What is chronotherapy for sleep issues?

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
What is chronotherapy for sleep issues?]

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[Text on screen: Helena Rempala, PhD
Psychologist
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

Helena Rempala, PhD: For me, chronotherapy means bringing the knowledge about our internal clock, or sometimes we call it our circadian rhythm, bringing the circadian rhythm into the therapy about sleep, 

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trying to fit in the sleep into the broader context of our body functioning. And it's very important when we are treating patients with comorbid diseases. So patients that also have other mental health issues, especially mental health issues like bipolar disorders, those patients can never really be asked to shorten that sleep window because not enough sleep can actually trigger mania. So we're very careful about that, and their therapy becomes more chronotherapy. Their therapy for insomnia becomes more chronotherapy with the goal of amplifying the internal signals 

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from the circadian clock.

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
For more information, visit: go.osu.edu/insomnia]

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