[Enabeling]

I started sleep restriction a few weeks ago and I’m feeling really discouraged. The first week was amazing. I slept 12-6 and except for one night, I stayed asleep the entire sleep window. Then I moved to 11:30-6 and had a few great nights. Then out of nowhere, it took me 4hrs to fall asleep one night. After that, I haven’t had a single good night. I’ve been on 11:30-6 for two weeks now with no improvements. I usually wake around 4am and then feel anxious because I know I only have a couple hours before I have to get up, which of course leads to never going back to sleep.

I know I probably need to move back to 12 but I feel so hopeless going backwards and I’m afraid that I’ll never be able to extend. Im considering enrolling as a client, but it’s such a huge amount of money for me and I’m afraid it’ll just be another thing that doesn’t work. I don’t know. Any advice is appreciated!

[Martin Reed]

Although these setbacks can be disappointing, it can be helpful to recognize that they’re all part of the process — ups and downs are completely normal and are not unusual.

As you suggested, it might be helpful to tighten up your sleep window a little so there’s less opportunity for extended periods of nighttime wakefulness. The other benefit to this is you’ll build more sleep drive and this can help overpower arousal.

You aren’t going backward if you tighten up the sleep window, you are simply adapting to how you are sleeping at the current time and giving yourself a better opportunity to experience improvements in your sleep, just as you experienced before!

Are you checking the time when you wake? Sometimes it can be helpful to avoid doing that since the best outcome is usually neutral, but the worst outcome is more anxiety/arousal — and that can make falling back to sleep more difficult.

Are you getting out of bed when being in bed doesn’t feel good? That can often be helpful at reducing arousal, too — especially if you can do something a bit more enjoyable than remaining in bed when being in bed doesn’t feel good.

I hope this helps.

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