Sleep restriction vs sleep compression: which one is right for you?
Sleep restriction and sleep compression both shrink the time you spend in bed so it matches the sleep you actually get, which makes sleep deeper and more solid. The difference is speed. Sleep restriction cuts your time in bed to your real sleep time in one step, in week one. Sleep compression trims it a little each week until you get there. Restriction works faster and slightly better in the one large trial that compared them; compression is gentler and easier to stick with.
Below: how each one works, what the research found, a quick check for which suits you, a worked compression schedule week by week, how to switch from one to the other, and what to do when either one stalls.
What sleep restriction and sleep compression have in common
Both come from the same idea, first set out by Arthur Spielman and colleagues in 1987: people with insomnia often spend far longer in bed than they sleep. Eight and a half hours in bed for six hours of sleep means two and a half hours a night of lying awake, and the brain learns to treat bed as a place for being awake.
Shrinking time in bed does three things. You build more sleep pressure by the time you lie down, so you fall asleep faster. Sleep becomes one solid block instead of patches. And bed becomes linked with sleeping again. Both methods are measured with the same number:
Sleep efficiency = time asleep ÷ time in bed × 100. Six hours asleep in eight hours in bed is 75%. Good sleepers usually sit around 85% or above.
Both start with a 1 to 2 week sleep diary, and both are core parts of CBT for insomnia, the first treatment doctors recommend for long-term insomnia. Our guide to CBT for insomnia techniques shows where they fit with the other parts.
The difference, side by side
| Sleep restriction | Sleep compression | |
|---|---|---|
| First step | Time in bed cut to your average sleep time, at once | Time in bed cut by a slice of the gap, each week |
| Example (8.5 h in bed, 6 h asleep) | 6 h in bed from night one | About 8 h, then 7.5, 7, 6.5, 6 over 5 weeks |
| Floor | Usually not under 5 to 5.5 hours | Rarely gets that low |
| Daytime sleepiness | Noticeable in the first 1 to 3 weeks | Milder |
| Speed | Faster: most of the change in the first weeks | Slower: builds over 5 to 8 weeks |
| Evidence | Recommended on its own by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2021) | Smaller research base; one large head-to-head trial |
| Best for | Most adults with long-standing insomnia who can handle a tired few weeks | Older adults, people who drive or work with machinery, anyone who can't afford a sleepy patch |
What the research found
Sleep compression was developed and tested mostly with older adults by Kenneth Lichstein and colleagues, who found it improved sleep in late-life insomnia compared with a placebo treatment (2001).
The biggest head-to-head test is the CompRest trial, run at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden: adults with insomnia were randomly given sleep restriction or sleep compression, each as a 10-week therapist-guided online program. It was designed to see whether compression was "not worse" than restriction. It didn't clear that bar: restriction improved insomnia scores faster and slightly more, and the authors concluded restriction should stay the first choice (published in the journal Sleep, 2025).
A smaller part of the same trial measured sleep in a lab (36 people). People on restriction slept less at first, then improved; people on compression didn't show that early drop. Both groups ended in a similar place, at a different pace (Journal of Sleep Research, 2023).
What that means in practice: both work. Restriction gets there sooner and a bit further. Compression trades some speed for an easier ride. The best method is the one you'll keep doing for six weeks.
Which one should you choose? A quick check
| If this is true for you | Lean towards |
|---|---|
| You've had insomnia for months or years and want results soon | Restriction |
| You can take a few tired weeks: flexible work, no long drives | Restriction |
| You drive for work, operate machinery or care for others at night | Compression |
| You're over about 65, or tired days make you unsteady on your feet | Compression |
| You tried restriction before and quit in week one | Compression |
| Your gap between time in bed and sleep is small (under an hour) | Either; the change is small |
| You have bipolar disorder, epilepsy, or a sleep disorder like sleep apnea that isn't treated | Neither on your own: talk to your doctor first |
Shorter sleep can trigger mania in bipolar disorder and seizures in epilepsy, and sleepiness makes untreated sleep apnea more dangerous. If any of those apply, or you're pregnant, do this only with a clinician. Our step-by-step guide to sleep restriction for insomnia covers who should not do it alone in more detail.
How to do sleep compression, step by step
1. Keep a sleep diary for 1 to 2 weeks
Each morning write down: when you went to bed, roughly when you fell asleep, how long you were awake in the night, when you woke for good and when you got up. Estimates are fine; don't watch the clock at night to get them. From the diary, work out your average time in bed and average time asleep.
2. Work out the gap and the weekly cut
Gap = time in bed − time asleep. Lichstein's method splits the gap into five equal slices and takes one away each week. A simpler version many people use: cut 30 minutes a week. Pick whichever gives the smaller cut if you want it gentle.
3. Fix your wake-up time, and move bedtime
Pick the wake-up time you can keep every day, weekends included. Each week, push your bedtime later by the cut. The wake-up time never moves.
4. Check sleep efficiency each week
- 85% or more: keep cutting as planned, or stop cutting if you're sleeping well and feel fine by day.
- 80 to 85%: keep this week's window another week.
- Under 80%: cut by the next slice.
5. Stop at your sleep time, then add back
Once time in bed is close to your actual sleep time and efficiency is 85% or more, hold it for a week. Then add 15 minutes a week (go to bed 15 minutes earlier) while efficiency stays above about 85% and you still feel short on sleep by day.
A worked example, week by week
Diary average: in bed 11 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. (8.5 hours), asleep about 6 hours. Gap: 2.5 hours, so five slices of 30 minutes. Wake-up stays at 7 a.m.
| Week | Bedtime | Up at | Time in bed | What to look for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diary | 11 p.m. | 7:30 a.m. | 8 h 30 | About 70% efficiency |
| 1 | 11 p.m. | 7 a.m. | 8 h | Small change; most people barely notice |
| 2 | 11:30 p.m. | 7 a.m. | 7 h 30 | Falling asleep a little faster |
| 3 | Midnight | 7 a.m. | 7 h | Fewer long wakings; efficiency near 80% |
| 4 | 12:30 a.m. | 7 a.m. | 6 h 30 | Some tired afternoons |
| 5 | 12:30 a.m. (held) | 7 a.m. | 6 h 30 | Efficiency 88%: no further cut needed |
| 6 | 12:15 a.m. | 7 a.m. | 6 h 45 | Add 15 minutes while it stays over 85% |
| 7+ | Midnight | 7 a.m. | 7 h | Keep adding 15 minutes a week until days feel fine |
The same person on sleep restriction would go to bed at 1 a.m. from night one (6 hours) and start adding 15 minutes from about week 2 or 3. More tired at the start, usually solid sooner.
Combine it with stimulus control
Either method works better alongside stimulus control: bed only for sleep and sex, get up if you're awake and frustrated, no lying in bed to "rest". Researchers often deliver them together, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends both. The rules and a 4-week plan are in our guide to stimulus control therapy.
- Don't go to bed before your bedtime, even if you're sleepy at 10 p.m. Stay up, in dim light.
- If you're awake long enough to feel frustrated, get up and come back when sleepy.
- Get up at the same time every day, whatever the night was like.
- No naps, or one under 20 minutes before 3 p.m. if you must drive.
Switching between the two
From compression to restriction
If you've done 3 or 4 weeks of compression and efficiency is stuck under 80%, the cuts may be too small to build enough sleep pressure. Take the last week's average sleep time and set your window to that (not under 5.5 hours), keeping the same wake-up time.
From restriction to compression
If restriction leaves you too sleepy to work or drive safely, don't quit sleep work altogether. Add back 30 to 60 minutes and continue as compression from there, cutting 15 to 30 minutes a week only while efficiency is under 85%.
When it isn't working: common problems
| Problem | Likely reason | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No change after 3 weeks of compression | Cuts too small, or bedtime drifting earlier | Check the diary: are you keeping the times? Then cut by a bigger slice |
| Can't stay awake until the new bedtime | It's working: sleep pressure is building | Something active but dim: dishes, a call, stretching. Not the sofa |
| Lying awake at the new bedtime | Arriving tense or after screens | A 30 to 60 minute wind-down before the window opens |
| Weekend lie-ins | Undoes the week's sleep pressure | Same wake-up time 7 days a week for the whole program |
| Sleepy while driving | Too big a cut for your life | Don't drive drowsy; add 30 minutes back and slow down |
| Efficiency high but still feel awful | Window may now be too short | Add 15 minutes a week until days improve |
| Snoring, gasping, or very sleepy even on a long window | Possibly not insomnia | See a doctor: sleep apnea needs testing first |
Sleep compression is not the same as sleeping less
Neither method asks you to sleep less. They cut time in bed, which is mostly time spent awake. In the worked example, the person still sleeps about 6 hours in week 4, the same as before, but now in 6.5 hours in bed rather than 8.5. As sleep becomes solid, time in bed is added back. The aim at the end is the most sleep you can get, in one block, at times you can keep.
Frequently asked questions
Is sleep compression as effective as sleep restriction?
Close, but not quite, in the largest trial so far: restriction improved insomnia faster and slightly more. Compression still helped, with fewer side effects in the early weeks.
How long does sleep compression take?
Usually 5 to 8 weeks to reach your target window, then a few more weeks of adding time back. Most people notice falling asleep faster by week 2 or 3.
How much should I cut each week?
Either a fifth of the gap between your time in bed and your sleep time, or 30 minutes, whichever is smaller. Stop cutting once efficiency is 85% or more.
Can I do sleep compression on my own?
Many people do, using a diary and fixed times. Do it with a clinician if you have bipolar disorder, epilepsy, untreated sleep apnea, are pregnant, or work a job where sleepiness is dangerous.
What's the minimum time in bed?
Compression rarely gets below 6 hours. Sleep restriction usually has a floor of 5 to 5.5 hours. Don't go lower without a clinician.
Can I nap during sleep compression?
Best not, since naps drain the sleep pressure the method relies on. If you must stay safe for a drive, a nap under 20 minutes before 3 p.m. is the usual exception.
Start this week
Keep a sleep diary for the next 7 nights. Then work out your gap, choose restriction or compression with the check above, fix your wake-up time and set the first window. To skip the arithmetic, take the free sleep quiz: it works out your sleep, your minutes awake in bed and a starting sleep window. For the rest of the method, from the diary to thought work, see all our sleep guides.
Sources: Spielman AJ, Saskin P, Thorpy MJ, Treatment of chronic insomnia by restriction of time in bed, Sleep, 1987. Lichstein KL et al., Relaxation and sleep compression for late-life insomnia: a placebo-controlled trial, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2001. Edinger JD et al., Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2021. Sleep compression therapy versus sleep restriction therapy for insomnia: a randomized noninferiority trial (CompRest, Karolinska Institutet, NCT02743338), Sleep, 2025, 48(8): zsaf093. A comparison of sleep restriction and sleep compression on objective measures of sleep (CompRest polysomnography sub-study), Journal of Sleep Research, 2023.