Going to bed at Midnight and waking up at 6am. I had been going to bed at 10pm prior to this.

Night One:

Went to bed at Midnight.
Took about 20 minutes to fall asleep (pretty dang good for me).
Woke up about 90 minutes later, but was able to fall back to sleep within 15 minutes. Slept for another hour to 90 minutes and fell back to sleep within 15 minutes.
This cycle happened a couple more times.
Woke up at 5:58 and got out of bed at 6am.

This was a pretty good night compared to how I had been doing for the past 2+ months.

Night Two:

Went to bed at Midnight.
Took about 15-20 minutes to fall asleep (still pretty good here).
Slept for a 3 hour stretch. (this was miraculous for me.... it's been a loooong time since I had a 3 hour stretch).
Fell asleep pretty quickly after waking.
Woke up again at 4:40. Was in a great mood. No feelings of depression or anxiety (they did creep back in during the day though...oh well.... I like the gains).
I couldn't get back to sleep. I was just in too happy of a mood.
Got out of bed at 5am and told my wife I'd stay up with our son so she could get some more sleep.

Night Three:

Went to bed at Midnight.
Took about 5-10 minutes to fall asleep (wow.... wow).
Woke up after an hour. Fell back to sleep in about 20 minutes.
The rest of the night was sleeping for stretches of 1 to 1 and a half hours.
I think I got about 5 hours of broken sleep.

Might sound bad. But again, for me, over these past couple of months, it's pretty impressive.


I feel very tired and lethargic during the day.
But it's much more manageable. There's some anxiety but not the overwhelming fear I had when I thought about sleeping. It feels like it's something I can conquer. Which is a pretty good feeling for me.

Night Four:

Was really struggling staying awake after 11pm. But it was actually a great and reassuring feeling. I was nodding off while reading my book. And it's been a long time since I was struggling to stay awake. It was a rough, but still a very reassuring feeling.

Went to bed at Midnight.
Took about 5 minutes to fall asleep.
Woke up about 2 hours later (was happy).
Fell back to sleep in about 15 minutes.
Slept for another 2 hour block (yeah!) woke up around 4am.
My son also woke up at that time (maybe that's why I was awake).
My wife took him.
I was having a hard time falling back to sleep, but mainly because he's a happy screamer in the morning.
I was dozing in and out from about 4:00 to 6:00.
I must have fallen asleep alittle before 6 because I woke up at 6:15 and got out of bed at 6:20.

So, that's 4 nights in a row with not terrible sleeping and no sleeping pills.

A friend of mine who also has been struggling with insomnia has implemented sleep restriction the past 2 nights and has said that they have been some of his better nights of sleeping in weeks.

Hi and welcome aboard Jorge. Sounds like you're making progress, good to hear.

So often we see powerful drugs prescribed to unnaturally force sleep before trying simpler things that are natural and less disruptive, such as what you're doing with sleep restriction.

One of the keys to making this work is having a consistent wake-up time 7 days a week. Your sleep system thrives on this sort of regularity. Getting up consistently at the same time every day has the effect of calibrating your inner biological clock to your natural circadian rhthym.

And by reducing the amount of time you allow for sleep, you are in effect ramping up your homeostatic sleep drive.

When both your circadian rhythm and sleep drive are aligned and mutually supportive, sleep becomes practically irresistible.

As your sleep efficiency improves, you can begin incrementally adding in more time, until you find your optimal schedule.

You'll also help yourself a lot by getting in some good exercise every day, if you are not doing so now. Basically, tire yourself out physically and mentally every day, and you'll tend to sleep better at night.

Wish you well with this, please continue to keep us posted.

Thanks for replying, SleepTraining!!

I'll be honest, you played a huge role in me actually giving this a shot.
Months back I paid to speak with Dr. Gregg Jacobs on the phone and he gave me the advice on sleep restriction and stimulus control. But, I refused to do it. Mainly because I was scared to admit that something had changed with me. That I needed to implement a new behavior/thought process on my sleeping.

But my sleep just wasn't getting better. So I started to search the web and came across posts from you. You seemed so confident and reassuring I thought, "what do I have to lose in trying it?".

The one thing I was certain of is that I refused to keep taking drugs to address it. The benefits were by far outweighed by the consequences.

I'm only 4 nights into this.... but these are 4 nights of much better sleep than I have had. And the added plus of no drugs in my system.

I hope that this keeps on improving. I know my attitude and mood have improved greatly. I have a feeling of control now over this that I didn't have a couple of weeks ago.

I also hope that if anyone is terrified of trying sleep restriction and stimulus control knows that I was in that same boat.
I was so certain that it could only do me harm and little good.... and, so far at least, it appears that I was wrong.

If you're worried that in restricting your sleep you're going to lose it.... think of it this way: you're already restricting your sleep.

Thanks SleepTrainingSystems and God bless!

Night Five:

Was struggling again to stay awake after 11pm. But still a very reassuring struggle. Nodded off a few times but woke myself right back up.

Went to be at Midnight (fell asleep within 5 minutes again.... very nice that I don't have to perform some mental gymnastics of thought to make myself fall asleep. It just comes so much more naturally now).
Woke up 40 minutes later.
I had quite a few awakenings during the night but always able to get right back to sleep.
Woke up at 4:00 and was awake for about a half an hour.
But it wasn't my typical sleeplessness. I'm pretty sure it was because I had an upset stomach from making the very bad decision to eat pizza at 9:45 lastnight.

I knew this was a bad decision when I was eating it. Lesson learned.
I'd say I got a total of 4 1/2 to 5 hours of broken sleep.
*DON'T EAT PIZZA AFTER 7PM*

Feeling pretty okay this morning. Mood not too depressed.
5 nights without sleep meds.

Thanks for the kind words jorge.

One other thought for you. There are a number of other methods involved with a comprehensive CBT program in addition to sleep restriction and stimulus control. Those are important no doubt, but the cognitive component is perhaps more important.

Maybe you're already doing this, not sure. But if you're not, the cognitive component of CBT includes cognitive restructuring methods to counter negative sleep thoughts, as well as stress management and control of anxiety.

In-bed relaxation methods are involved with CBT as well, as is the entire category of sleep hygiene. All of these things can help you sleep better and can be part of a comprehensive solution.

These methods combine synergistically to make CBT a very powerful, drug-free solution for many people. Generally I think it's a good idea to use all the CBT methods if you can, and you'll tend get better results more quickly.

In any case, sounds like you are making progress and can be confident you will significantly improve your sleep.

NIght Six:

Best...Night... In....Months

Went to bed at Midnight. Had a terrible headache. Was certain it was going to be a rough night. Thanfully I was wrong.
Fell asleep immediately.
Slept for a 3 hour block.
Woke up for a few minutes and right back to bed.
Slept for another 2 hour block.
Fell right back to sleep.
I had to have slept 90% of the 6 hours I allotted for myself.

This was a great night. I have so much more energy in the morning right now.

Night Seven:

This was a rough night.
But I mainly brought it on myself. I got in a bad argument with a friend very shortly before going to bed and I just couldn't get that argument off of my mind. This happened at 11pm. Opposed to trying to be more patient and understand, I started assuming the worst and I paid for it.

Went to bed at Midnight.
Wasn't able to sleep.
Got out of bed at 12:30 and read for a half an hour (was still thinking about the argument)
Tried to go back to bed at 1am and laid there until 1:30.
I became very frustrated and took an Ambien CR at 1:30.
Slept until 6:02.

Took a half an hour nap during the day at noon. But didn't sleep for much of it.

I'm frustrated but not too discouraged. I'm going to use this as a learning lesson.
I really need to work on my patience and understanding with others.

Night Eight:

A much better night.

Had some anxiety in the couple of hours before bed. A bit of nervous sweating.

Went to bed at Midnight.
Fell asleep in 15-20 minutes.
Woke up an hour later.
Fell right back to sleep (10 minutes).
Slept for two hours.
Felt very happy, very calm.
Fell back to sleep and slept for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Interesting reports, thanks jorge.

We can clearly see the relationship between sleep and stress. To sleep better, it's a good idea to avoid anything stressful or overly stimulating in the hour or so prior to bed if at all possible.

Plus the way I look at it, if you have a rough night you get up the next morning with the idea that your sleep will be that much better the following night. At some point your sleep drive will not be denied.

And in a way that's really all this really is. A way to better manage the inevitable process of sleep.

Night Nine:

Another rough night. But, thankfully I didn't take any sleeping pills.
I feel better in the morning on a lack of sleep without the pills compared to the days I take the pills.

Did my pre-sleep routine of reading a boring book an hour before bed. I was nodding off quite a bit. Felt pretty relaxed/calm.

Went to bed at 11:48.
Wasn't able to get to sleep. My heart and mind started racing as soon as my head hit the pillow (SleepTraining, is this common? This rebound anxiety/insomnia?).
Got out of bed at 12:30 and went to read a book, felt sleepy.
Went back to bed at 1am... mind and heart still racing.
Tried some deep breathing.
Must have fall asleep around 2am.
Woke up a couple of times and fell back to sleep within about 15 minutes.
Got out of bed at 5:58.
Went back to bed at 7am (bad idea).... didn't fall asleep.
Got out of bed at 8:20am.

I know I shouldn't have done that. But I was pretty frustrated. Was hoping so badly that I would fall back to sleep, but I didn't.
I know I should have stuck with the 6am. But my level of skepticism was rising because I had another bad night.

Focusing on the positive though: still didn't take any sleeping pills. Was still able to get some sleep.

SleepTraining,
Could you provide some information into how progression with Sleep Restriction should go? Are nights like this to be expected?
I'm in my 2nd week now.

Thanks!

"My heart and mind started racing as soon as my head hit the pillow"

Is this common? For insomniacs, unfortunately yes. It suggests a conditioned negative response to your bed, acquired from many nights of tossing and turning and unsuccessfully trying to force sleep.

Regarding sleep restriction, some people get results faster than others. I would encourage you to stay with your program, and if you're not satisfied, go back and look at what you could be doing better.

I would also suggest you work closely with your doctor, the one who prescribed the sleeping pills, on a tapering strategy.

Finally, you are so far only talking about sleep restriction, which is just one component of CBT.

if you are not already doing so, I would also suggest you use a comprehensive CBT-based sleep training program to improve your sleep. There are many other potent CBT methods in addition to sleep restriction that you can be using, and these methods will help you address any other nonmedical issues that may be disrupting your sleep.

For most people, using all these methods simultaneously brings about faster, better, more complete results.