The Secret To A Good Nights Sleep with Stephanie Romiszewski | E64

Romiszewski rejects the idea that everyone must get exactly 7–8 hours nightly. She suggests zooming out to a month: some nights may be 6.5 hours, others 7.5 or more. If roughly 80% of nights fall within a reasonable window and you give yourself a consistent sleep opportunity, your brain will efficiently distribute sleep stages and recover without you “paying back” every lost hour one-for-one.

Dictating bedtime and lying awake in the dark tends to worsen insomnia by pairing bed with anxiety. Instead, get up at the same time every day—including weekends—and only go to bed when genuinely sleepy (eyes heavy, struggling to stay awake). Consistent wake time anchors your body clock, hunger, alertness, and hormone rhythms; constantly moving it with lie-ins confuses those internal clocks and disrupts evening sleepiness.

Fatigue can be physical heaviness, buzzing thoughts, pain, or feeling ‘wiped,’ but true sleepiness means you’d fall asleep within minutes if you closed your eyes, with micro-sleeps and head-nodding. Many people go to bed because they feel fatigued, not sleepy, then lie awake and get anxious. Her advice: if you’re not clearly sleepy at your usual window, stay up and do enjoyable, low-pressure activities until sleepiness appears.

People with long-term insomnia usually spend far more time in bed than they actually sleep, diluting their sleep drive and creating fragmented nights. CBT‑I’s sleep restriction method initially matches time in bed to actual average sleep (e.g., 5–6 hours, never below ~5), held strictly for about a week. Once they’re sleeping efficiently (around 90% of that time), the window is slowly expanded. This rebuilds a strong association between bed and solid sleep.

Lying in after a bad night, going to bed earlier “just in case,” reducing social plans and exercise, or hitting the snooze repeatedly all undermine your sleep drive and body clock. Research suggests snoozing brings no real benefit and often leaves you groggier. Instead, get up at your set time, live a full day (light exposure, movement, social contact, cognitive load), and let that naturally build pressure for deeper sleep the following night.