Sleep Toolbox puts the self-help parts of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, often called CBT-I, in one place. There’s a short diary for each morning, a sleep window worked out from your own nights, the rules that help the bed and sleep go together again, and plain reading on how sleep works, with the research behind it.
Free. No account. What you enter stays in your browser.
- In your browserThe morning diary and the sleep window calculator. Your nights are saved on this device and print as a report.
- On paperOne and two week diaries, a sleep window worksheet, and two handouts, in English and Spanish.
- iPhone, iPad, and AndroidComing soon, with the diary, the sleep window, ways to quiet a busy mind, and a report for your clinician.
What it is
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, is a structured way of working on the habits and worries that keep poor sleep going. It isn’t a list of sleep tips. Most of it comes down to a few plain tools, used steadily for several weeks. The research page explains where they come from and what medical guidelines say about them.
Sleep Toolbox puts those tools in one place, free, in English and Spanish. It describes and organizes. It doesn’t diagnose insomnia or any other sleep problem, and it won’t tell you whether you’ve improved. The numbers are yours to read, or to bring to someone who treats sleep.
The tools
- Sleep diary. A few questions each morning about the night that just ended. It works out time in bed, total sleep, and sleep efficiency the standard way, and keeps your nights in this browser.
- Sleep window. Matches your time in bed to how much you’re sleeping now, using your own diary, and suggests one change a week. You decide every change. It starts with a page called “Before you start,” because it isn’t right for everyone.
- The rules for the bed. Five rules, known as stimulus control, that help the bed and sleep go together again.
- Quiet a busy mind. Worry time early in the evening, a wind-down routine, and relaxation. The app walks through each one, and the Learn article explains the ideas.
- Learn. Ten short reads on how sleep works and the thinking behind each tool, each with its references.
Questions people ask
Does this treat insomnia?
No. Sleep Toolbox is a set of tools and readings based on CBT-I. It isn’t a treatment, a diagnosis, or medical care. If poor sleep has lasted three months or more, or you snore loudly, stop breathing at night, or nod off while driving, talk with a doctor. When to see a doctor.
Why fill in a diary instead of using a watch?
CBT-I runs on your own account of each night, and the sleep window is built from those answers. Watches and rings often disagree with how a night felt. The app will be able to show a watch’s estimate next to your answers, and it never lets that estimate change the window.
Isn’t less time in bed the opposite of what I need?
It feels that way. Hours of lying awake can teach the body that bed is a place for being awake. The sleep window trims time in bed for a while so that sleep has a better chance to come faster and hold together, then lets it grow back. The first weeks are often hard. How the sleep window works.
Where do my answers go?
Nowhere. The diary and the calculator save in your own browser, on this device. Nothing is sent to us, and we have no way to read it. Privacy.
Can I share it with my therapist or doctor?
Yes. The diary prints as a one or two week report, with weekly averages and every night laid out, in the same layout the app uses. You can print it or save it as a PDF. For therapists has more on how it fits into care.
The app
Sleep Toolbox for iPhone, iPad, and Android
The same morning diary, with reminders when you want them. The sleep window with its weekly check. Worry time, a wind-down routine, and relaxation exercises. If you turn it on, it can read sleep times from Apple Health or Health Connect, and it makes a report to bring to a clinician.
No accounts and no ads, in English and Spanish. The app is coming soon to iPhone and Android. It isn’t on the App Store or Google Play yet.