The recommended first line is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which combines stimulus control, sleep restriction and work on sleep-related thinking. It has solid evidence behind it and remains the baseline recommendation. Hypnotic medication is used sparingly, since it is not designed for long-term use.
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Clinical protocol
Insomnia
When the brain forgets how to cross into night.
Sleep is not a stop but a crossing: the brain has to slow down in a certain order to fall asleep and stay asleep. In insomnia that switch no longer happens. The fast rhythms, the daytime ones, stay on precisely when they should give way to the slow ones, and that is where brain training works.
Does this sound like you?
- You lie awake for hours even though you are exhausted
- You wake at 3 in the morning and your mind starts immediately
- You sleep, but you wake as if you had not
- You dread the evening because you know what is coming
- You have tried sleeping pills and either they stopped working or they left you heavy-headed
Brain training does not replace CBT-I and does not hand you a set of rules for the hours before bed. It works on something else: the rhythm that has to slow, practising the crossing into sleep. We usually add it for people who have already been through behavioural therapy and still have symptoms.
How does it compare with brain training?
Have you already had therapy or medication, and the symptoms persist? Brain training acts directly on the imbalances in the brain. Beyond reducing the effects, this method trains the brain's own mechanisms for a real change.
| Brain training | Medication | Psychotherapy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addresses the real cause | Yes | Symptoms only | Partly |
| Side effects | No | Yes | - |
| Risk of relapse | Low | High | Variable |
| Personalisation | Complete | Limited | Standard |
| Time to results | After a few sessions | 2-6 weeks | Variable |
What brain training does in insomnia
- Trains the sensorimotor rhythm, the waking counterpart of the spindles that appear at sleep onset
- Targets the background activation that keeps the brain awake
- Creates no dependency and leaves no heavy head the next day
- Can be continued at home, every evening, between sessions
The benefits you will notice quickly
- Falling asleep more easily and more consistently
- Fewer awakenings during the night
- Deep sleep, with real recovery of energy
- Mental clarity and better attention during the day
- Emotional regulation in the face of stress
- A steadier circadian rhythm and a general state of calm
What this rests on
The sensorimotor rhythm was the first rhythm trained for sleep, in Sterman's work in the 1970s. It has been studied in insomnia several times since, with mixed results: some trials show faster sleep onset, others find no effect beyond placebo. That is why we use it as part of a protocol, not as a stand-alone answer.
The effect can be tracked in the qEEG, across repeated measurements, not only in what a person remembers about last night.
Discover the BrainMap Protocol for Insomnia
How it goes
From the brain scan to personalised brain training.
BrainMap assessment (qEEG)
A complete, non-invasive assessment. We obtain a map of your brain activity and see which patterns keep you from falling asleep or wake you during the night.
Personalised protocol
Based on the results, we build a brain training protocol adapted 100% to your own brain pattern. The therapy is non-invasive, comfortable, with no electrical stimuli or side effects.
Brain training
Guided training that retrains the networks involved in falling asleep and staying asleep. As brain activity steadies, falling asleep becomes natural again.
Common questions
What if I currently take sleeping pills?
The two run in parallel. Any reduction in dose is made only together with the doctor who prescribed them, never on your own.
How long until I sleep better?
We cannot give a deadline. For some people sleep is among the first things to shift; for others it takes longer, or the change does not come. We review together, at intervals agreed in advance, whether it is worth continuing.
Does it work for children?
Yes, with an age-adapted protocol, after an assessment that rules out other causes of poor sleep. With children the sessions are shorter and more frequent.
What our patients say
Maria used the therapy to prepare for her final exams and to improve the quality of her sleep. In the video she describes her experience after 30 sessions.
Talk to a specialist
A 1:1 session, at a time you pick from a therapist's calendar. It happens right here in the platform, nothing to install, no link to hunt for.
Book a sessionYou choose the therapist and the time. If it no longer suits you, you can cancel.
The other protocols
AnxietyThe mind keeps looking for danger even when there is none.DepressionNot sadness, but a lack of fuel.ADHDNot a lack of will, but a brain rhythm that cannot keep up.AutismNot something to fix, but a day that is easier to carry.BurnoutWhen the alarm system stays on so long that it stops working.PTSD and traumaWhen the body reacts to something that ended long ago.