Yes. These are skills for life, whether you take sleeping tablets or not. You can use them now, and again whenever you need them.

And if you decide to come off your tablets one day, you’ll already have the tools to make that easier.

No. There’s no need to come off your tablets unless your doctor advises it. The course doesn’t clash with them.

If and when you want to reduce them, sleep scheduling (Session 2) and the bonus module will help. Please don’t stop suddenly or on your own, and keep your doctor involved. There’s no need to add that stress while you’re learning the basics.

Yes. Start when life allows. The core techniques can make you sleep a little less and feel groggier for a week or two before things improve, so pick a time when you can give it a proper go.

It’s better to start in a month and commit than to start today and half do it.

No, you don’t need to wait. Poor sleep and low mood or anxiety often feed each other, and research shows CBT-i can improve both.

Do let your GP or mental health team know you’re doing the course. And if your mood gets worse at any point, speak to them.

I understand. When you’re exhausted, you want it fixed now. But real, lasting change means breaking old habits and building new ones, and that takes a little time. Quick fixes don’t last.

Expect some disrupted sleep at first, then steady improvement over the following weeks and months. Most people notice a difference within a few weeks. The full benefit builds over 3 to 6 months.

Not necessarily. How long you’ve had it doesn’t decide how quickly you’ll improve. Many people who’ve struggled for years see real change within a few weeks.

What matters most is sticking with the techniques. Keep going, and the changes will come.

They measure different things. A sleep study is one or two nights in a clinic. A diary shows your real sleep, at home, night after night, and that’s what we need to spot patterns and set your sleep window.

It’s also very common for diaries and studies not to match. Many people feel they’ve slept less than they have. That’s fine. CBT-i works with how your sleep feels to you, and the diary is the tool that tracks it.

I’d put it away for now. The aim is to become a relaxed sleeper who doesn’t need gadgets.

Trackers like Fitbits, Garmins and Apple Watches aren’t very accurate for sleep, and checking them each morning can add worry. The diary is all you need.

An occasional early start is fine. It won’t undo your progress.

Set your Latest Rising Time by the earliest time you get up on most days, not the odd early morning. A steady, everyday time is what matters.

If you work both day and night shifts, you’ll need two schedules: one for night-time sleep and one for daytime sleep.

If you only work day shifts, choose the earliest wake-up time you can keep to every day. If a late finish leaves too little time for sleep before that wake-up time, adjust the schedule so you still get enough rest.

Shifts can be tricky. Email me your shift pattern at info@sleepmentor.co.uk and I’ll help you work it out.

Whatever you enjoy. Go for a walk, exercise, read, have a slow breakfast, catch up on something. Anything that helps you start the day feeling good.

Morning daylight is a bonus, as it helps set your body clock.

Yes. Count it as time awake. For example, if your Latest Rising Time is 6am but you wake at 3am and can’t get back to sleep, that’s three hours awake.

It’s a useful sign you may be spending too long in bed.

Getting your Earliest Bed Time right and shortening your time in bed usually helps with this.

If you wake long before your Latest Rising Time, use PMR and the 15-minute rule.

If you keep waking within an hour or so of it, consider making that your new Latest Rising Time, and move your Earliest Bed Time to match.

Still write it in your diary. Put your Latest Rising Time as ‘UP @’, and count the gap between when you got up and your Latest Rising Time as time awake.

If you got up early on purpose, say for an appointment, just record the time you actually got up. Don’t count the difference as time awake.

Just sleep. Avoid anything that keeps you awake, like reading, scrolling or watching TV in bed.

There’s more on this in Session 3.

Do the best you can. Or, if it’s easier, pick things up properly when you’re home.

Crossing time zones makes it harder, but with a bit of planning you can still make real progress.

Of course. Go and enjoy it. Life comes first.

Just get up at your usual time the next morning.

Yes. Keep it going. Reducing or stopping tablets can be unsettling and may disturb your sleep for a while. Sticking to your schedule is what helps prevent rebound insomnia.

I’m afraid not. Lying in by a few hours, even just at weekends, weakens your sleep drive and confuses your body clock. That can keep insomnia going.

Get up at the same time every day, and you’ll feel refreshed every day, not just at the weekend.

That’s completely understandable, and there’s a gentler version called sleep compression. It still works, just more slowly, and many people find it less daunting and easier to stick with.

You’ll find the instructions in Box 3 of Session 2 (page 27) of your workbook.

Because the rules are different when you have insomnia. Good sleepers can get away with things you can’t, for now.

While you’re fixing your sleep, cut out anything that might be adding to the problem, and late caffeine is a big one. Once your sleep is back on track, you can bring things back one at a time and see how you get on.

A cold shower is stimulating. It releases adrenaline and makes you more alert, which is the opposite of what you want before bed.

A warm bath or shower an hour or two before bed works better. It’s relaxing, and it helps your body shed heat afterwards, which is a natural signal for sleep.

When you’re warm, blood vessels in your skin open up to let heat escape. That’s the same thing your body does when it’s getting ready for sleep, so you feel drowsy. It’s also why a warm bath before bed helps.

But at night, a room that’s too warm stops your body from cooling down properly, so your sleep is lighter and more broken (think of trying to sleep in a heatwave). Warm to wind down. Cool to sleep.

It doesn’t really matter. Most guides suggest in through the nose and out through the mouth. You’ll probably find yourself holding your breath as you tense each muscle, and that’s fine.

Yes. Count all the time you’re awake between going to bed and getting up, including time out of bed. That gives you a true sleep efficiency.

If you only counted time awake in bed, your sleep could look perfect even on a night you got up three times.

That’s a really common worry. The 15-minute rule isn’t meant to help you sleep that night. At first, you might even sleep a little worse.

Its job is to break the link between your bed and feeling frustrated, anxious and awake. Most people start to see the benefit within a few weeks. Think of it as a short-term cost for a long-term gain.

86% is great progress. Well done.

I usually suggest waiting until you reach 90%. But if extending it now would really help you mentally, go ahead. Keep an eye on your sleep efficiency, and adjust again next week if you need to.

Yes, very. It’s there to break the link between your bed and being awake, and sleep often gets a little worse before it gets better.

If it’s causing you a lot of stress, switch to the Emotion Rule: stay in bed while you feel relaxed, and get up if you start to feel stressed or anxious.

Nothing. Worry time won’t stop night-time thoughts completely. Nothing will. The aim is fewer of them.

When a worry pops up at night, jot it down and tell yourself, “I’ll deal with that tomorrow, in my worry time.” Keep a notepad by the bed. It takes practice, but your brain will learn the new habit.

This is really common. Your brain has learned to link bed with worrying about sleep.

Try challenging the thought. When you think, “I’ll be a wreck tomorrow if I don’t sleep”, answer it with, “I’ve coped with bad nights before, and I have tools to get me through tomorrow, whatever happens tonight.”

If the same worries keep coming up, use your worry time to prepare a calmer answer in advance, ready to use at night. And if that doesn’t help, try one of the other techniques to park the worry.

Defusion is actually the opposite of pushing thoughts away. Suppressing a thought means fighting it. Defusion means noticing it, and letting it be there without getting caught up in it, like watching leaves float past on a stream.

If it feels like fighting, try starting with, “I notice I’m having the thought that…”. It reminds you that you’re watching the thought, not wrestling with it.

No need. The exact numbers don’t matter. What helps is a slow, steady pattern that suits you.

Try shorter counts, like 3-4-5, or simply slow, deep breaths. Some people prefer box breathing: in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. If a technique makes you tense, change it. It’s there to relax you.

It’s a fair question. Think of those thoughts as a well-worn path across a field. It formed slowly, by walking it again and again.

The techniques help you make a new path. At first the old one is easier to follow, but every time you practise, the new path gets a little clearer. Most people notice small changes in their thinking within a few weeks, even if the old thoughts don’t disappear completely. Keep practising, and don’t expect perfect.

Feeling a bit self-conscious is normal at first. Imagery isn’t about forcing sleep. It just gives your mind something calm to rest on, instead of your worries.

If you’re trying too hard, that creates pressure. Start with something simple, like walking down a street you know well, and add detail as it gets easier. Be gentle with yourself, and don’t expect it to ‘work’ every time.

When things have settled. You’re feeling more rested, you’re less anxious about sleep, and your sleep efficiency sits between 85% and 90% most weeks.

For some people that’s a few weeks. For others it’s a few months. Both are normal.

These are the essentials:

• Latest Rising Time, every day
• Stimulus control: stay out of the bedroom in the day, and use the 15-minute rule at night
• No caffeine after 2pm
• No naps
• Draw a line under the day and give yourself a buffer zone
• An Earliest Bed Time that makes the most of your sleepiness
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

The sleep habits and thinking tools matter too, but pick the ones that work best for you.

Yes. The whole point of the course is to help you feel better, not to hit a number.

If the maths is causing anxiety, stop calculating it. Keep to your Earliest Bed Time and Latest Rising Time, and judge your progress by how rested you feel in the day.

First, don’t check the clock. It only adds pressure.

Remind yourself that you’ve probably had enough sleep to get through tomorrow, and that one wakeful spell won’t ruin your day. Then get back into bed and use whatever helps you most: PMR, imagery or defusion. The more you follow the course, the less these night-time wakings will worry you.

A bad night, or even a bad week, doesn’t mean you’re back to square one. You now have a toolkit you can use whenever you need it.

If your sleep starts to slip, don’t panic. Go back to the core techniques: keep to your Latest Rising Time, check your sleep efficiency, and use the 15-minute rule. Add the other tools back as you need them.

Think of it as a first aid kit. You won’t need it all the time, but it’s there when you do.

There’s a lot of sleep advice out there, and much of it isn’t backed by evidence. The course covers the techniques that are, so the best thing you can do is put it fully into practice.

If you’d like more, these are trustworthy:

• App: CBT-i Coach (free)
• Books: Overcoming Insomnia by Colin Espie, and How to Beat Insomnia and Sleep Problems by Kirstie Anderson

No. Go by how you feel. If you’re more rested and coping better in the day, that matters far more than any score.

Sleep trackers aren’t very accurate, and often mistake normal movement for poor sleep. This might be a good time to ask whether your tracker is still helping, or just keeping the worry going. Good sleepers rarely know their sleep numbers.

Yes, very normal. As your sleep window grows, you get more REM sleep, the stage when most vivid dreaming happens. Coming off some sleeping tablets can have the same effect.

It usually settles with time. If your dreams are distressing, or it doesn’t settle, mention it to your GP.