The short answer
If you are still awake after about twenty minutes, get out of bed and go elsewhere. Lying there awake teaches your brain that the bed is a place for being awake.
- Do not look at the clock.
- After roughly twenty minutes, get up. Do not estimate precisely, which defeats the point.
- Go to another room, keep the light low, and read something undemanding on paper.
- Go back when you feel sleepy, not when you feel it has been long enough.
- Get up at the same time regardless of how the night went, which is what protects the following night.
What will ruin it
Do not try to catch up with a long lie-in or a long nap. It weakens the pressure to sleep the next night and is how a bad night becomes a bad fortnight.
Why it works
This is the core of the behavioural treatment for insomnia, and it has better evidence than any sleeping tablet. The bed becomes associated with sleep again rather than with frustration.
This is general information, not medical advice, and it does not replace a GP, a pharmacist or NHS 111. Call 999 in an emergency. Full disclaimer.