Intensive Sleep Re-Training: From Bench to Bedside

Intensive sleep re-training is a promising new therapy for chronic insomnia. Therapy is completed over a 24-h period during a state of sleep deprivation. Improvements of sleep and daytime impairments are comparable to the use of stimulus control therapy but with the advantage of a rapid reversal of the insomnia. The initial studies have been laboratory based and not readily accessible to the patient population. However, new smart phone technology, using a behavioral response to external stimuli as a measure of sleep/wake state instead of EEG determination of sleep, has made this new therapy readily available. Technological improvements are still being made allowing the therapy to provide further improvements in the effectiveness of Intensive Sleep Re-training.