The Sleep Fixer Experiments: Finding What Actually Helps You Sleep Better

4 days ago

5 min read

Wouldn't it be lovely if you could come across a sleep tip, understand why it might help, give it a go and find out whether it actually makes a difference to you?

Without being promised the world. Without feeling that you've somehow failed if it doesn't work. And without having to overhaul your entire life every time somebody on the internet comes up with another sleep hack.

Well, that's exactly what I want to do with The Sleep Fixer Experiments.

And there's a reason I've decided to start them.

I've been getting frustrated with sleep advice for years

You know the sort of thing.

"Do this and you'll sleep better."

"Try this and you'll stop waking up at night."

"You're waking at 3am because your cortisol is too high."

And on it goes.

I've spent a long time getting really frustrated by these claims. I've moaned about them. I've seen things online that have genuinely annoyed me.

And, actually, I've added to that noise myself sometimes.

I absolutely have.

Because when you work in sleep, and you know that a particular strategy can be helpful, it's very easy to get excited about sharing it.

But here's the thing.

Just because something can help you sleep better doesn't mean it's necessarily going to help you.

And I think that's a really important distinction.

Your sleep isn't the same as somebody else's sleep

Let's take waking up at 3am.

You'll see plenty of content telling you that if you're waking at that time, it must be because your cortisol is too high.

But how does anybody know that?

There are lots of possible reasons why somebody might wake during the night. Stress, changes in sleep patterns, environmental factors, health conditions and plenty of other things can all play a part.

And sometimes, waking briefly is simply part of normal sleep.

We can't look at the time on somebody's clock and confidently tell them what's happening in their body.

The same goes for sleep strategies.

Something that makes an enormous difference to one person might make very little difference to somebody else.

That doesn't necessarily mean the advice was bad.

It might simply mean it wasn't the right strategy for that person, at that particular time.

So why am I creating The Sleep Fixer Experiments?

Because I realised something.

I've spent years getting frustrated about the way sleep advice is shared, but getting annoyed about it isn't particularly useful to anybody.

And when I thought about it a little more, I realised that some of the advice I was seeing was actually quite good.

Or, at least, it could be good.

If it works for you.

So rather than dismissing these strategies or presenting them as guaranteed solutions, I thought, why don't we get a bit curious about them?

Why don't we explore what they're supposed to do, why they might work, and whether they actually make a difference to your sleep?

That's where The Sleep Fixer Experiments came from.

I want to take sleep strategies, look at the reasoning and evidence behind them, and help you explore whether they're useful for you.

Not because I'm trying to prove that every strategy works.

And certainly not because I think everybody needs to try everything.

But because I want you to feel more confident about understanding your own sleep and making decisions about what might help.

How will The Sleep Fixer Experiments work?

Each experiment will explore one particular sleep strategy or idea.

And rather than just telling you to try something, I'll help you understand what you're actually doing and why.

We'll look at:

What we're experimenting with: The strategy itself and what it involves.
Why we're trying it: The thinking and science behind it, including what we know and what we're less certain about.
What the potential benefits are: What the strategy might help with and who it might be useful for.
How to try it: Practical guidance that fits into real life.
How long to give it: A sensible timeframe based on the strategy and the evidence available.
What to look for: The changes you might notice, including things beyond how many hours you sleep.
What happens if it doesn't help: What we can learn and whether something different might be more appropriate.

And I think that last part is particularly important.

What if the experiment doesn't work?

Well, then we've learnt something.

And that's not a bad thing.

One of the things that bothers me about the way sleep advice is sometimes presented is the amount of hope that gets attached to it.

You're told that something is going to transform your sleep.

You try it.

It doesn't work.

And now, not only are you still struggling with your sleep, but you're feeling even more frustrated because another thing that was supposed to help hasn't helped.

I don't want that.

But equally, I don't want people to lose hope that their sleep can improve.

There's a balance somewhere between believing that nothing will help and believing that the next thing you try is definitely going to be the answer.

And I think curiosity is a really good place to start.

Instead of asking, "Will this fix my sleep?", we can ask, "I wonder whether this might make a difference for me?"

If it helps, wonderful.

If it doesn't, we can consider what that tells us, without turning it into another reason to feel disappointed.

We're not trying to make sleep another job

This is important too.

The last thing I want is for you to feel that improving your sleep means having to follow endless rules, track every minute or spend your evenings worrying about whether you're doing everything correctly.

Sleep doesn't generally respond particularly well to pressure.

In fact, when you're struggling to sleep, trying harder and harder to make it happen can sometimes become part of the difficulty.

So these experiments aren't about creating another set of things you must do.

They're about exploring possibilities.

Some experiments might involve making a small change to your routine. Others might involve understanding your sleep differently or changing how you respond to something that's happening.

And some strategies might not be suitable for you at all.

That's fine too.

These are practical explorations, not scientific trials or replacements for appropriate treatment. If you're experiencing persistent sleep difficulties, particularly insomnia, it's important to recognise that evidence-based treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) may be more appropriate than experimenting with general sleep tips.

Let's get curious about sleep

Blue satin sleep mask surrounded by laboratory glassware, representing The Sleep Fixer Experiments and the exploration of sleep strategies.

I've spent over 15 years helping people understand their sleep, and one thing that experience has taught me is that there isn't one answer for everybody.

I want The Sleep Fixer Experiments to be somewhere we can explore sleep advice without the big promises.

Somewhere we can look at the science, think about the potential benefits and make room for individual differences.

And hopefully, somewhere that makes sleep feel a little less complicated.

Because I don't think you need another person telling you that one particular thing is definitely going to fix your sleep.

I think you deserve to understand why something might help, how to try it and how to decide whether it's worth continuing.

We're not trying to prove that this works. We're getting curious about whether it works for you.

And that's what The Sleep Fixer Experiments are all about.

If you'd like to explore your own sleep in a little more detail, you can also find out about my Sleep Strategy Session, where we look at what's happening with your sleep and what might help you move forwards.