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Decisions{{ resultsReady ? decisionCountLabel : '—' }} Stability{{ resultsReady ? plan.confidence_band : '—' }}
Use quarter-hour steps from 4 to 9.5 hours.
h
The wake anchor stays fixed while bedtime moves.
Separate 0-100 percentages with spaces, commas, semicolons, or new lines.
Values at the threshold are in the hold zone.
%
Keep this value above the compression threshold.
%
One week follows the standard immediate weekly titration pattern; longer streaks are a smoothing refinement.
Fifteen minutes is the published-protocol default.
min
Do not use a short window without appropriate clinical and daytime-safety review.
h
Keep this value above the minimum and at or above the starting window.
h
Standard is the neutral default; use cautious when review should prioritize daytime safety.
Safety guide
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Planning aid only: sleep restriction can increase daytime sleepiness. Seek qualified review before changing the window when severe sleepiness, drowsy driving, safety-sensitive work, suspected sleep apnea, seizure risk, bipolar or mania risk, parasomnias, or other clinical complexity is present.

The chart renderer is unavailable. The same weekly values remain available in the decisions table.

WeekEfficiencyDecisionWindowBedtimeBasisCopy
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Time in bed can grow while sleep becomes less predictable. For some people with chronic insomnia, spending extra hours awake in bed strengthens the link between bed, frustration, and clock-watching. Sleep-window work takes the opposite approach: it anchors wake time, limits the planned sleep opportunity, and changes that opportunity from weekly diary evidence.

This method is usually taught within cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), where it is called sleep restriction therapy or, in gentler versions, sleep compression. The goal is not sleep deprivation for its own sake. It is to match time in bed more closely to sleep, build a steadier sleep-wake pattern, and then expand the window as sleep becomes more consolidated.

TermMeaningWhy it matters
Sleep windowThe planned span from bedtime to wake time.Changing its length moves bedtime when wake time stays fixed.
Total sleep timeThe estimated time actually asleep.It is compared with time in bed rather than assumed from the clock.
Sleep efficiencyTotal sleep time divided by time in bed, expressed as a percentage.Weekly averages drive compression, hold, or expansion decisions.
Wake anchorA consistent target wake time.Bedtime moves around this fixed point instead of shifting both ends.

A single night's percentage is noisy. Illness, alcohol, medication, travel, naps, an unusual work shift, and diary-estimation errors can move the result without showing a stable change. Traditional titration commonly reviews a weekly average and uses 85% and 90% as decision boundaries: below 85% shortens the window, 85% to under 90% holds it, and 90% or above lengthens it. Requiring two or three qualifying weeks is a smoothing choice, not the standard immediate weekly rule.

The wake anchor and safety review matter as much as the arithmetic. Shortening time in bed can temporarily reduce total sleep, increase daytime sleepiness, and impair vigilance. Driving, operating machinery, working at height, caring for others overnight, or any safety-sensitive duty may make a planned reduction unsafe even when the percentage meets a threshold.

Sleep-window adjustment is not a general bedtime calculator and not a substitute for clinical care. Suspected sleep apnea, severe sleepiness, drowsy driving, seizure risk, bipolar or mania risk, parasomnias, pregnancy, medication changes, and unstable schedules call for qualified review before using a short window or continuing compression.

How to Use This Tool:

Use weekly sleep-efficiency averages in oldest-to-newest order and keep the diary method consistent across the series.

  1. Enter the current Starting sleep window and a Fixed wake time. The starting window must stay between the selected minimum and maximum.
  2. Paste 1 to 26 Weekly sleep efficiency values from 0% to 100%, separated by spaces, commas, semicolons, or new lines.
  3. Set the compression and expansion thresholds. The expansion threshold must be higher; values equal to the lower threshold remain in the hold zone.
  4. Choose the confirmation streak, adjustment step, and safe minimum and maximum windows. One week and 15 minutes match the immediate weekly titration described in the cited adult protocol.
  5. Review Safety guidance before following any reduction, then check each weekly decision and bedtime against the source diary and real daytime alertness.

Interpreting Results:

The final window and bedtime are the end of a simulated sequence, not a prescription. Each row shows the efficiency value, the qualifying streak, the decision, and the resulting window. Confirm that the percentages are weekly averages from the same diary method before acting on the pattern.

Stability is a repository-authored consistency score. Frequent expansion and compression decisions reduce it, as does a large net shift from the starting window. The label does not measure sleep quality, treatment response, diagnostic certainty, or clinical safety.

  • Below the compression threshold builds a compression streak.
  • From the compression threshold up to, but not including, the expansion threshold resets both streaks and holds the window.
  • At or above the expansion threshold builds an expansion streak.
  • The minimum and maximum are hard bounds; a confirmed change that would cross either bound becomes a hold.

Technical Details:

Sleep efficiency is normally calculated from a diary before entry. Total sleep time is divided by time in bed and multiplied by 100. The planner accepts the resulting weekly percentages and applies them sequentially, so every decision changes the window available to the next week.

Formula Core

The source percentage is prepared with the standard sleep-efficiency equation.

SE=TSTTIB×100

TST is total sleep time and TIB is time in bed, measured over the same diary period. A diary estimate should not be mixed with a device estimate halfway through a series without understanding the measurement difference.

Rule Core: weekly titration

After the selected number of consecutive qualifying weeks, the window changes by the chosen step and remains inside its bounds.

Wi+1= bound( Wi+ { Sconfirmed SE at or above the expansion threshold −Sconfirmed SE below the compression threshold 0otherwise } )

Wi is the current window in minutes and S is 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes. A confirmed change that would exceed the selected bound is replaced by a hold. High and low streaks reset after a successful change; a value in the hold zone resets both streaks.

Weekly efficiencyDefault decisionBoundary rule
Below 85%Compress by 15 minutes85% itself is not compressed
85% to under 90%HoldIncludes 85%; excludes 90%
90% or aboveExpand by 15 minutesIncludes 90%

With a fixed wake time, bedtime is the wake clock minus the current window, wrapped within a 24-hour day. Hours entered for the start, minimum, and maximum are converted to minutes and rounded to the nearest whole minute before the weekly sequence begins.

Stability heuristic

The stability score subtracts a decision-frequency penalty and a net-shift penalty from 100.

Stability=clamp( 100−45E+CN−0.35(|ΔW|) )

E and C are expansion and compression counts, N is the number of weeks, and ΔW is the final window minus the starting window in minutes. Scores at or above 75 are labeled High confidence, 50 to under 75 Moderate confidence, and below 50 Low confidence. These names describe arithmetic stability only.

Safety and Limitations:

Sleep restriction can temporarily shorten total sleep and increase daytime sleepiness. The calculation cannot observe symptoms, driving demands, work hazards, sleep disorders, mental-health risks, medication effects, or diary quality.

  • Do not continue a reduction when alertness is unsafe, even if the weekly percentage is below the threshold.
  • Seek qualified review for drowsy driving, severe sleepiness, suspected sleep apnea, seizure risk, bipolar or mania risk, parasomnias, pregnancy, or other clinical complexity.
  • A 5-hour minimum appears in some adult protocols, but it is not a universally safe floor. The selectable 4-hour lower bound is an input limit, not a recommendation.
  • The follow-up cadence changes guidance wording and review timing only; it does not change the window calculation.

Worked Examples:

Six-week default-threshold sequence

Start with a 6-hour window, a 7:00 wake time, one-week confirmation, a 15-minute step, and 5- to 9-hour bounds. Efficiencies of 82, 87, 91, 88, 84, and 90 produce compress, hold, expand, hold, compress, and expand. The window ends at 6 hours and bedtime returns to 1:00. Four changes across six weeks yield a 70% stability score, labeled Moderate confidence; that label does not remove the need for a daytime-safety review.

References: