Study Backs Therapy Over Sleeping Pills

You may be tempted to reach for a sleeping pill if you continually have trouble nodding off, but a small new study indicates you might be better off with cognitive therapy. "For people who have insomnia, there is now solid scientific evidence that the first-line treatment should be cognitive behavioral therapy, and not sleeping pills," said lead researcher Gregg Jacobs, an insomnia specialist at the Sleep Disorders Center of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. But because the study is so small, another expert is far from convinced that it will put the debate to rest anytime soon.