Assess current sleep hygiene practices and identify areas for improvement.
Review your current sleep habits and identify which might be contributing to poor sleep. This is a starting point — sleep hygiene alone rarely fixes insomnia, but poor hygiene can undermine other interventions.
Use in the assessment phase of CBT-I to identify modifiable sleep hygiene factors. While sleep hygiene alone is insufficient to treat chronic insomnia, poor sleep hygiene can undermine other CBT-I interventions.
Present as a check of environmental and behavioural factors that can help or hinder sleep. Emphasise that sleep hygiene is a foundation but not a complete treatment — it works best combined with other CBT-I strategies. Avoid implying that poor sleep hygiene is the client's fault.
For shift workers, focus on the factors that are modifiable within their constraints rather than prescribing an ideal routine. For clients with financial constraints affecting their sleep environment (e.g., noise, temperature), problem-solve within realistic limits.
Do not use as a standalone intervention for chronic insomnia — evidence is clear that sleep hygiene education alone is insufficient. If a client has already optimised sleep hygiene without improvement, validate this and move to active CBT-I components.
The most impactful sleep hygiene factors are typically caffeine timing (none after early afternoon), alcohol reduction (disrupts sleep architecture even if it aids sleep onset), and consistent wake time. Screen use before bed is commonly cited but evidence is mixed — focus on what the screen content does to arousal rather than blue light per se.
Suitable for clients working with insomnia, sleep hygiene, cbt-i, sleep habits, assessment. This tool can be used as a standalone worksheet or as part of a structured homework plan.
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The standard CBT-I sleep diary — record bed times, sleep times, wake times, and daytime functioning to track patterns and calculate sleep efficiency.
Identify and challenge dysfunctional beliefs about sleep that fuel insomnia-related anxiety and arousal.
A formulation based on Spielman's 3P model — mapping predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors that maintain insomnia.
The core stimulus control rules for CBT-I — rebuilding the association between bed and sleep.