Document resource
Introduction Insomnia is associated with impaired cognitive functioning, reduced quality of life, and adverse mental health outcomes. Currently, insomnia represents a public health challenge as treatment options are limited. We ran a trial to examine the effectiveness of SleepCogni, a hand-held active-feedback device as a possible novel solution to reduce insomnia complaints.Methods A two-arm parallel group design was used, with participants (N=80) randomised to either the experimental or the placebo control group. As main outcomes, participants completed self-reported measures of insomnia symptom severity, a sleep diary, and a user experience survey.Results Experimental group participants reported significantly greater improvement in insomnia symptom severity, as compared to the control group. Participants in the experimental group further showed significant improvements in sleep efficiency and total sleep time, based on sleep diary records. Content analysis of user experience surveys indicated that experimental group participants reported more positive user experience than those in the control group.Discussion The SleepCogni device appears useful to people with chronic insomnia diagnosis, as indicated by improvements in both self-reported insomnia severity and sleep quality. Importantly, user experience was positive suggesting that SleepCogni could prove a real-world solution. In conclusion, the SleepCogni device poses a promising novel intervention based on hand-held technology; either used on its own or as a complement to increase the effectiveness of existing treatments.