Insomnia Therapy

CHICAGO (AP) - For people with insomnia, help may be as close as their computer.

A small study shows some promising results for insomniacs who receive nine weeks of therapy, not from a human, but from the Internet.

The program gives advice, and even specific bedtimes, based on the sleep diaries of the people using the software.

Patients learn better sleep habits, like avoiding daytime naps, through stories, quizzes and games.

The University of Virginia's Frances Thorndike co-authored the study and also helped design the software. She says it could some day be a low-cost alternative for some patients. And for people living in areas without trained specialists, she says it could be the only non-drug option.

The study, which appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry, involves 45 adults with moderate insomnia. Those who got the treatment woke up fewer times and spent fewer minutes awake during the night.