[Martin Reed]

Just to clarify, the agreement to enroll in my online coaching course doesn’t exclude all sleeping pills — only benzodiazepines and antipsychotic medications. That’s because some of the techniques I share aren’t always appropriate for those with a history of psychosis and, in my experience, clients who are regularly using benzodiazepines often require more support than I can offer in an online coaching relationship.

In terms of the sleep window, when you have decided on the duration of your sleep window, I often suggest deciding when your final out of bed time will be in the morning, then counting back to get the start time of your sleep window.

Over the short term, implementing a sleep window can be very challenging — so we cannot read into what happens over the first few nights (many people experience sleep getting worse in the short term as they adjust to a new sleep routine). I think @shattered had a good plan for sticking to the window for a month before drawing any conclusions or doing any additional detective work.

When it comes to going to bed before the sleep window begins, the typical suggestion is to avoid going to bed or falling asleep before the sleep window starts in order to really build that biological sleep drive. However, I think it’s OK to go to bed within 30-60 minutes of the sleep window beginning if you feel really sleepy and are finding it hard to stay awake.

I hope this helps.

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If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Chee2308]

Hi Danielbme
A 5 hour sleep window is too short! The minimum is 6 hours so if you wake at 630, subtract that by 6 hours, that makes your bed time 1230am. And if you feel sleepy within 30-60 mins of the start of your sleep window, as Martin suggests, going to bed between 1130-1230 is absolutely fine!

Stop obessesing over the tiny details and the exact specifications, this is how you can kinda get lost. Be easy on yourself, let your body do all this work. Just go to bed between 1130 and 1230 and by keeping your out of bed time consistent, resisting efforts to constantly research sleep like going on this forum or goggling it, believing in yourself that nothing is wrong and letting everything settle down naturally, you will do very well indeed. Of course, if you need the extra help, you can always sign up for the course and benefit from Martin’s personal coaching. But ultimately, even after graduating, you will need to be able to do this all by yourself. Hopefully by then, you will have gained the necessary knowledge and mindwork to realise sleep is supposed to be natural, effortless and simple which leads to less struggle even when experiencing difficult nights. Just recognise that whatever sleep lost now will be regained over subsequent nights so why worry so much about tonite? There will be plenty of opportunities to sleep in the future. Good luck and best wishes!

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