Why Spending More Time in Bed Can Sometimes Make Insomnia Worse October 13, 2026 Why Spending More Time in Bed Can Sometimes Make Insomnia Worse After a bad night’s sleep, going to bed earlier the next evening can seem like the obvious solution. You might also sleep in, stay under the covers longer in the morning or spend extra time in bed hoping sleep will eventually arrive. While an occasional sleep-in may be perfectly reasonable, regularly extending your time in bed when you have insomnia can sometimes have the opposite effect. Instead of helping you sleep more, it may make sleep feel even harder to achieve. When Bed Becomes a Place for Being Awake Our brains learn to associate particular environments with certain behaviours. Ideally, getting into bed becomes a strong cue that it is time to sleep.1 With insomnia, however, long periods spent awake in bed can gradually change this association.1 Bed may become a place where you toss and turn, check the clock, scroll through your phone or worry about how tired you will feel tomorrow. Research comparing people with insomnia and good sleepers found that spending time awake in bed during the night and morning was more common among people with insomnia and was associated with greater insomnia severity.2 Interestingly, simply having an earlier bedtime or later rising time was not associated with insomnia severity.2 This suggests that the problem may not simply be how many hours you allocate to bed, but how much of that time is spent awake. Why Less Time in Bed Can Sometimes Help One of the main evidence-based treatments for chronic insomnia is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I. Behavioural strategies used within CBT-I aim to strengthen the connection between bed and sleep and help make sleep more predictable.1 This may involve keeping a consistent wake-up time and avoiding long periods of lying awake in bed. Reducing excessive time in bed can also help build sleep pressure, which is your body’s natural drive to sleep.1 If you cannot sleep, getting out of bed for a quiet, relaxing activity before returning when you feel sleepy may help prevent bed from becoming associated with frustration and wakefulness.1 Importantly, deliberately restricting time in bed is not appropriate for everyone and should ideally be done with professional guidance. How Sove CPAP Clinic Can Help If you regularly spend long periods awake in bed, have difficulty falling asleep or wake frequently throughout the night, understanding what is disrupting your sleep can help you find the right support. Insomnia may occur on its own, but other sleep conditions, including obstructive sleep apnea, can also contribute to disrupted and unrefreshing sleep. Founded in 2008, Sove CPAP Clinic is a leading provider of respiratory and sleep services in Australia, with over 100 clinics nationwide. Our team of sleep and respiratory clinicians and treatment consultants can help investigate sleep concerns and guide you towards personalised treatment options. Where appropriate, we offer bulk-billed home sleep studies for eligible patients. If poor sleep is becoming a regular part of your life, speak with your doctor rather than simply spending longer and longer in bed. You can also call our friendly team on 1300 76 29 39 or email info@thecpapclinic.com.au to find out how Sove can help you take the next step. When considering whether a sleep study is right for you, speak to your doctor. Medicare criteria and T&Cs apply. References 1. Birling, Yoann, et al. “Is Insomnia Disorder Associated with Time in Bed Extension?” Sleep Science (Sao Paulo, Brazil), vol. 13, no. 4, 2020, pp. 215–19, https://doi.org/10.5935/1984-0063.20200089. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026. 2) Summer, Jay. “Dysania: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments.” Sleep Foundation, 27 June 2022, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/excessive-sleepiness/dysania. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.
