Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Sleep becomes more fragile as we grow older and the probability of developing insomnia increases with age. Since sleep is a critical factor for brain health, older adults with insomnia are two times more likely to develop neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's disease than good sleepers. Protecting sleep in older individuals could thus be hypothesized to help protect cognitive abilities. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi) is a safe and effective means to treat insomnia. However, CBTi is costly and not easily accessible. In addition, considering the high comorbidity between insomnia, anxiety and depression, and the impacts of mental health challenges on cognition, further therapeutic gains may be attained by integrating intervention components targeting anxiety and depression within existing CBTi programs (eCBTi+). This project aims at evaluating and better understanding how a 10 week eCBTi+ online program improves sleep, mental health, and brain health. This platform has been designed for older adults with insomnia disorder and subjective cognitive complaints. Participants will either undergo the eCBTi+ intervention or a control intervention not specific to sleep. This will allow the evaluation of the effectiveness and collateral benefits of eCBTi+ by tracking improvements in insomnia symptoms, sleep, the severity of depression and anxiety symptoms, and cognitive performance before and after the intervention. This novel intervention may contribute to better tailoring of CBTi to the context of emerging or established anxiety and depression which could decrease the psychological impacts of insomnia. Furthermore, the web-based delivery of this intervention can increase access to CBTi and relieve significant burden on the healthcare system. This research will also provide a better understanding of the two-way relationship between sleep and mental health and the impacts of insomnia treatments on brain health.