Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia
The first step in treating insomnia with CBT-I is to identify the underlying causes of the insomnia. People with insomnia should evaluate or have their sleep patterns evaluated and take into account all possible factors that may be affecting the person's ability to sleep. This would involve keeping a sleep diary or journal for a couple weeks. The journal will help to identify patterns of thoughts or behaviors, stressors, etc. that could be contributing to the person's insomnia.
Actigraphy
Actigraphy is useful for assessing daytime sleepiness in place of a laboratory sleep latency test. It is used to clinically evaluate insomnia, circadian rhythm sleep disorders, excessive sleepiness and restless legs syndrome. It is also used in assessing the effectiveness of pharmacologic, behavioural, phototherapeutic or chronotherapeutic treatments for such disorders. The data, recorded over time, is in some cases more relevant than the result of polysomnography, particularly in assessing circadian rhythms and disorders thereof as well as insomnia.