Australian National University PhD student John Gosling said small trials of a web-based program developed in the United States had proved very effective at helping participants get a better night's sleep.

More than 70 per cent of participants with clinically severe or moderately severe insomnia in the American trials no longer had the condition after completing the program.

The ANU and the Black Dog Institute are beginning a trial that will track 1600 insomniacs as they use the program for at least 18 months.

Insomniacs are more than nine times more likely to develop depression and more than 17 times more likely to develop anxiety disorders than a member of the general population, Mr Gosling said, so the program could help participants maintain good mental health.

"Preventing mental illnesses is much better than curing them once they've already developed, because if you've already developed depression you can cure episodes, but you're still more likely to have a recurrence of another episode than a member of the general population," he said.

Between 6 per cent and 8 per cent of Australian adults suffer chronic insomnia, and more than 50 per cent have some sleep problems.

The program, created at the University of Virginia, involves a cognitive behavioural therapy method used by psychologists.

Participants learn about the ways in which their thoughts, behaviours and lifestyle affect their sleep and functioning, and acquire techniques to control these factors.

This involves keeping a daily sleep diary and doing activities and exercises relating to sleep hygiene, including maintaining an environment conducive to healthy sleeping, and minimising behaviours that prevent healthy sleeping.

"Face-to-face therapy has been shown to be as effective as medication for insomnia but it doesn't have the side-effects and it keeps working after the treatment has ceased," Mr Gosling said.

"It's really quite exciting that taking this really effective intervention and turning it into an online format - which can obviously reach far, far more people at a much cheaper cost, if not free - is just an amazing prospect."

The initial trials, of only a few dozen people, also found that participants fell asleep more than 40 per cent faster after using the program, typically in less than 20 minutes.

It also lowered the amount of time participants spent awake at night by more than 50 per cent.

Black Dog Institute director Helen Christensen said disturbed sleep was increasingly recognised as both a potential cause of depression and a consequence of it.

Online interventions were a convenient option for sufferers, Dr Christensen said.

"People often prefer self-help and self-management rather than seeking help from a health professional," she said.

People struggling with sleeplessness who would like to participate in the study can visit the institute's website.