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There are evidence-based ways to improve sleep without medication by addressing the thoughts, behaviours, and habits that disrupt sleep. The resources on this page are designed to help you retrain your mind and body to establish healthier sleep patterns, ease anxiety around sleep, and support lasting, more consistent sleep quality.
Collected Minds Psychologist Julia Cannatelli, with support from Collected Minds Director Olivia Clayton, delivers an information session on Sleep Therapy based on Sleep Better Without Drugs by Dr David Morawetz.
The webinar discusses the following:
Sleep Therapy Overview
Working with a psychologist or mental health social worker on sleep involves support to understand natural sleep rhythms, and address behaviours, and thought patterns that impact sleep. The goal is long-term, restorative sleep that feels natural and sustainable.
Catching the Wave
Sleepiness occurs in predictable 60–90 minute waves, each with a short 5–10 minute window where falling asleep is easiest. Missing this window can lead to feeling “wired but tired,” making sleep harder. Recognising early signs of tiredness and avoiding stimulating activities close to bedtime helps catch these waves.
Sleep Cycles
Sleep runs in repeating 90–110 minute cycles throughout the night. Deep sleep and REM sleep are the most restorative stages and are essential for feeling refreshed. Disrupted sleep reduces time spent in these key stages.
Premorbid Sleep
Understanding how you slept before insomnia began helps identify what has changed. This includes natural sleep duration, rhythms, and habits, providing a realistic baseline to work back toward.
Sleep Hygiene Foundations
Timing matters. Vigorous exercise close to bedtime, stimulants such as caffeine and alcohol, and heightened body temperature or adrenaline can delay sleep. Allowing adequate wind-down time is essential.
Consistency & Timing
The most important rule is waking at the same time every morning, with no more than a one-hour variation on weekends. Going to bed only when sleepy, avoiding naps, and maintaining regular rhythms helps stabilise sleep patterns.
Environment Matters
Sleep is influenced by noise, light, temperature, and screen use. Bedrooms should be reserved for sleep, with screens removed to strengthen the brain’s association between bed and rest.
Monitoring & Awareness
Tracking sleep for a week using a sleep diary helps identify patterns, triggers, and unhelpful thinking. Keeping a notepad nearby allows worries to be parked outside the bed.
Relaxation & Mindset
Relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation or guided meditation are encouraged. Reducing fear about not sleeping is key—relaxation itself is restorative and helps break the anxiety–insomnia cycle.
If You Can’t Sleep
If unable to sleep, getting out of bed and doing something boring until sleepiness returns prevents the bed from becoming associated with frustration or wakefulness.
Types of Insomnia
The presentation outlines several forms of insomnia, including difficulty falling asleep, frequent night waking, early morning waking, medication-related insomnia, worry-based insomnia, non-restorative sleep, irregular insomnia patterns, and pain-related insomnia - each requiring slightly different emphasis in treatment.
Final Outcome
With consistent application of these strategies, the intended outcome is feeling restored, well-rested, and confident in sleeping naturally without reliance on medication
Sleep Better Without Drugs is a self-help insomnia program developed by Australian psychologist Dr David Morawetz that teaches people how to improve their sleep without using medication. It’s structured as a 4–6-week Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)-based course, widely recognised as the most effective non-drug treatment for insomnia, and is designed to help a broad range of sleep problems from difficulty falling asleep and frequent night waking to excessive worrying in bed and light, non-restorative sleep.
The program combines practical, user-friendly strategies (over 50 interlocking techniques) that individuals can tailor to their own sleep issues, including reducing unhelpful thoughts around sleep, improving routines and habits, and learning relaxation and behavioural rules that reinforce healthy sleep patterns. It emphasises self-monitoring, behavioural change, and reducing reliance on sleeping medication and has been reported to have a high success rate for many people.
Because it’s self-administered at home without weekly professional visits, it is presented as a cost-effective option for many people with chronic insomnia, though it also notes that physical sleep disorders (like sleep apnoea) should be medically assessed first.
Where to purchase:
Shift work often disrupts the body’s natural sleep–wake rhythm (circadian rhythm), making it harder to achieve consistent, restorative sleep. This is particularly common among health professionals, emergency workers, and others with irregular or rotating schedules. When unmanaged, poor sleep associated with shift work is linked to reduced cognitive function, mood disturbance (including increased risk of anxiety and depression), and longer-term health impacts.
Because many standard sleep recommendations—such as fixed bedtimes—are not practical for shift workers, the Black Dog Institute’s Navigating Sleep & Shiftwork program offers evidence-based strategies tailored to irregular schedules. Delivered through the Institute’s Better Sleep platform, the program provides a comprehensive guide to optimising sleep, supporting recovery, and sustaining performance across varying work patterns.
The program is divided into eight flexible sections, allowing participants to move through the material in an order that suits their individual needs and roster demands. It is recommended to begin with the Introduction, which explains how the program works and outlines key sleep concepts, before exploring other sections at your own pace.
The program translates research into practical, achievable strategies, including:
The Navigating Sleep & Shiftwork program, part of the Black Dog Institute’s The Essential Network (TEN), is designed for health professionals and leaders seeking practical, flexible tools to improve sleep quality, recovery, and overall wellbeing.
Sleep.org.au is the official website of the Australasian Sleep Association (ASA), the peak scientific body in Australia and New Zealand for sleep health, sleep science and sleep medicine. It aims to improve sleep health through education, training, research, and clinical standards.
Overall, sleep.org.au serves as a central hub for clinicians and the broader health community to access science-based sleep health information, professional development, clinical guidance, and advocacy resources
Sleep Health Foundation (SHF) is an Australian not-for-profit health promotion charity dedicated to improving sleep health across the community by providing evidence-based information, education, advocacy, and resources about sleep and common sleep disorders. It was established in 2009 and grew out of the Australasian Sleep Association to help raise awareness about the value of healthy sleep and how to achieve it.
The Foundation’s resources are aimed at the general public, health professionals, employers, and policymakers — anyone interested in learning about sleep health, identifying sleep problems, or implementing healthier sleep habits in themselves or the people they support.
In short: the Sleep Health Foundation provides clear, evidence-based sleep education and practical tools designed to help Australians understand why sleep matters, how sleep works, and what they can do to improve their sleep and overall wellbeing.