Can't Sleep? Try Getting Out of Bed
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The Paradox of Sleeplessness: Why Getting Out of Bed Might Be the Only Way In
The latest sleep advice from experts is counterintuitive: instead of lying in bed and willpowering yourself to sleep, get up and do something else. This technique has been around since the 1970s but still seems to contradict our natural instincts.
Sleep specialists Shelby Harris and Michael Perlis argue that lying in bed when struggling to fall asleep is the worst thing you can do. “Effort is the enemy of sleep,” says Harris, a sentiment that may seem surprising at first. When it comes to sleep, trying harder often backfires spectacularly.
Lying in bed associates our beds with wakefulness and frustration, rather than sleep. Our brains respond to threats by becoming more alert, creating a vicious cycle: the harder we try to fall asleep, the less likely we are to actually sleep.
The concept of stimulus control has been around for decades. Psychologist Richard Bootzin introduced it in 1972 as a cornerstone of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. The idea is simple: when you can’t fall asleep, don’t lie there and try; get up and do something else.
Stimulus control involves finding an enjoyable activity that distracts us from being awake. Harris suggests collecting cookbooks or looking through old family recipes – anything we’d genuinely choose to do in our spare time. The goal is not to be productive but to break the cycle of wakefulness and frustration associated with lying in bed.
By leaving our beds and doing something else, we give ourselves a chance to relax and let sleep pressure build. Our bedrooms should be sanctuaries, not torture chambers. We need to learn to associate our beds with sleep, not wakefulness and frustration.
When lying awake at night, it’s time to get up and give ourselves permission to relax. In the long run, this might mean a shift in our attitudes towards sleep – from seeing it as something we can control to recognizing that it’s a natural process we need to surrender to. As Perlis puts it, “Give up. Get up. Get out.”
Reader Views
- CSCorrespondent S. Tan · field correspondent
While getting out of bed is certainly a viable strategy for beating insomnia, I'd caution against oversimplifying its benefits. The article's emphasis on associating beds with sleep may not hold true for everyone. In many Asian cultures, for example, sleeping on the floor is the norm, and this arrangement can foster a sense of relaxation rather than tension. A more nuanced approach would consider individual cultural backgrounds and personal associations when attempting to reprogram one's relationship with sleep.
- CMColumnist M. Reid · opinion columnist
The sleep advice being peddled these days can be infuriatingly simplistic: just get up and do something else. But what about those of us who don't have a leisure activity waiting in the wings? What about those who've been conditioned to associate bedtime with anxiety, rather than relaxation? Stimulus control is all well and good for the well-rested, but it won't solve the problem for those struggling with debilitating insomnia or trauma-induced sleep disorders. We need a more nuanced approach that acknowledges the complexity of sleep struggles – one that goes beyond "just get up" and gets real about the depth of our sleep crises.
- ADAnalyst D. Park · policy analyst
The stimulus control technique may work for some, but what about individuals who rely on their bedrooms for relaxation and stress relief? By getting out of bed to engage in a distracting activity, aren't we simply displacing our stressors elsewhere? It's essential to consider the role of environment in shaping our relationship with sleep. Perhaps a more effective approach would be to reclaim our bedrooms as calming spaces by establishing a consistent bedtime routine and creating a sleep-conducive atmosphere, rather than relying on external activities to induce relaxation.