The best things to do at night to help you sleep when you have chronic insomnia

Sleep restriction is a great technique for reducing the amount of time you spend awake during the night. When you implement sleep restriction, you will be observing a regular and appropriate sleep window to ensure that you aren't allotting too much time for sleep. This will help build sleep drive, making it easier to fall asleep at night, and it will lead to more consolidated sleep.

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Many people wonder what they should be doing in the evening before the start of the sleep window. The answer is, anything you find relaxing and enjoyable — because no activity can generate sleepiness or sleep.

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Pursuing something relaxing and enjoyable not only improves the quality of your life (because many people with insomnia actually give up enjoyable activities in the evening for fear that they'll disrupt sleep) but they help distract you from thinking and worrying about sleep and they help you recognize sleepiness cues.

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Another core cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) technique is stimulus control — this is designed to help you "relearn" to associate the bed with sleep and relaxation rather than wakefulness and worry. This is achieved by reserving the bed for nothing but sleep. So, if you are in bed and awake, you get out of bed.

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Again, people often ask what they should be doing when they get out of bed during the night. My answer is the same as above — anything you find relaxing and enjoyable!

It really doesn't matter too much what you do when you get out of bed​ since the priority is to remove you from the bed when you are awake — and distract the mind from thinking/worrying about sleep.

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Finally, it's important to recognize that life sometimes gets in the way — and life is more important than sleep! So, try not to rearrange your life around insomnia. If you want to have friends over, have friends over — even if that means missing the start of your sleep window on one night. If the neighborhood is particularly noisy one night and this interrupts sleep, that's OK too — just try to get out of bed by the end of your sleep window in the morning.

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My name is Martin Reed and I am the founder of Insomnia Coach®. I offer sleep coaching services that give people with insomnia all the skills and support they need to enjoy better sleep for the rest of their lives. I also offer a free two-week sleep training course for people with insomnia at https://insomniacoach.com/sleep-train...

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All content found on the Insomnia Coach YouTube channel is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice or medical treatment and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or other licensed healthcare provider. All content is provided as is, and without warranties.

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