I'm trying to decide on a sleep strategy going forward. The way I see it, there are basically two ways to go about this (at opposite ends of the spectrum):

1. Stick to a consistent schedule (say, 10:30 pm - 7:00 am) that provides the body clock with certainty and allows sleep drive to build up throughout the day, thereby promoting better sleep. This is the approach outlined (for non-TBI patients) by Colleen Carney in her sensible book, Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep. In conjunction with other good sleep hygiene habits (and CBT exercises if necessary), her approach is supposed to reduce insomnia and improve overall sleep quality.

2. Rest whenever I am tired, fatigued, symptomatic - or even as a preventive measure. This might mean sleeping in in the morning, taking naps, lying down from time to time, taking hot baths, and/or resting quietly with a book or while watching television or a movie. In other words, rest whenever it looks like it might be needed - or even when it's not obviously needed.

So far I've been using a hybrid of these two approaches. I am not on a strict sleep schedule, but try to sleep between 10:30 pm and 8:00 am (these times might vary on either end; sometimes I'll sleep in until 9:00 or 9:30 if I've had some insomnia the night before or extra exertion the day before). I'm also using some of the other rest techniques in approach #2 (baths, lying down, resting on the couch and reading, the occasional nap, etc).

My sense is that approach #1 is probably best for "normal" people (ie, those not suffering from a TBI). But I also think Carney's idea of a consistent sleep schedule that emphasizes quality over quantity has merit. So I'm a bit torn. For now, I will continue with a hybrid approach, but over time (as I improve) I would like to move more towards the first approach.