If you have chronic insomnia, you likely spend a lot of time thinking about sleep, researching sleep, worrying about sleep, and experimenting with new techniques to improve your sleep. Unfortunately, all of these actions risk making insomnia worse.

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The best treatment for chronic insomnia is usually cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI).

CBTI involves the introduction of techniques that can take a lot of commitment and effort.

CBTI also involves recording (and monitoring) your sleep — usually with a sleep diary — to identify behaviors that might be making sleep difficult and to help you monitor progress.

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So, if thinking about sleep and monitoring sleep can make sleep more difficult, how do CBTI techniques help you reach a point where you no longer pay much attention to sleep and, therefore, improve your sleep?

The short answer is that CBTI techniques can draw more attention and focus on sleep in the shortterm, but they do this in a constructive way! Ultimately, CBTI techniques help change the way you think about sleep and give you a roadmap to follow that helps set the stage for sleep and give sleep the best possible chance to happen.

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Typically, as sleep beings to improve, you become more confident in your ability to sleep. As you become more confident in your ability to sleep, you worry less about sleep, so your sleep improves even further. Soon, you will no longer need to rely on the CBTI techniques that helped you reach this point — and this is why CBTI is such a great longterm solution for insomnia.

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My name is Martin Reed and I am the founder of Insomnia Coach®. I offer sleep coaching services that give people with insomnia all the skills and support they need to enjoy better sleep for the rest of their lives. I also offer a free twoweek sleep training course for people with insomnia at https://insomniacoach.com/sleeptrain...

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