ABSTRACT
There are a wide variety of nonpharmacological treatments for insomnia including stimulus control, sleep restriction, and cognitive therapy (1,2), which are all covered extensively elsewhere in this volume. There are also “other” types of nonpharmacological treatments sometimes used to treat insomnia discussed within this chapter. Some of these methods, such as progressive muscle relaxation and paradoxical intention, are commonly used, have significant empirical backing, and have been listed as “effective and recommended therapies” by the Standards of Practice Committee of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (3). Others (e.g., exercise, acupuncture, aromatherapy) have less rigorous empirical backing, often consisting of case studies or case-series designs without control conditions, but were deemed worthy of review because they are used by some practitioners and have not received adequate review elsewhere. The current chapter addresses these “other” nonpharmacological treatments of insomnia with a description of efficacy/effectiveness studies. In terms of description of efficacy/effectiveness studies, more focus was given to those treatments which have received less systematic review in the current literature.
