“The first thing he did,” Priya Sundaram says, “was tell me to spend less time in bed. I thought he’d misheard me.”
Sleep hygiene alone has a poor evidence base as a standalone treatment, which is awkward, because it is the most widely distributed sleep advice in existence.
Adherence to therapy is reviewed at two weeks, six weeks and three months, because almost all abandonment happens inside the first month.
Week two is the worst week. We say so in week one, because otherwise people leave in week two.
Illustrative composite
Time in bed is compressed to match time actually asleep, then widened week by week as efficiency climbs. It is counter-intuitive by design and explained as such in session one.
“I stopped treating a bad night as a catastrophe,” she says. “That’s the whole trick.”
