CBT-I stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia. It's the treatment recommended by doctors above everything else — including sleeping pills — for chronic insomnia. It works by identifying and changing the thoughts and behaviours that maintain poor sleep, rather than just sedating you.

How is Lunara different from Calm or Headspace?

Calm and Headspace are relaxation apps — they help you unwind but they don't treat insomnia. Lunara is built specifically for people with sleep problems, using the clinical CBT-I protocol. It tracks your sleep data, adapts your programme weekly, and generates a clinical report for your doctor. That's something no meditation app does.

Does it work on Android?

Lunara is currently iOS only. This is because it deeply integrates with Apple Health and Apple Watch for automatic sleep data. Android support is on our roadmap.

Is my sleep data private?

Your data is encrypted in transit and stored securely. We never sell your data or share it with third parties. The clinical report you generate is yours to share — Lunara never sends it anywhere without your action.

What devices does Lunara work with?

Lunara works on any iPhone running iOS 16 or later. It reads data from Apple Health, so any tracker that syncs to Apple Health will work — including Apple Watch, Garmin, Fitbit, Samsung Galaxy Watch, Whoop, and Oura Ring.

Can my doctor actually use the report?

Yes. The report is formatted as a professional clinical document — patient details, 90-day sleep metrics, clinical reference ranges, HRV data, sleep architecture, activity correlation, and an AI-written assessment.

How much does Lunara cost, and is there a free trial?

Your first 4 weeks are completely free — no credit card required, so you can properly try it. After that, Lunara is £7.99/month (or £49.99/year), with a further 7-day free trial before you're charged. Cancel anytime.

How long does Lunara's CBT-I programme take?

Lunara runs an adaptive 4-week CBT-I programme, updated weekly based on your sleep data, rather than a fixed one-size-fits-all course.

What does Lunara do with my sleep data every day?

Each morning Lunara gives you a debrief on the previous night, and each evening it builds a personalised wind-down plan — both driven by your ongoing sleep data.

What's included in Lunara's clinical sleep report?

The report includes patient details, 90-day sleep metrics, clinical reference ranges, HRV data, sleep architecture, activity correlation, and an AI-written assessment — formatted as a professional clinical document.

Does Lunara diagnose insomnia or replace my doctor?

No. Lunara is not a medical device and does not diagnose insomnia. It is an educational CBT-I coaching programme — always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical advice or diagnosis.

CBT-I vs ACT-I: Which Therapy Works Better for Insomnia?

Short answer

Both work. CBT-I tends to help faster and is still the first-line treatment that sleep guidelines recommend. ACT-I starts slower but appears to catch up within about six months, and it skips sleep restriction, the hardest part of CBT-I. For people who can't manage sleep restriction, that makes it a real alternative.

What CBT-I is

CBT-I stands for cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. It is the gold-standard treatment for chronic insomnia, recommended ahead of sleeping pills.

It combines two kinds of work:

✓Behavioural changes. The main ones are stimulus control (only going to bed when sleepy, and getting up if you can't sleep) and sleep restriction, which limits your time in bed to rebuild your drive to sleep.
✓Thinking differently about sleep. Challenging beliefs like "if I don't get eight hours tomorrow will be a disaster", which keep the brain on alert at night.

What ACT-I is

ACT-I is acceptance and commitment therapy adapted for insomnia. It does not try to fix your sleep directly. Instead it teaches you to notice anxious thoughts about sleep without fighting them, using mindfulness and acceptance exercises.

The big practical difference is that ACT-I does not use sleep restriction. Sleep restriction is effective, but it makes people more tired for the first couple of weeks. Some people can't do it safely, such as those who drive for a living or have certain health conditions, and others simply give up.

What the research says

The largest head-to-head trial so far was published in 2024 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology by El Rafihi-Ferreira and colleagues. It followed 227 adults with chronic insomnia in Brazil.

✓Straight after treatment, both groups improved far more than people on a waiting list. CBT-I gave a bigger drop in insomnia severity, but the gap between the two was small.
✓Six months later, ACT-I had caught up. The share of people no longer meeting the threshold for insomnia was not meaningfully different between the two groups.

Two smaller studies point the same way. A 2023 pilot trial with 37 people found more people responded to CBT-I at the end of treatment, but ACT-I kept improving afterwards while CBT-I slipped slightly. A Swiss study of 63 patients found large improvements in both groups and no clear winner.

These trials have limits. The big one was not blinded, left out people with major psychiatric conditions, and its participants were mostly women with a university education. So treat the results as promising, not settled.

Which one should you try?

✓Start with CBT-I if you want the approach with the most evidence behind it and the fastest results. It is what most sleep clinics and guidelines recommend first.
✓Consider ACT-I if you have tried sleep restriction and couldn't stick with it, or if a lot of your insomnia is worry about sleep itself.
✓Talk to your GP before starting either if you have another health condition, take sleeping medication, or work in a job where tiredness is dangerous.

The two are not rivals. Many therapists now borrow acceptance techniques inside a CBT-I programme, especially for the anxious, racing-mind side of insomnia that we cover in can't sleep because of anxiety.

Where Lunara fits

Lunara is built on CBT-I. It turns your sleep diary into a personalised programme, coaches you through sleep restriction and stimulus control night by night, and produces a report you can take to your doctor. It also includes guided wind-down exercises for the nights your mind won't switch off.

Your first four weeks are free, with no card needed.

Is ACT-I as good as CBT-I?

In the best trial so far, CBT-I worked a little better at first and ACT-I caught up by six months. CBT-I still has far more evidence overall.

Does ACT-I use sleep restriction?

No. That is the main practical difference, and the reason some people find it easier to stick with.

Can I do CBT-I without a therapist?

Yes. Digital and self-guided CBT-I programmes have good evidence behind them. They are a common first step before seeing a sleep specialist.

Try Lunara Free

Start your CBT-I programme tonight

Lunara builds a personalised CBT-I plan from your real sleep data. First 4 weeks free, no card — then £7.99/month.

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