Sleep-restriction therapy
Sleep-restriction therapy is designed to limit the hours you might spend thinking you should be asleep. People with insomnia often stay in bed, trying to sleep more; sleep-restriction therapy limits the amount of time in bed to the actual time spent in sleep and sexual activity. If you have been lying in bed for 8 hours but are only sleeping for 4 hours a night, then with this therapy your time in bed is restricted to 4 hours.
Once you remove the extra time spent trying to sleep, the time in bed is actually spent sleeping. A "sleep debt" accumulates, allowing you to fall asleep sooner each night. As sleep amount increases, so does the amount of time spent in bed.
| Author: | Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS | Last Updated: January 22, 2008 |
| Medical Review: | Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine Jan Ulfberg, MD, PhD - Sleep Disorders | |
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