Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia - Sleep Restriction

(This video is part 3 of 6: for other videos in this series about CBT for Insomnia, scroll down to the end of this blog post)

Let’s continue talking about parts of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. In today’s video, I’ll talk to you about how I use sleep restriction for insomnia when working with clients who want to learn how to overcome insomnia without medication.

What’s important to remember is that learning how to do sleep restriction therapy is just one part of the entire treatment plan. Just on its own, it is often not enough to long-term overcome sleep problems and insomnia. Learning how to apply sleep restriction or an appropriate sleep time or sleep schedule is more complex than just picking a time frame. 

This is why I wanted to walk you through all the necessary parts of sleep restriction and how I practically apply this principle in my sleep coaching practice. When you want to pick the best time to sleep and wake up within this principle of sleep restriction, it’s important to remember that everyone is different and you need to base this on your lifestyle and what really works for you in the long run. 

Changing your sleep schedule based on sleep restriction is a way to reset your body’s rhythm and create a much more efficient sleep at night. But it is only one part of a treatment plan and should not really be treated as a ‘quick fix’ without supporting yourself with other tools or techniques to deal with the real root cause of your sleep problems. 

Cognitive behavioural approaches are very effective but only if you really work with the root cause of your sleep problems or insomnia and put in place all the necessary aids to help to retrain your body and your mind to sleep well again. Of course, this depends on the complexity of the problem and often how long you have been struggling. 

In my practice, I use sleep ‘restriction’ in a different way, so in this video, I also explain how I use it and the benefits of using sleep ‘restriction’ in a supportive and practical way. 

Beatrix

Part 1 of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy video series: Practical Sleep Education - click here to watch video one

Part 2 of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy video series: Practical Sleep Hygiene - click here to watch video two

Part 4 of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy video series: Stimulus and Cognitive Control - click here to watch video four

Part 5 of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy video series: Thought Control, Thought Distraction, Paradoxical Intention - click here to watch video five

Part 6 of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy video series: How to deal with 'dysfunctional' beliefs - click here to watch video six