How to Get Rid of Insomnia and Reclaim Your Sleep in 7 Steps • Sleep & Pulmonology Clinic in Riyadh

How to get rid of insomnia is a question whose answer is not a single tip, but a complete plan that scientific studies have shown to be effective in treating behavioural insomnia.

What surprises many people is that the strongest step in it runs completely counter to intuition: reducing the time you spend in bed rather than increasing it. Shortening time in bed may improve sleep efficiency, while overextending it may lead to fragmented sleep.

The outcome depends on applying the steps correctly, and on knowing the cases where time in bed should not be reduced without specialist supervision.

Is This Insomnia Treatment Plan Right for Your Case?

Before asking how to get rid of insomnia, ask: what type of insomnia do you have?

The plan below is designed for behavioural insomnia, but it may not help if the insomnia results from a physical or medical cause, such as sleep apnea, iron deficiency, a thyroid disorder, or a medication you are taking.

Applying sleep restriction inappropriately may in fact increase sleepiness and sleep deprivation without treating the original cause.

Signs that may point to a physical or medical cause include:-

Loud snoring.
Waking up gasping or choking.
Severe daytime sleepiness despite sleeping enough hours.
An unpleasant sensation in the legs.
Insomnia appearing after starting a new medication.

You can learn about the medical options available when there are pauses in breathing through the article on sleep apnea treatment.

If the insomnia comes with persistent snoring, the article on snoring treatment may help you recognise the signs that call for assessment.

If one of these signs applies to you, start with a sleep disorders consultation before applying the plan.

Step One | Fix Your Wake Time Every Day

Use an alarm and wake at the same time every morning, regardless of how many hours you slept.

This is the first practical step in how to get rid of insomnia, because wake time helps set the body clock, not bedtime alone.

Someone who sleeps late and then makes up for it by waking late pushes their body clock forward every day, making early sleep harder still.

The hardest rule here is keeping the same time on days off. Making up for late nights at the weekend may confuse the body clock and undo the progress made during the week.

Step Two | Reduce the Time You Spend in Bed

This is one of the strongest steps in the plan and the most psychologically difficult.

The principle is to bring the time you spend in bed close to the time you actually sleep, not to the time you wish you slept.

Someone who spends ten hours in bed to sleep five of them spends the other five awake in bed. As this repeats, the brain may learn that the bed is a place for thinking, worrying, and waiting, rather than only for sleep.

How Do You Calculate Your Time in Bed?

Estimate your average actual sleep hours over the past week.
Fix your wake time in the morning.
Set your bedtime based on your average actual sleep.
Log your sleep daily to track the change.

Example: if you actually sleep five hours and wake at six in the morning, your sleep window may start at one after midnight, instead of going to bed at ten in the evening and lying awake for hours.

This may feel hard at first, but the increased sleep pressure over the first nights may make falling asleep easier later. When sleep efficiency improves within the set window, it is widened gradually.

A short sleep window should not be set arbitrarily, particularly if you drive daily, have severe sleepiness, or have a chronic illness.

Step Three | Leave the Bed When You Stay Awake

Go to bed only when you feel sleepy and are ready to sleep.

If sleep has not come after around twenty minutes, without constantly watching the clock, get up and leave the bedroom.

Go somewhere else and do something calm and settling, such as reading or listening to Quran recitation, and do not return to bed until you genuinely feel sleepy.

Repeat this step as often as needed through the night.

Over the first nights you may have to get up more than once, and you may get less sleep than usual. This does not mean the plan has failed; it is part of retraining the brain to associate the bed with sleep.

The complementary rule is keeping the bedroom for sleep only, not for work, watching television, or browsing your phone.

Step Four | Stop Watching the Clock

Tracking the time every time you wake increases tension and anxiety.

Calculating that there are three hours left until the alarm may turn a brief awakening into a crisis, and that anxiety itself may keep you from getting back to sleep.

Move the clock out of your line of sight, or turn the phone or alarm screen away from you, while keeping the alarm set for your fixed wake time.

Step Five | Clear Worry Before Bed

Early in the evening, write down on paper everything that worries you and all of the next day's tasks. This may help reduce repeating thoughts when you go to bed.

The reason is simple: the brain repeats what it fears forgetting, and when you write the task or thought down, the need to repeat it mentally drops.

Wind down before bed and do not keep working until the moment you go to bed. Working right up to bedtime may make the shift into a relaxed state harder.

Avoid forcing yourself to sleep. Trying to sleep by effort may increase tension and keep you awake.

Step Six | Avoid Stimulants and Habits That Delay Sleep

1. Caffeine

The effect of caffeine may stay in the body for many hours, so stopping it after midday may help, not just avoiding it right before bed.

2. Nicotine

Nicotine is a stimulant, and smoking may lead to fragmented sleep, even though some people believe a cigarette helps them relax.

3. Screens

Lighting and stimulating content may affect the brain's readiness for sleep, particularly with long phone use before bedtime.

4. Heavy Meals

Heavy evening meals may cause indigestion or reflux, leading to awakenings and fragmented sleep.

5. Naps

Long or late naps reduce the sleep pressure needed at night, and avoiding them during the plan may be advised depending on the patient's condition and daily schedule.

Step Seven | Set Up a Bedroom That Helps You Relax

Make the bedroom:

As dark as possible, using blackout curtains where needed.
Quiet, using earplugs or noise reduction if necessary.
Moderately cool and comfortable.
Free of disruptive light sources.
Dedicated to sleep, not to work or phone use.

Open the curtains or get daylight exposure after waking in the morning. Morning light helps the body recognise the start of the day and supports body clock regularity the following night.

How Do You Get Rid of Insomnia With Behavioural Therapy?

The steps above represent core components of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), one of the recommended treatments for chronic insomnia.

The therapy combines a set of methods:

Fixing the wake time.
Regulating time in bed.
Leaving the bed when wakefulness persists.
Modifying thoughts and worries linked to sleep.
Improving the environment and habits linked to sleep.
Keeping a sleep diary and adjusting the plan gradually.

Data show that between 70% and 80% of patients with primary insomnia improve with cognitive behavioural therapy, though the speed and degree of response differ from patient to patient.

Its main advantage is that the skills a patient learns may keep working after the sessions end, unlike medications, whose effect is usually tied to the period of use.

Sleeping pills have a limited, temporary role. A doctor may prescribe them briefly in acute insomnia or use them as interim support at the start of treatment, but they should not be started, stopped, or changed in dose without medical supervision.

Anyone who finds the plan hard to apply alone can benefit from cognitive behavioural therapy sessions for insomnia, where the sleep window is adjusted according to the patient's diary and obstacles and results are reviewed regularly.

When Do You Need to Apply the Plan Under Specialist Supervision?

Reducing time in bed during the first weeks may cause real daytime sleepiness, so do not apply this step on your own in the following cases:

If your work requires daily driving or operating machinery.
If you have epilepsy, because severe sleep deprivation may increase the likelihood of seizures in some patients.
If you have bipolar disorder, because sleep disruption may affect mood stability.
If you have untreated sleep apnea.
If you are pregnant.
If you take medications affecting the nervous system or alertness.
If sleepiness starts to affect your safety or performance at work.

When sleep apnea is suspected, a home sleep test may be the right step before starting to reduce time in bed.

To see what happens from assessment through to the test and reading the result, you can read the article on my experience with sleep apnea.

In these cases the plan is not necessarily cancelled, but it is adjusted and applied under supervision.

When Do You Start Noticing Sleep Improving?

The first nights: these may be the hardest, with repeated getting up, less sleep than usual, and noticeable daytime sleepiness.

The first week: the time it takes to fall asleep may start to shorten, because accumulated sleep pressure works in your favour.

The second week: night awakenings may decrease, and sleep becomes more continuous within the set sleep window.

Weeks two and three: noticeable improvement may appear in some patients within two to three weeks, while others need longer and need the plan adjusted over several sessions.

After sleep efficiency improves: the sleep window is widened gradually according to the sleep diary and how sustained the improvement is, rather than on a fixed schedule that suits every patient.

The decisive point is that some people stop during the first days because of how hard they are. Follow-up helps distinguish between expected difficulty and a problem that needs the plan adjusted.

When Does Insomnia Call for Seeing a Doctor?

See a specialist if:-

You have applied the steps consistently with no noticeable improvement.
Daytime sleepiness has increased rather than improved.
Snoring or pauses in breathing have been noticed by those around you.
You wake up tired despite sleeping enough hours.
You have come to rely on sleeping pills or needed to increase the dose.
The insomnia is accompanied by an unpleasant sensation in the legs.
The insomnia is affecting your driving, work, or concentration.
Severe mood changes have appeared.

Assessment or follow-up can be arranged through a remote sleep disorders consultation for those living outside Riyadh.

Why Choose Subat Clinics for Insomnia Treatment?

At Subat Clinics, insomnia treatment starts by identifying its type and cause before any plan is prescribed, because a behavioural plan may not be enough if the insomnia is linked to a physical condition or another sleep disorder.

Identifying the type of insomnia before treatment, to determine whether the cause is behavioural, psychological, or linked to a medical condition.
Home sleep tests to rule out sleep apnea and other sleep disorders when there are signs calling for testing, with no need to stay overnight in a sleep lab.
Cognitive behavioural therapy sessions for insomnia to help the patient apply the plan, review the sleep diary, and adjust the schedule gradually.
Follow-up during application to handle sleepiness, difficulty with adherence, or sleep that is not improving.
A Saudi team specialized in pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders.

Start Insomnia Treatment the Right Way

How to get rid of insomnia is a question with a real answer, supported by established treatment methods. But applying the plan without confirming the type of insomnia may waste time or delay diagnosing the cause.

The difference between someone who starts improving gradually and someone who keeps trying solutions for years may come down to knowing the type of insomnia from the start, then applying the treatment that suits it.

📍 Othman Bin Affan Road, Al Taawun District, Riyadh 12477
🕔 Sunday to Wednesday, 5 – 9 PM
📞 0112011100
💬 WhatsApp: 0505999713

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Sources:

This content is for health awareness purposes and does not replace a personal medical consultation. Do not apply the sleep restriction plan on your own if you drive daily, or have epilepsy, bipolar disorder, or untreated sleep apnea, without first seeing a specialist.

Medically reviewed by:
Dr. Ahmed Alruhaimi — Consultant in Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Medicine, Subat Clinics.
Last reviewed: August 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to get rid of insomnia with this plan?
Improvement may begin within two to three weeks in some patients, while others need longer. Improvement is gradual, so the result should not be judged on the first nights alone.

What if I do not sleep well on the first night?
This is expected and does not mean the plan has failed. Keep your wake time, avoid driving when you feel sleepy, and see a specialist if sleep deprivation becomes severe or affects your safety.

Can I apply some steps without the rest?
Some steps can be useful on their own, but regulating time in bed and stimulus control are core components of the plan. The specialist determines which components suit your case.

How do you get rid of insomnia when the cause is anxiety?
The plan may help, but it may not be enough on its own if the anxiety is severe or accompanied by a psychological disorder. In that case the anxiety is treated in parallel with modifying the thoughts and behaviours linked to sleep.

Are herbal and calming drinks useful?
Some drinks may help with relaxation, but they do not treat the mechanism of chronic insomnia on their own. You should also consult your doctor before taking any herbal preparation if you are using other medications.

I wake at four in the morning and cannot get back to sleep — should I apply step three?
You can leave the bed, do something calm, and return when you feel sleepy. But repeated early waking deserves assessment, because it may be linked to more than one cause.

Should I keep taking sleeping pills while applying the plan?
Do not stop sleeping pills suddenly or change the dose on your own. Stopping some medications abruptly may cause rebound insomnia or other symptoms, so a discontinuation plan is set with your doctor.