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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
Hello,
Just wanted to add my two cents with regards to mindfulness, SRT and SC.
With mindfulness I can recommend the app “Mindfulness Coach”. It is completely free and IMO one of if not the best. I’ve gone through it and continue to use it (not as often as I should). One thing for me is to try to do it when you are least tired. For me it is usually around 7-9PM. If I do it closer to bed time Ill either start nodding off or thinking about mindfulness too much when going to bed. I’ve started to just keep my eyes open during meditation so my head and body doesn’t just jerk as I nod off. It kind of kills the mood. Another thing is to gauge the time. Don’t start with 15-30 minutes. Start with 3-5 minutes and breathe. If your mind wanders, gently return to your breathing. Less is more.
With SRT. It’s brutal as we all know. What is frustrating is that I didn’t need or care for this before. I would wake up to go to work, come home, do whatever and then between 10:30 and 11:30 I would go to bed. Now I just worry too much and nights that are bad I wonder if it’s because I slipped the day or days before slightly.
Finally SC. From my experience my recommendation is that if you are lying in bed for 20-30 minutes and don’t feel like sleep is approaching, get out of bed. Sometimes I just go into another room and just relax and stare at the wall. Ill color or put on some really light music. At times I don’t feel like it’s working but what I do feel after a few days where I am doing a lot of SC is that it feels like my brain and body is sick and tired of getting out, getting cold and miserable that when I do wake up in the middle of the night my mindset is “f$%k it” and I close my eyes and drift off to sleep again. Sometimes Ill get out, go to the bathroom and if I feel quite tired, Ill go back to sleep right away.
One thing no one touched on in this thread is PMR (progressive muscle relaxation). I have tried it a few times and although feels nice, not sure how effective it is.
Hi Martin,
As for progress, it is hard to say. I’ve been tracking my sleep logs and Ill get a streak of good progress and then out of nowhere a streak of bad nights. I just feel crappy when I have a bad night. It feels like there is a band/pressure around my head. I’ve been trying to determine the root cause on why this all started and that just leads me down the path of “chemical imbalance”, genetics, anxiety, I am doomed etc.
The big picture in averaging it all out is there is a general slow trend upwards. Like I said, some weeks are pretty good, others not so much and it’s frustrating.
My thoughts and the consensus with most doctors is CBT-I should be the first line treatment before sleep meds. Using a non-pharmaceutical approach is safer and ends up working longer than sleep aids.
Thanks Deb. I may reduce it a little more. Last night I reduced it by 30 minutes and still slept like crap and got maybe 3-4 hours if that. My body just doesn’t like sleeping long or restful as it once did. In your case going from 8 to 6 would be a big change so I would assume it would work well for you. Take one day at a time! We can do this!
I am not an expert but heavy snoring can indicate sleep apnea. You might want to address that first. If you need a CPAP get on the CPAP. As for Zopiclone, you should stick on that a bit longer and do CBT-I in conjunction. Once your sleep efficiency is 85%+ for a few weeks you can try to wean off Zopiclone. I would say tackle one thing at a time. That would be the order I would say you tackle.
– Sleep apnea
– Sleep efficiency
– Sleep meds
