At this point in the program, you have created your personal behavioral sleep program. You have determined if you are willing and ready to engage in stimulus control therapy, sleep restriction therapy, or a combined program. You also have assessed your unique sleep hygiene needs and determined if you are willing to make some behavioral or environmental changes to support restorative sleep. You may even be some weeks into your behavioral program. You may be returning again and again to willingness skills to optimize your behavioral programs. Hopefully you are continuing to keep a sleep log so you can track your progress.
Behavioral programs are the heart of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and are key to your success. Still, research tells us that adding cognitive therapy may increase your success (Harvey et al., 2014). Cognitive strategies can help you to harness the power your mind has over your body and your behavioral choices. The next section is dedicated to these strategies. Go ahead and turn the page. We will see you there!