Where the evidence comes from

Every claim in this app points at something on this page. Where we couldn't back a claim, we say so and don't make the claim.

• Across 24 studies of hypnosis with a sleep outcome, 58.3% reported a benefit, 12.5% were mixed and 29.2% reported none. The authors call the evidence limited by small samples and low methodological quality.

  Chamine I, Atchley R, Oken BS. Hypnosis Intervention Effects on Sleep Outcomes: A Systematic Review. J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(2):271-283. PubMed

  That 58/29 split is the product in one line: it works for a lot of people and does nothing for a lot of people, and no one can tell you in advance which you are.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• Meta-analysis of hypnotherapy for insomnia: sleep latency was significantly shorter than a waitlist (SMD -0.88), but there was NO significant difference against a sham intervention. Eleven of the thirteen included studies were rated low quality.

  Lam TH, Chung KF, Yeung WF, Yu BY, Yung KP, Ng TH. Hypnotherapy for insomnia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Complement Ther Med. 2015;23(5):719-732. PubMed

  The comparison that isolates hypnosis specifically is the sham one, and it came back null. So: no mechanism claim, ever. We do not tell anyone the hypnosis worked. We tell them their number moved, and that we measured it.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• Hypnotic responsiveness measured on the Stanford scale was highly stable over 25 years: retest correlations of .64 at ten years, .82 at fifteen and .71 at twenty-five, with a median individual change of one point on a twelve-item scale.

  Piccione C, Hilgard ER, Zimbardo PG. On the degree of stability of measured hypnotizability over a 25-year period. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1989;56(2):289-295. PubMed

  The most load-bearing citation in the product: it licenses 'trying harder won't change it', which is the sentence the whole NOT YOUR TOOL screen rests on. n=50, so state the stability, not a population rate.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• In a lab study where a hypnotic suggestion increased slow-wave sleep during a nap, the effect did not occur in participants who scored low in suggestibility.

  Cordi MJ, Schlarb AA, Rasch B. Deepening sleep by hypnotic suggestion. Sleep. 2014;37(6):1143-1152. PubMed

  SCOPE: 70 healthy young women, a 90-minute midday nap, and the outcome is slow-wave sleep — a thing we explicitly refuse to make claims about. Cited ONLY for the low-suggestibility finding. If a sentence cannot hold that line, cut the sentence.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• The American College of Physicians recommends CBT-I as the initial treatment for chronic insomnia disorder in all adults (strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence).

  Qaseem A, Kansagara D, Forciea MA, Cooke M, Denberg TD. Management of Chronic Insomnia Disorder in Adults: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. 2016;165(2):125-133. PubMed

  Basis for the exit page. We point people at this whether or not it makes us money.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• Meta-analysis of 20 trials (1,162 people): CBT-I shortened sleep onset latency by 19.0 minutes (95% CI 14.1 to 23.9) at the end of treatment, and the changes appeared to be sustained afterwards.

  Trauer JM, Qian MY, Doyle JS, Rajaratnam SM, Cunnington D. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2015;163(3):191-204. PubMed

  The number we are allowed to put next to CBT-I, and it is a better number than anything on our side of the page. Say so.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• An American Academy of Sleep Medicine review of 37 studies found five treatments met criteria as empirically supported psychological treatments for insomnia: stimulus control, relaxation, paradoxical intention, sleep restriction, and cognitive behaviour therapy. Improvements were well sustained over time.

  Morin CM, Bootzin RR, Buysse DJ, Edinger JD, Espie CA, Lichstein KL. Psychological and behavioral treatment of insomnia: update of the recent evidence (1998-2004). Sleep. 2006;29(11):1398-1414. PubMed

  Replaces the Bootzin 1972 conference paper the first draft cited, which is real but is a proceedings abstract nobody can pull up. Bootzin is an author here, and this one is indexed, graded and covers both halves of the exit guide.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• The original sleep restriction trial: 35 chronic insomnia patients, time in bed cut then extended as sleep efficiency improved. Sleep latency, total wake time and sleep efficiency all improved over eight weeks, and improvements remained significant about 36 weeks later in the 23 patients followed up. The authors note compliance with the restricted schedule is difficult for some patients.

  Spielman AJ, Saskin P, Thorpy MJ. Treatment of chronic insomnia by restriction of time in bed. Sleep. 1987;10(1):45-56. PubMed

  The 'it gets worse before it gets better' line in the guide comes from the compliance finding, not from folklore.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• It is well established that people with insomnia, as a group, overestimate how long they took to fall asleep and underestimate how long they slept, compared with polysomnography.

  McCall WV, Turpin E, Reboussin D, Edinger JD, Haponik EF. Subjective estimates of sleep differ from polysomnographic measurements in obstructive sleep apnea patients. Sleep. 1995;18(8):646-650. PubMed

  The quoted sentence is the paper's own opening premise about insomnia; its new finding is that the same discrepancy shows up in sleep apnoea patients too. This is why the app never says it measured anything, and why the verdict cross-checks self-report against whether you heard the ending.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• Adults presenting with signs and symptoms indicating increased risk of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea should be tested with polysomnography or home sleep apnea testing (strong recommendation). The same guideline recommends AGAINST using questionnaires or prediction tools to diagnose OSA on their own.

  Kapur VK, Auckley DH, Chowdhuri S, Kuhlmann DC, Mehra R, Ramar K, Harrod CG. Clinical Practice Guideline for Diagnostic Testing for Adult Obstructive Sleep Apnea: An AASM Clinical Practice Guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017;13(3):479-504. PubMed

  Read the second half carefully: it is a rule about US. Our one onboarding question is not a screen and must never be presented as one. All it may do is say 'mention this to a doctor', which is what it says.

  Checked against the paper's abstract, 2026-08-20.

• SPEC CLAIM WE COULD NOT SUPPORT: that self-administered or recorded hypnosis performs comparably to live delivery for sleep onset. Spec 3 lists this as a claim we may make. We found no paper for it.

  No source. That is the point of the entry.

  Until someone puts a citation here, no product or marketing sentence may assert it. It is currently asserted nowhere: the app ships a recording and does not argue that a recording is as good as a practitioner.

  Not yet checked against the paper.

Every sentence in the app

Each one is tagged as a citation, a statement about your own numbers, or our opinion. The whole list is public.