Evidence-Based Sleep Therapy – Oregon
Sleep Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All.
CBT-I combines behavioral and cognitive strategies to address the factors that can contribute to ongoing sleep difficulties. It takes into account your individual sleep patterns, challenges, and concerns to help identify what may be getting in the way of better sleep.
More Than One Piece of the Puzzle
Sleep can be affected by more than what happens at bedtime. CBT-I examines the patterns, behaviors, thoughts, and expectations that can shape your experience of sleep.
A Multicomponent Approach
People with insomnia are often managing other health concerns, including medications, health conditions, and mental health. When these factors affect your sleep, coordinating with your healthcare providers can help keep the bigger picture in view.
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Your Sleep Patterns
A simple sleep diary can help reveal patterns that aren't always obvious from memory alone. Tracking when you go to bed, fall asleep, wake during the night, and get up in the morning gives you a clearer picture of what's actually happening.
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Your Body's Association with The Bed
When you've spent enough nights lying awake, frustrated, or worrying about sleep, the bed itself can start to become associated with being awake. Strategies that change what happens when you're unable to sleep can help rebuild the connection between bed and sleep.
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Your Time in Bed
Often, spending more time in bed doesn't lead to more sleep. Adjusting your time in bed can help improve sleep efficiency—the amount of time in bed that you're actually asleep. As sleep becomes more consolidated, that window can gradually expand.
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Your Wind-Down Routine
Getting ready for sleep isn't necessarily about following a strict bedtime checklist. The goal is to create a routine that helps you move into a quieter state that's more conducive to sleep—and that can look different from person to person.
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Your Thoughts About Sleep
A difficult night can quickly turn into thoughts about how exhausted you'll be tomorrow, how much sleep you're losing, or what another bad night might mean. CBT-I can help you notice these thought patterns, reframe or replace unhelpful thoughts with more helpful ones, and reduce the stress they can add to an already difficult night.
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Your Expectations Around Sleep
Eight hours isn't necessarily the right amount of sleep for everyone. Rather than chasing a specific number, part of the work may involve understanding how much sleep actually leaves you feeling rested and becoming more comfortable with what your body needs.
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Your Circadian Rhythm
Your natural sleep-wake rhythm can influence when you feel most alert and when your body is ready for sleep. Carrie can help you understand whether you naturally lean more toward being an early bird or a night owl and consider how to support your circadian rhythm while working within the timing demands of your job, family, and daily life.
When Sleep Takes Up Too Much Mental Space
When sleep isn’t going well, it can start to follow you everywhere. You may find yourself thinking about how much sleep you got last night, worrying about whether you’ll sleep tonight, or planning your day around how tired you expect to feel tomorrow.
CBT-I addresses sleep difficulties themselves, but it can also help change the cycle of worry and frustration that can build around them. As you become more confident in how to respond to difficult nights, sleep doesn’t have to occupy so much of your attention.
What can change
What Better Sleep Can Look Like
CBT-I isn’t about forcing a perfect night. It helps you build a steadier relationship with sleep, and over time many people notice:
Falling asleep with less effort
Spending less time awake and frustrated in bed
Feeling less anxious about an upcoming night
Knowing what to do when sleep doesn’t go as planned
Thinking about sleep less throughout the day
Feeling less pressure to sleep a certain number of hours
Better Sleep,
More Mental Space
The goal isn’t to make you think about sleep perfectly.
With a better understanding of your sleep, practical strategies for difficult nights, and the potential for fewer difficult nights, you can spend less energy monitoring, managing, and worrying about sleep, and more energy on everything else.
Spend Less Time Thinking About Sleep
Carrie can help you build practical tools for when nights get difficult and spend less time worrying about what happens when you can’t sleep.