[Matthew]

Hello Martin! I just would like to confirm the sleep window process. Have a few questions.

1. May I know that if I’m currently starting out going to bed now at 12:30am, and let’s say for the week I’m at or above 85% sleep efficiency, then the subsequent week the earliest I would go to sleep would be 12:15am? And then subsequent weeks if still at 85% or above, continue to shorten by 15 minutes, e.g.,12am, 11:45pm, until I reach my desire of 9pm?

2. I’m guessing this is anticipated to take over few months?

3. And once I reach this, should I be more or less on track to obtain my normal sleep pattern back?

Thank you in advance. Just trying to get this all figured out.

-Matthew

[Chee2308]

Hi Matt

I am a graduate of martin’s program so maybe I could answer some of your questions?

1. What is your wakeup time and how long is your sleep window when you start doing cbti? Trying to stretch a go to bed time of 12:30 to 9 (3.5 hours) is a bit far-fletched to me. Most people start with a 6-6.5 hour sleep window so when they reach the desired 7.5-8 hour duration, the expansion would only be about 1-2 hours.

2. It depends on your progress and how you view sleep at its core. Doing a sleep window is not a sleep generator! It doesn’t generate more sleep than you need and it won’t guarantee you will get your desired result. It’s just a mechanism to regularize your nights. If you are up for X hours, then you are most likely to feel sleepy by Y hours. This is the key lesson of doing the sleep window. Technically, you could go from doing a 6 hour window to 8 in one night, if the sleep drive is there. No one sleeps great all the time and you will learn this as you progress along in the course. Ultimately, when you are sleeping regularly as a result of following a sleep window, the small details don’t matter so much anymore.

3. What is a normal sleep pattern to you? You may notice even when you are sleeping normally, you still get the occasional bad night or two. Everyone does. The key idea is to not fret over them when they happen and just keep doing what you are doing and sticking to your regular bedtime. The real recovery isn’t getting more sleep, it is the willingness to accept some wakefulness, that you won’t sleep great all the time and that it’s okay. Good luck to you.

[Matthew]

Thank you! Your information is helpful!

[Martin Reed]

I see that Chee did a great job answering your questions (thanks, Chee!) — I don’t really have anything else to add!

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