Striving for the perfect night of sleep every night or being disappointed or worried about every difficult night you experience is completely understandable — but also quite unconstructive!

That's because:

1. It's pretty much impossible to experience a perfect night of sleep every single night,
2. Difficult nights of sleep every now and again are completely normal and to be expected.

Our sleep is very sensitive to our overall wellbeing. So, at times of stress or uncertainty (or even when we are really excited and looking forward to something!) we can experience temporary sleep disruption.

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If our sleep confidence is weak, we can become very concerned by these nights of sleep disruption and this can trigger the implementation of behaviors that can perpetuate the problem — things like going to bed earlier, staying in bed later, and modifying our days to conserve energy or otherwise compensate for that difficult night.

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When you have insomnia, keep looking forward and avoid dwelling on the setbacks and difficult nights:    • When you have insomnia, keep looking ...  

If we can recognize that:

1. Difficult nights are always going to happen,
2. Dwelling on the difficult night isn't helpful,
3. Compensating for the difficult night can perpetuate the problem...

... then we give our sleep the best chance to recover all by itself on subsequent nights.

Remember, too, that after a difficult night your sleep drive will be strong. So, as long as you get out of bed at the same time and go about your day as normally as possible (bonus points for adding enjoyable activities to your day!) then a better night of sleep actually becomes more likely rather than less likely.

Related videos:

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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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All content found on the Insomnia Coach YouTube channel is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

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