Insomnia CBT-I Self-Help Plan

Problem addressed

When a user mentions insomnia, difficulty falling asleep, early waking, or CBT-I, this skill turns scattered sleep advice into a structured self-help workflow. It is not a diagnostic tool and does not prescribe sleep medication. Instead, it helps people with clear sleep concerns understand sleep restriction, stimulus control, and cognitive restructuring, reducing the anxiety around having to fall asleep immediately.

How it works

The skill usually starts by assessing the insomnia pattern: whether the issue is sleep-onset difficulty, sleep maintenance difficulty, or early waking, and reviewing bedtime, wake time, actual sleep duration, and medication use. It then calculates a baseline using sleep efficiency = actual sleep time / time in bed, sets an initial sleep window, and builds a 4–6 week plan around re-associating the bed with sleep, challenging catastrophic sleep beliefs, and improving sleep hygiene. Key outputs emphasize a fixed wake time, a sleep diary, conditions for weekly window expansion, and the fact that increased daytime sleepiness can be normal early on.

Boundaries and caveats

It is not a substitute for professional care when insomnia is linked to sleep apnea, shift-work circadian disruption, bipolar mania, or medication dependence. The material explicitly advises against stopping medication on one's own; people with epilepsy or bipolar disorder should have sleep restriction evaluated by a clinician; older adults need a safe minimum sleep window; and severe anxiety, snoring with daytime sleepiness, or other red flags should be referred to medical or professional support.