Sleep Blog

Many people with insomnia try to “get ahead” of a difficult night by going to bed earlier. The logic seems sound: if it usually takes an hour or more to fall asleep, why not give yourself extra time? In practice, this often makes sleep worse—not better. The extra-time trap I often see people who go to bed well before they feel sleepy. They expect to lie awake for a while, so they build in “buffer time” to still get enough rest. But this strategy quietly backfires. Instead of

One of the most common messages people hear about sleep is that adults need eight hours a night. That idea is not entirely wrong, but it is often treated too rigidly. In general, most adults need somewhere in the range of 7 to 9 hours of sleep. That range matters because sleep need varies from person to person, and it can also change over time. For people struggling with insomnia, this becomes especially important. Many assume that if they feel tired, the solution must be to

Many people come to CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia) after trying various sleep tips they’ve found online—only to feel frustrated when nothing seems to work. It’s easy to conclude that “sleep hygiene doesn’t work” or that insomnia is just something you have to live with. But that conclusion often misses something important. Insomnia is rarely caused or maintained by a single factor. More often, it’s the result of several interacting factors—behavioral, cognit