This study compared the accuracy of reporting adherence to sleep instructions in participants who were informed that adherence would be verified with an actigraph (aware group) to participants not informed the actigraph would be used to assess adherence (unaware of group). Participants were college students (N = 68), who were screened for psychiatric or sleep disorders or extremes in circadian tendency. The UG had later actigraph estimates of bedtime than the AG, but the two groups did not differ on their self-report of adherence to the sleep rules. Only the UG had later actigraphic estimates of bedtimes that violated the sleep rules. These findings have implications for the accuracy of sleep diary self-reports as well as for the use of actigraphs in studies requiring people to follow specific sleep schedule instructions.

This investigation compared progressive muscle relaxation plus cognitive distraction (PMR/CD), hypothesized to better improve sleep onset, versus sleep restriction and stimulus control (SR/SC), hypothesized to better improve sleep maintenance, versus a flurazepam (Dalmane) positive contrast condition (MED) and a sleep hygiene education minimal treatment control condition (SHE). Participants with chronic insomnia (N = 53), completed 2 baseline weeks of sleep diaries, and were randomly assigned to a treatment group for 2 more weeks. In the second phase, PMR/CD participants were assigned to 2 weeks of PMR/CD + SR/SC + SHE while SHE participants continued SHE. Results indicated that PMR/CD had greater effect upon sleep onset than SR/SC and SHE, SR/SC had greater effect on sleep maintenance than PMR/CD, and MED was better than the other treatments. In the second phase, the treatment package produced modest additional improvements and SHE performed superior to expectations.

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