Mental Rehearsal for Sleep Interruptions

This one needs a little more caution because mental rehearsal for night-time awakenings has not been well tested as a stand-alone sleep intervention. The idea is to decide in advance how you will respond if you wake, rather than beginning to problem-solve in the middle of the night: for example, "If I wake, I will avoid checking the clock, stay calm, and follow my planned response rather than trying to force sleep."

The closest evidence comes from stimulus-control therapy, where predetermined responses to wakefulness are used to reduce behaviours that perpetuate insomnia. A 2024 systematic review found stimulus control improved sleep-onset latency and total sleep time compared with passive controls. The useful element here is therefore the planned response, while the additional benefit of mentally rehearsing it beforehand remains unproven.