Sleep
Sleep Environment and Routine Audit
Client has poor sleep quality but attributes it to anxiety or medication, missing the actionable factors within their control.
Sleep problems are often treated as a symptom of underlying mental illness, when half the problem is environmental: light, temperature, device use, meal timing, caffeine, noise. Auditing the actual conditions can shift a client from feeling helpless to identifying concrete changes.
This directive walks the client through the mechanics of their sleep environment and routine, moment by moment, to find the points where change is possible.
Sleep Environment and Routine Audit
For three nights, track the following at 30 minutes before bed, at bed time, and at wake time:
What you consumed: coffee, food, alcohol, water.
What was on a screen: phone, laptop, TV. (Time. Type. Brightness.)
The room: temperature, light (windows, light fixtures, nightlight), sound.
Your body: restlessness, muscle tension, racing thoughts. Rate each 0 to 10.
Do not change anything yet. Simply notice. What patterns show up? What happens on the night you slept better? What was different that night?
Then pick one change to make: close the blinds, set phone to another room, lower the temperature by two degrees, stop caffeine by 2pm, stop screens one hour before bed. Pick one. Do it for one week.
Write down the sleep outcome for that week. Do not expect perfect sleep. Notice whether anything shifted. If it did, the change stays. If nothing shifted, try a different change.
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