Treatment of severe chronic insomnia with L-tryptophan and varying sleeping times

Twenty-five subjects suffering from severe chronic insomnia were treated for four weeks with 2 g of L-tryptophan in combination with a schedule of varying sleeping times which caused a sleep deficiency at the beginning of treatment. A second four-week period without L-tryptophan was used as a control. Nineteen subjects (76%) experienced a markedly improved sleeping pattern after four weeks; the sleeping behavior of ten of these subjects, however, deteriorated again after the control period. Daily self-rating protocols revealed that the subjects' sleep improved significantly between the 10th and 15th day after starting treatment. Further sleep-related items such as "activity", "mood", "nervous tension", "contentment", and "quality of the preceding day" were also evaluated. This treatment schedule can thus be recommended for the treatment of severe chronic insomnia.