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Hello everyone,

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In learning more about functional and integrative approaches to insomnia/sleep support over the past month, the most surprising and interesting new concept (new to me anyway) is sleep efficiency.

The formula for sleep efficiency is:

Time asleep (divided by) time in bed—and then multiply by 100 to get your percentage.

Let’s consider, for example, if you went to bed at 10 PM, fell asleep at 11, woke up twice for an hour, and then got up at 7 AM.

You were in bed for 10 hours. You were asleep for 7 hours. This gives you a sleep efficiency of 70%.

The ideal sleep efficiency is 85%. So, in this example, what are some things you could try to increase your sleep efficiency?

You could:

1) Get up earlier

2) Go to bed later

3) Try something else to get you to sleep more when you are in bed

Everyone goes for #3 first. But as it turns out, #1 and #2 would be better strategies to try first. The reason is that increasing sleep efficiency is training you to actually BE ASLEEP when you are in bed.

What do people with insomnia do to try to sleep more? Often, they start by spending more time in bed. More stressing, worrying about getting enough sleep, and more tossing and turning tend to be the result instead of actually sleeping more. In a way, this approach actually trains a person to be stressed out and awake when in bed, instead of sleeping.

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Biomedical Research into Sleep Restriction Training

Sleep efficiency Training (also known as “sleep restriction”—which is not as nice of a term) has actually been shown quite effective to decrease middle of the night awakenings. It’s a component of an approach known as CBT-I (or cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia). CBT-I has been used for over 30 years to help patients with insomnia.

Sleep Efficiency Training works better for sleep than the more well-known “sleep hygiene.” For example, in this study out of Great Britain, “… the sleep restriction therapy group reported better mental health-related quality of life (SF-36 MCS), better sleep-related quality of life (GSII), lower depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), and lower activity impairment (WPAI) than the sleep hygiene group…”

And here is a meta-analysis that talks about how sleep restriction therapy has been shown to help insomnia.

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Get Started with Sleep Efficiency Training

I like this approach of Sleep Efficiency training because, as a nutritionist, I feel like it gives me something effective to suggest (that’s not a vitamin or herb 😊), especially for people who have “tried everything” already to help their sleep.

Simply tracking your sleep schedule for a week or two and then making little nudges (like going to bed 15 minutes later each week) to increase your sleep efficiency could really make a difference.

​Here is a good explanation of how you can implement sleep efficiency training. The idea is to decrease your time in bed until your sleep efficiency is as close to 85% as possible (no matter how much sleep you are getting) and then gradually increase your time in bed again…it’s training yourself to be sleeping when you are in bed!

Caution – don’t go below 5.5 hours in bed, no matter how much sleep you are getting during that time.

If you’re interested in this approach, you can talk to either me or Dr. Sheehan at your next appointment, and we’ll work with you to increase your sleep efficiency.

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Sleep is a Big Topic

Every symptom—insomnia included—is connected to root-cause issues that should be addressed as part of a whole-person healing process that takes multiple factors into account.

Here are some safe and effective sleep enhancers you may want to try (results can and do vary…if you have questions about which strategy will help you, just ask!):

• Reduce your inflammation by following a nutrient-dense healing diet that contains enough protein and not too many carbs. Click here for our Eat With Purpose Course.
• ​Min Tran from Standard Process can help! Did you know that Min-Tran is short for “Mineral Tranquilizer”? This is a whole food-based formula that contains minerals to support the brain and stress response. Recently, I saw a mom whose son was much calmer when he added Min-Tran to his protocol.
• ​Here is a sleep formula that Dr. Sheehan uses himself. It contains L-theanine and 5-HTP for mental relaxation and balance. (Please note – this formula contains melatonin, which is not suitable for everyone, so it’s best for short-term use unless you have professional guidance).
• ​Medi-Herb Ashwagandha Forte is an herbal adaptogen preparation that can help with so many things. Patients report increased mental balance, calm, reduced stress, and yes, better sleep. (And if you purchase Standard Process Supplements through our link, you automatically get 10% off at checkout!)

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Best of luck and sweet dreams!

Sincerely,

Laura Sheehan

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