[David Powell]

Hi All!
Looking for a little clarification around sleep restriction. My current wake time is 6am, and I am wondering what to do if I wake up at 4:30am and am unable to get back to sleep by 5am? Do I just get up and consider that the start of my day? Or is it cool to just lay in bed at that point until 6am regardless if I fall back asleep?
Thanks for any advice!

[Chee2308]

Hey there… It’s really up to you to decide at that point if you want to lie in or get up and start your day early. Martin has a podcast about this in youtube and he said the same thing. The choice is up to you. If you enjoy laying in a warm cosy bed despite not sleeping, then by all means, just lie in. Or if you have stuffs to get done for the day, you might as well get up and start doing them. But if you do lie in, I’d caution you that if you do fall asleep, which is great, you might be jolted awake by your alarm in the midst of a deep sleep state, and that would leave you waking up in an extremely groggy state which is worse than not sleeping at all. I know this because I had it before. Generally if you want to lie in, it’s best to wake up naturally. Just my 2 cents worth. Hope it helps and good luck!

[Martin Reed]

This is a great question — so thank you for your post, David!

First of all, I’d suggest not checking the time when you wake during the night since that can increase arousal and make falling back to sleep more difficult.

Secondly, I think that if being in bed feels good — you feel comfortable and relaxed — then it’s OK to remain in bed. If being in bed doesn’t feel good, then you might want to get out of bed and do something a bit more appealing until conditions feel right for sleep.

Since I don’t suggest checking the time during the night, I think it’s usually worth giving yourself the opportunity to fall back to sleep if you wake during your sleep window. Unless you are convinced the alarm is about to go off and you are convinced that conditions just won’t feel ever feel right for sleep, then I’d suggest following the routine outlined above rather than getting out of bed and starting your day.

With this being said, you are the expert on you! I hope this helps!

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