When you first hear of the concept of restricted sleep, it may sound like some kind of bizarre medieval torture — but here's what this type of sleep therapy looks like: Rather than tossing and turning with as you stare at the clock in the middle of the night, you’re sitting up, pleasantly working on a puzzle or watching until your brain is fully ready to snooze. Then, when you do turn off the light and get under the covers, you’re more likely to . Sleep restriction is a well-researched, highly effective tool that is used as a part of (CBT-I).
In the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s for the treatment of insomnia, CBT-I has the strongest recommendation for treating insomnia, and the specific CBT therapy of sleep restriction is also recommended, with the academy stating that although there is a limited amount of research on this specific strategy, “studies demonstrated clinically significant improvements in responder and remission rates.” A separate study in found that sleep restriction therapy “reliably improves sleep and insomnia symptoms.” “The goal of sleep restriction therapy, which is also sometimes called ‘sleep rescheduling,’ is to better match your time in bed with your total sleep time, which is known as sleep efficiency,” explains Ellen Wermter, a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and behavioral sleep medicine specialist with the “Ideally you should be spending around 85% of your time in bed asleep," she says.
It’s okay to be aw.