estimating TST and TIB. This is usually done by collecting a 2 week baseline sleep diary; other data sources, such as actigraphy, could be used instead. • Sleep diaries have better utility for setting a sleep compression schedule, since they reflect patients’ perceptions of their own sleep, and as a result patients are more likely to accept recommended changes than when baseline data are derived from an actigraphic device.

STEP BY STEP DESCRIPTION OF PROCEDURES • The baseline sleep assessment will yield mean TST and mean TIB. Atypical baseline nights producing unrepresentative TST or TIB values that might arise from factors such as illness or uncharacteristic socializing can be discounted. • The therapeutic goal of sleep compression is to eliminate the TIB–TST discrepancy by cutting back TIB in incremental parts over the next several weeks. • We will typically use about six sessions to shrink TIB to conform to TST. The number of treatment sessions may be adjusted according to the magnitude of the TIB–TST discrepancy that will be managed.

STEP BY STEP DESCRIPTION OF PROCEDURES • If averaged 6 hours of sleep a night during baseline but had 8 hours of TIB. The 2 hours of superfluous TIB will be cut by 120 minutes/six sessions, or about 20 minutes a week. As the sessions unfold, the pace of cutting TIB can be adjusted to accommodate changes in TST that may arise. If TST gradually increases, the number of minutes cut can slow, or the reverse if TST shrinks. • Similarly, should the patient report waxing daytime impairment, the pace of reducing TIB should slow. We do not use a fixed formula , such as maintaining sleep efficiency within a specified range, in titrating TIB cuts.

Adherence • Adherence with sleep compression is generally less problematic than with traditional sleep restriction recommendations that precipitously reduce a client’s time in bed. • Because the overall reduction in bed time is less abrupt, there is usually less initial reactance to the plan. • Unlike the common injunction “Don’t go to bed unless sleepy” characteristic of the stimulus control procedure, sleep compression instructions encourage patients to stick with the prescribed bedtime and wake time each week. • Patients whose life circumstance dictates an inconsistent sleep schedule, such as rotating shift work, may be poor candidates for sleep compression treatment.

Adherence • Based on correlation with treatment outcome, greater consistency of time spent in bed per night and a more consistent arising time are aspects of adherence that should receive the most attention.

POSSIBLE MODIFICATIONS • Decrease the time in bed more rapidly, thus reaching the target total sleep time at a quicker pace, reducing time in bed too rapidly may produce side effects. • An extreme modification would be akin to sleep restriction , in which the time in bed is immediately cut to the total sleep time. • A major difference between sleep compression and sleep restriction is that sleep restriction aims to increase total sleep time after time in bed is reduced. Therefore, sleep compression is better suited for individuals with reduced sleep need, whereas sleep restriction is better suited for individuals whose sleep need falls within the normal range.

POSSIBLE MODIFICATIONS • Another modification is the use of group treatment for the presentation of sleep compression. Treatment groups consisting of five participants yielded positive outcomes for the use of sleep compression. • Sleep compression presented via group therapy can be effective for insomnia and provides all the usual benefits of group treatment. • Sleep compression has been shown to be effective as monotherapy and as part of a multi-component treatment package. • Recently, sleep restriction/sleep compression was recommended as one of two evidence-based psychological treatments (EBTs) for insomnia in older adults. • The other recommended EBT is multi-component cognitivebehavioral therapy, which could include sleep compression.