Coaching practices for Bedtime for Insomnia

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Bedtime for Insomnia, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• The second my head hits the pillow my mind starts up
• My instinct with insomnia has always been to go to bed earlier and give myself more hours to catch the sleep
• I climb into bed exhausted but my body hasn’t gotten the message
• I’m lying in bed tired but still keyed up
• I’ve already cut the caffeine, dimmed the lights, bought the blackout curtains and the cooling mattress

Practices that may help

1. Schedule a worry time earlier in the day
   Contain bedtime worry by giving anxious thoughts a specific earlier window, then postponing them at night.
   CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I), Made Practical
2. Set a restricted sleep window equal to your actual sleep time
   Limit time in bed to approximately your average actual sleep time — this is the restriction that starts the cure.
   Sleep Restriction Therapy
3. Use relaxation training before bed
   Practice a structured relaxation technique to lower physiological arousal before sleep.
   CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I), Made Practical
4. Use 4-7-8 breathing as a sleep-onset ritual
   Four to eight cycles in bed before sleep reduces physiological arousal and supports the transition into sleep.
   4-7-8 Breathing, Made Practical
5. Use sleep hygiene as the foundation, not the cure
   Get the basics right (light, caffeine, temperature, schedule) but do not expect them alone to fix insomnia.
   CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I), Made Practical
6. Pair sleep restriction with stimulus control
   Use the restricted window only for sleep — not reading, screens, or lying awake — to re-pair the bed with sleepiness.
   Sleep Restriction Therapy
7. Break the anxiety-about-sleep loop
   Interrupt the cycle where worrying about not sleeping becomes the main reason you can not sleep.
   Stimulus Control for Sleep
8. Anchor the wind-down with a consistent starting cue
   A repeated pre-sleep ritual — a specific tea, a book, a certain playlist — becomes a conditioned cue that induces sleepiness over time.
   The Wind-Down Routine: Engineering Your Path to Sleep
9. Challenge catastrophic thoughts about sleep
   Identify and test the beliefs that turn a bad night into a disaster story.
   CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I), Made Practical
10. Avoid bright overhead light in the 2 hours before bed
    Bright light after ~9 pm suppresses melatonin and shifts your clock later — dim the environment instead.
    Morning Light Anchoring

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