The impact of neurofeedback versus biofeedback in insomnia patients: a preliminary study.

Introduction: Insomnia is a sleeping disorder which is usually interpreted from a behavioral perspective, with a focus on cognitive and/or somatic arousal. Research suggests, however, that a third arousal component might be in play, explaining why approximately 20% of this population does not respond well enough to standard non-pharmacological treatment. Cortical arousal, reflected by heightened EEG frequencies during the sleep onset period and sleep, might interfere with normal sleep processes.
Method: 16 insomnia patients (7 female, 9 men) were randomly assigned to either a sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) tele- neurofeedback (n=8) or an electromyography (EMG) tele-biofeedback (n=8) protocol. Two patients (biofeedback protocol) dropped out just before the start of the training. The sessions were performed from the patient's homes through a secure internet connection. The neurofeedback protocol consisted of the inhibition of theta (4-8Hz) and beta (20-30Hz) EEG activity, as well as the reinforcement of SMR (12-15Hz) all at Cz. The biofeedback protocol was an EMG inhibitor with electrodes placed at Fpz. A polysomnography was performed pre and posttreatment. Sleep Onset Latency (SOL), Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO), Total Sleep Time (TST), Sleep efficiency (SE) were our primary outcome variables.
Results: A significant decrease in SOL pre to post treatment in both groups (F=6,46; p.Conclusions: Both neurofeedback and biofeedback seem promising applications for sleep onset problems. However, when an increase in TST is wanted, only the SMR neurofeedback protocol showed good results in this study.

Jaar van publicatie:2008

Trefwoorden:insomnia, neurofeedback, sleep