[JulieMoran]

I’m wanting to try sleep reatriction therapy but I’m kind of nervous about starting it.  How many “bad” nights of sleep did you have before you started sleeping better?? Any other advice??

[delv-x]

Sleep restriction is one of the tools used to treat insomnia. How good/ok/bad it is depends on your current amount of sleep you are getting and dedication. Before starting sleep restriction, it’s best to keep a log/journal on how many hours you sleep for one/two weeks and then taking the average. Say your average is 6.5 hours then add 30 minutes to that. Your SRT time will be 7 hours. Then set your wake up time as your anchor. If you normally get up at 7AM then that is your rise time. Your earliest to bed would be 12:00. You can go to bed later but not before 12:00. Also go to bed if you are actually tired.

As for how many bad nights before things got better. Well things got better within a few days but even then after a few months, I get a few days that are quite rough. It generally takes a few weeks to start seeing results. The purpose of sleep restriction is to A) increase sleep drive thus increasing the likelihood of falling asleep and staying asleep. B) Trains the brain to associate bed with sleep.

My advice is that if you are sleeping poorly and frustrated enough to want to sleep better then SRT is definitely something you should try. I would also suggest stimulus control in conjunction to maximize your results. SRT alone will not be as effective.

Good luck

[Martin Reed]

Hello Julie, and welcome to the forum.

Bear in mind that sleep restriction rarely leads to less sleep, because the amount of time allotted for sleep is always more than your typical nightly sleep duration.

How many bad nights of sleep do you have at present, without practicing sleep restriction therapy? What would you have to lose by giving the technique a try for a couple of weeks?

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