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Leuphana presents on-line training at CeBit: New Therapy Approaches for Insomnia

Lüneburg. Restorative sleep can be learned-researchers at Leuphana University Lüneburg have developed Germany’s first on-line training program to teach stressed professionals how to improve their sleep. From March 10th to March 14th, 2014, they presented their “GET.ON Regeneration-Training” at CeBIT-the world’s largest computer fair-in a pavilion sponsored by the State of Lower Saxony (C28 in Hall 9).

People with sleep disorders can use this new on-line method to learn effective sleeping techniques within six weeks. First tests prove the program’s success: 80 percent of the test participants indicated that their sleep problems had improved significantly, in fact 40 percent said they no longer had any symptoms at all.
 
“Regeneration functions using three basics elements: turning off your thoughts, restorative sleep, and active recovery,” explained Dr. Dirk Lehr from the Leuphana research group “GET.ON Health Training. Online.” In this context restorative sleep is the most crucial.

In the GET.ON training program, participants complete a weekly one-hour exercise regime comprised of videos, texts, and assignments. They are taught sleep practices that have been proven effective, such as “Don’t sleep during the day!” and “Use the bed only for sleeping!” In addition, with the help of a “gratitude diary,” the participants acquire techniques to distance themselves from their work problems. It helps them list five positive events every evening. “In our training program, we place a lot of emphasis on leaving work behind in your thoughts. Healthy sleep requires the mind to be at rest,” the health researcher, Hanne Thiart, emphasized. She is a member of Dirk Lehr’s team.
 
Starting in April 2014, the online training program will be offered for free at www.geton-training.de as part of a large-scale study sponsored by the accident insurance agency, Unfallkasse NRW.” GET.ON, the restorative training program, fills a gap,” said Dr. Heinz Hundeloh, the director for the insurer’s educational division.  Germany has, until now, had a shortage of effective treatment programs for people with stress-related insomnia,” despite the fact that every tenth German is suffering from the problem. Typical insomnia symptoms that rise to the category of an illness include difficulty falling asleep, restlessness at night, waking up too early, and diminished productivity. “Internet health training programs are ground breaking because they can be accessed at any time from anywhere, they are easy to join, and can be used by many people at the same time,” said Hundeloh.
  
The new training program is one of nine on-line psychological therapy programs, that the psychologists and health scientists in the research group “GET.ON Health Training. Online” developed and tested as part of Leuphana University Lüneburg’s Innovation-Incubator. The work of these Lüneburg researchers has been met with great interest: Since February of this year more than 11,000 people signed up to participate in their study. Improved sleep, along with stress management, has the highest demand.
 
Contact
Leuphana University Lüneburg 

Dr. Dirk Lehr
Psychological Psychotherapist and operations program director
GET.ON Health Training.Online
Phone: 04131-677-7635 
E-Mail: dirk.lehr@inkubator.leuphana.de
dirk.lehr@inkubator.leuphana.de