Learn

Understanding insomnia — and what actually treats it

Plain-English guides to CBT-I, the treatment clinical guidelines put first for chronic insomnia. No hype, no miracle cures — just how it works, what the evidence shows, and who it isn't safe for.

• What is CBT-I? A plain-English guide to the first-line treatment for insomnia

  CBT-I is the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia. What it is, its five components, a week-by-week program, and how it compares to sleeping pills.

• How to treat insomnia without medication

  CBT-I is the first-line non-drug treatment for chronic insomnia: how the sleep window works, what the first weeks feel like, and how to start safely.

• Sleep restriction therapy: why spending less time in bed can mean more sleep

  Sleep restriction therapy narrows your time in bed to rebuild solid sleep. How the sleep window and weekly titration work, and who should not try it.

• Stimulus control for insomnia: rebuilding the link between your bed and sleep

  Stimulus control retrains the bed to mean sleep, not lying awake: the rules, the 20-minute get-up rule, who should avoid it, and the mistakes that undo it.

• Why do I wake up at 3am and can't get back to sleep?

  Waking at 3am is mostly normal sleep architecture — the trouble is what happens next. Why it happens, and the CBT-I approach that tends to help.

• CBT-I vs sleeping pills: what the evidence actually says

  CBT-I vs sleeping pills: how they compare short and long term, what sleep medicine guidelines actually say, and who each option suits.