Let’s say last night you slept terribly.

Not only did it feel like it took every ounce of willpower to coax your body to sleep, but the sleep you did manage just sucked. It felt like you spent most of the night in that weird in-between stage of wakefulness and rest.

Tonight arrives and, because your energy is totally shot from last night’s poor sleep, you head to bed a little early.

But once again, you just can’t sleep.

You’d be far from alone in thinking trying to extend your time in bed would help you capture a better night of rest. After all, spending more time in the one place you’re supposed to sleep should help.

But let’s talk about why this isn’t actually the case.

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Why You Should Spend Less Time In Bed

Yep, you read that right - to get more sleep, you might need to spend less time in bed. 🤔

When it comes to sleep, your body benefits from having a window of time that is just for sleeping, even if it’s only for a few hours.

With sleep restriction, you set up a schedule that significantly reduces the amount of time you spend in bed. The window should only be about 30 minutes longer than the time you usually spend asleep so that you spend as little time lying awake in bed as possible.

The idea here is simple:

When you’re extra tired, you’re more likely to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep.

How Sleep Restriction Works

Let’s walk through an example:

Christina has set her bedtime schedule so that she’s in bed for eight hours every single night. The problem is: she’s only asleep for about five out of those eight hours.

She adjusts her bedtime and wakes time so that she’s only in her bed for five hours and thirty minutes.

So, for instance, she might be going to bed at 10:30 pm and set her alarm for 4:00 am. And if Christina is waking up at 4:00 am, she’ll be ready to pass the heck out by 10:30 pm. She’ll also be more likely to sleep all the way to her alarm at 4:00.

She’s using her own tiredness as a tool to help her establish a consistent sleep schedule.

Once Christina is sleeping through most of that time, she will gradually increase her time in bed until she’s sleeping her full eight hours.

How To Try Sleep Restriction

You don’t want to jump into sleep restriction without establishing a baseline. In order to create an effective schedule, you need a good measure of how long you normally sleep. Your baseline will tell you how much you need to cut down.

Start by keeping a journal of your sleep habits for about two weeks. Record the time you spend in bed and estimate how much of that you were actually sleeping.

From there, you determine how much time you need to restrict your time in bed.

To get started with your sleep restriction schedule, reach out to your Kick Sleep Coach.