Better Sleep Blueprint - Part 2
Why Your Bedroom Might Be Working Against You
This week, we're tackling why your bedroom environment might be undermining your sleep efforts
This Week's Focus: Stimulus Control Therapy
The Science: Your brain is constantly forming associations. If you regularly lie in bed scrolling your phone, watching TV, or lying awake worrying, your brain starts linking your bed with alertness rather than sleep. Stimulus control therapy works by strengthening the bed-sleep connection and weakening competing associations that keep you wired when you should be winding down.
Why This Matters: Think of your bedroom as a sleep sanctuary that should send a clear message to your brain: "This is where I sleep." When you use your bed for activities that require alertness, you're essentially training your nervous system to be activated in the space where you need it to be calm. Breaking these mixed signals can dramatically improve how quickly you fall asleep.
This Week's Practice: The Bed is for 2 Things ONLY
Starting tonight, your bed is for 2 activities only:
Sleep
Intimacy
Everything else moves out of the bedroom: phones, laptops, work materials, TV watching, and even lengthy conversations about stressful topics.
Bonus challenge: If you can't fall asleep within 15-20 minutes, get up and do a quiet activity elsewhere until you feel sleepy again.
A Glimpse Deeper: This foundational rule is just the beginning. In my comprehensive program, we explore advanced stimulus control techniques like temperature regulation, lighting protocols, and how to handle shift work or travel disruptions. We also address the emotional resistance many people feel to leaving their bed when they can't sleep - and develop personalized strategies that feel sustainable rather than punitive.
Next week, we'll bust some popular sleep myths that might be keeping you awake.
P.S. If you're ready to dive deeper into a personalized CBT-I approach, I have limited spots opening in October. Reply to this email if you'd like to chat about working together.
