Managing daytime sleepiness with the help of sleepcoaching, a non-pharmacological treatment of non-restorative sleep

PURPOSE: To measure the effect of a 2-day sleepcoaching seminar on daytime sleepiness and sleep-related variables of shift workers employed in an Austrian railway company (ÖBB: Österreichische Bundesbahnen). METHOD: Participants filled in pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, containing items of the PSQI and the ESS, questions about chronotype, personality factors and possible burnout risk factors. About 30 shift workers, working in shifts for more than 300 months on average (28 male; mean age = 24 ± 45.90, age range 24–56 years) voluntarily took part in the investigation twice. Sleep coaching by Holzinger and Kloesch™ (SC) is a new holistic approach for non-pharmacological treatment of non-restorative sleep and is based on Gestalt therapy. It includes psychotherapeutic aspects, which enable clients to improve their sleep quality by developing one’s own coping strategies which can be implemented in daily routine. Dream work and relaxation techniques are also part of the programme. RESULTS: The 2-day SC seminar was beneficial by focusing on the sleep problems related to shift work. A significant improvement of the global PSQI score and the PSQI variables subjective sleep quality, diurnal fatigue, and sleep latency was achieved, with a medium effect size. However, the programme did not result in the reduction of daytime sleepiness (ESS). Six more variables did not change significantly. CONCLUSION: While some sleep problems related to shift work were successfully addressed by SC, daytime sleepiness (ESS) could not be reduced contrary to our expectations. More research with a greater sample and a longitudinal design is needed to examine the long-term effects of SC.