Can't Sleep? How CBT-I Helps With Insomnia in Boulder and the Denver Area

It is almost three in the morning and you are doing the math again. If I fall asleep right now, I can still get four hours. You flip the pillow. You check the clock. You wonder how you are going to get through tomorrow.

If that sounds like your nights, you are in good company. Trouble sleeping is one of the most common things people bring up with us, and it tends to show up alongside everything else going on in life. Stress at work, a new baby, a move, a mind that will not turn off. Plenty of people also notice their sleep gets rockier this time of year, when the days get shorter and the clocks change.

There is a kind of therapy made just for this. It is called CBT-I, and it is worth knowing about before you decide you are just a bad sleeper.

What CBT-I is

CBT-I stands for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. It is a short, structured kind of talk therapy that looks at the habits and thoughts that keep insomnia going. Major medical groups, including the American College of Physicians, recommend it as the first thing to try for ongoing insomnia in adults.

It is not a list of sleep tips. You have probably already tried the tea, the dark room and leaving your phone in the kitchen. Those things are fine, but they rarely fix insomnia that has settled in. CBT-I goes after what is underneath.

Why insomnia sticks around

Most insomnia starts for a reason. A hard season, an illness, a loss, a schedule that got turned upside down. Then the reason passes and the sleeplessness stays.

That usually happens because of the very understandable things we do to cope. We go to bed early to catch up. We sleep in on weekends. We nap. We lie in bed for hours hoping sleep will show up. Each of these makes sense in the moment. Over time, though, they can teach your body that bed is a place for being awake and worried.

Then the dread starts. You begin watching the clock by dinnertime. You start to feel tense just walking into the bedroom. Now the insomnia has a life of its own, and it no longer needs the original stress to keep going.

What sessions look like

CBT-I is practical. You will not spend months talking about your childhood, unless that turns out to matter.

We usually start with a sleep diary. For a week or two you jot down when you went to bed, about how long it took to fall asleep, when you woke up and how you felt. It takes a couple of minutes a day and it shows us what is really happening, which is often different from how it feels at three in the morning.

From there we build a plan together. That often includes a steady wake-up time, a bedtime that fits how much you are sleeping right now, and getting out of bed for a while when you are wide awake so your bed goes back to meaning sleep. We also work on the thoughts that show up at night, like "I will be useless tomorrow," and on ways to wind your body down in the evening.

Most people do CBT-I over a handful of sessions, often somewhere around six to eight, though everyone is different. I will be honest that it takes some effort, and the first couple of weeks can feel tiring. We go at a pace that is safe and realistic for your life.

Does it have to be in person?

No. CBT-I fits video sessions well, because most of the real work happens at home, in your own bed, between appointments.

Our Colorado office is in Louisville, between Boulder and Denver and a few minutes from US-36. For sleep work, we meet online with people anywhere in Colorado. So whether you live in Boulder, Broomfield, Westminster, Arvada, Denver or somewhere farther out, you can do this from your own couch without adding a drive to an already tired day.

When to check with your doctor first

Sometimes poor sleep has a medical cause. If you snore loudly, wake up gasping, have legs that will not settle at night, or your sleep changed after starting a new medication, please talk with your doctor. The same goes for pain or other health conditions that wake you up. CBT-I can work alongside medical care, but it does not replace it.

This post is general information and not personal medical advice.

You do not have to keep white-knuckling it

If you have been tired for so long that it feels normal, I want you to know that insomnia is one of the things therapy has good tools for. You are not broken, and you are not the only one staring at the ceiling tonight.

If you would like to talk about whether CBT-I is a fit for you, we offer a free 15 minute consultation. You can call or text our Louisville office at 720-740-6109 or reach us through our contact page.

Carrie Coplen, MS, LPC, NCC, is the owner of Dandelion Mental Health Services and is trained in CBT-I.