{
 "ledger": {
  "title": "Claim Ledger: You Cannot Try to Fall Asleep",
  "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/",
  "essay": {
   "title": "You Cannot Try to Fall Asleep",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/blog/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/",
   "published": "2026-08-03"
  },
  "last_checked": "2026-08-02",
  "format": "current",
  "counts": {
   "claims": 20,
   "by_status": {
    "VERIFIED": 15,
    "REPORTED": 5
   },
   "verified_at_primary": 15,
   "removed": 1
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "attribution": "The Durability Curve (Harry Floyd), https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/"
 },
 "rows": [
  {
   "id": "1",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-1",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Sleep normalcy is a relatively automatic process. Consequently it is vulnerable, and may be inhibited, by focused attention and by direct attempts to control its expression",
   "quote": "\"The argument is that sleep normalcy is a relatively automatic process. Consequently, it is vulnerable, and may be inhibited, by focused attention and by direct attempts to control its expression.\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Espie, Broomfield, MacMahon, Macphee & Taylor, The attention-intention-effort pathway in the development of psychophysiologic insomnia: a theoretical review, Sleep Medicine Reviews 10(4):215-45, Aug 2006, PMID 16809056, DOI 10.1016/j.smrv.2006.03.002",
   "source_url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16809056/",
   "locator": "abstract, sentences 6-7",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "1b",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-1b",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "The model is named the attention-intention-effort pathway, and it is offered as an explanatory model of how psychophysiologic insomnia develops and is maintained",
   "quote": "\"This paper proposes an explanatory model, that we call the attention-intention-effort pathway.\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Espie et al. 2006, as above",
   "source_url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16809056/",
   "locator": "abstract",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "1c",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-1c",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Psychophysiologic insomnia is the most common form of persistent primary insomnia, and its behavioural phenotype includes conditioned arousal, sleep-incompatible behaviour and sleep preoccupation",
   "quote": "\"Psychophysiologic insomnia (PI) is the most common form of persistent primary insomnia. Its 'behavioral phenotype', comprising elements such as conditioned arousal, sleep-incompatible behavior and sleep preoccupation, has not changed markedly across several generations of diagnostic nosology.\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Espie et al. 2006, as above",
   "source_url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16809056/",
   "locator": "abstract, opening",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "2",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-2",
   "status": "STRUCK",
   "status_label": "Struck",
   "removed": true,
   "claim": "The three components act in concert and hierarchically to turn acute stress-induced insomnia into the persistent self-perpetuating kind",
   "quote": "",
   "removal_reason": "This wording is not in the 2006 abstract; it came from a secondary summary of the 2023 revisit, which is paywalled (HTTP 402) and was not read. The body uses rows 1/1b/1c instead and makes no claim about hierarchy or about the acute-to-chronic transition",
   "source": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "locator": "",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "3",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-3",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Twenty-two individuals with primary insomnia were given positive or negative feedback about their sleep immediately on waking on three consecutive mornings",
   "quote": "\"twenty-two individuals with primary insomnia receiv[ed] positive or negative feedback about their sleep immediately on waking on three consecutive mornings\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Semler & Harvey, Misperception of sleep can adversely affect daytime functioning in insomnia, Behaviour Research and Therapy 43(7):843–856, 2005, PMID 15896282",
   "source_url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15896282/",
   "locator": "method",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "4",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-4",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Objective sleep, by actigraphy, did not differ across the three nights or the two feedback conditions",
   "quote": "\"Objective sleep on each of the three nights was estimated by actigraphy and did not differ across the three nights or the two feedback conditions\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Semler & Harvey 2005",
   "source_url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15896282/",
   "locator": "results",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "5",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-5",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Negative feedback was associated with more negative thoughts, sleepiness, monitoring for sleep-related threat, and safety behaviours during the day",
   "quote": "\"negative feedback was associated with more negative thoughts, sleepiness, monitoring for sleep-related threat, and safety behaviours during the day, relative to positive feedback\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Semler & Harvey 2005",
   "source_url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15896282/",
   "locator": "results",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "7",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-7",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Fifty-four healthy sleepers were randomly allocated to receive good or poor false sleep feedback in the form of a numerical sleep score, and were told it reflected their habitual sleep",
   "quote": "\"A total of 54 healthy sleepers (Mage = 30.19 years; SDage = 12.94 years) were randomly allocated to receive good, or poor, false sleep feedback, in the form of a numerical sleep score. Participants were informed that this feedback was a true reflection of their habitual sleep.\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Robson, Ellis & Elder, Poor false sleep feedback does not affect pre-sleep cognitive arousal or subjective sleep continuity in healthy sleepers: a pilot study, Sleep and Biological Rhythms 20(4):467–472, 2022",
   "source_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10899903/",
   "locator": "abstract",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "8",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-8",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "In healthy sleepers the false score changed nothing measured",
   "quote": "\"There were no significant differences between good and poor feedback groups in terms of pre-sleep cognitive arousal, or subjective sleep continuity, before or after the presentation of the sleep feedback.\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Robson, Ellis & Elder 2022",
   "source_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10899903/",
   "locator": "abstract",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "9",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-9",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "That study frames itself as being about wearables, not about laboratory deception",
   "quote": "\"Modern wearable devices calculate a numerical metric of sleep quality (sleep feedback), which are intended to allow users to monitor and, potentially, improve their sleep.\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Robson, Ellis & Elder 2022",
   "source_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10899903/",
   "locator": "abstract, first line",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "10",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-10",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Measurement increases how much of an activity people do and simultaneously reduces how much they enjoy it",
   "quote": "\"while measurement increases how much of an activity people do (e.g., walk or read more), it can simultaneously reduce how much people enjoy those activities\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Etkin, The Hidden Cost of Personal Quantification, Journal of Consumer Research 42(6):967–984, 2016",
   "source_url": "https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/42/6/967/2358309",
   "locator": "abstract",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "11",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-11",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "The mechanism is that attention to output makes an enjoyable activity feel like work, undermining intrinsic motivation",
   "quote": "\"By drawing attention to output, measurement can make enjoyable activities feel more like work, which reduces their enjoyment.\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Etkin 2016",
   "source_url": "https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/42/6/967/2358309",
   "locator": "abstract",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "12",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-12",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Etkin's 2016 findings about measuring an activity rest on six experiments",
   "quote": "\"Six experiments demonstrate that while measurement increases how much of an activity people do…\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Etkin 2016",
   "source_url": "https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/42/6/967/2358309",
   "locator": "abstract",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "13",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-13",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "A state is essentially a by-product when it can come about as a result of action but cannot be brought about intentionally, because the attempt precludes the state",
   "quote": "\"can only come about as by-products of actions undertaken for other ends… can never be brought about intentionally because the very attempt to do so precludes the state one is trying to bring about\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Elster, Sour Grapes: Studies in the Subversion of Rationality, Cambridge University Press, ch. 2 \"States that are essentially by-products\", pp. 43–109",
   "source_url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316494172.004",
   "locator": "chapter 2 summary",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "14",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-14",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Elster names spontaneity as an example of such an inaccessible state",
   "quote": "\"I cited spontaneity as an example of such 'inaccessible' states.\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Elster, Sour Grapes ch. 2",
   "source_url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316494172.004",
   "locator": "chapter 2 introduction",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "15",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-15",
   "status": "REPORTED",
   "status_label": "Reported",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "The self-defeating list includes the desire to forget, to believe, to desire, to sleep, to laugh, and to overcome stuttering",
   "quote": "\"the desire to forget, the desire to believe, the desire to desire …, the desire to sleep, the desire to laugh (one cannot tickle oneself), and the desire to overcome stuttering\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Elster, Sour Grapes ch. 2 / States that are essentially by-products, Social Science Information 20(3), 1981",
   "source_url": "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/053901848102000301",
   "locator": "ch. 2, as reproduced in secondary summaries",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "16",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-16",
   "status": "VERIFIED",
   "status_label": "Verified",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Chapter 2 of Sour Grapes is titled \"States that are essentially by-products\" and runs pp. 43-109",
   "quote": "\"Chapter: 2 ('States that are essentially by-products') · Pages: 43-109\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Cambridge Core chapter listing",
   "source_url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316494172.004",
   "locator": "publisher metadata block",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "17",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-17",
   "status": "REPORTED",
   "status_label": "Reported",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Orthosomnia names patients whose pursuit of the sleep score interfered with their sleep, and who trusted the device over the clinician",
   "quote": "",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Baron, Abbott, Jao, Manalo & Mullen, Orthosomnia: Are Some Patients Taking the Quantified Self Too Far?, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2017",
   "source_url": "https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.6472",
   "locator": "—",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "18",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-18",
   "status": "REPORTED",
   "status_label": "Reported",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "Whoop's Recovery Score is delivered each morning and is computed from HRV measured during slow-wave sleep, resting heart rate, respiratory rate and sleep performance",
   "quote": "\"The Recovery Score (0-100) … a daily readiness indicator that aggregates heart rate variability, resting heart rate and sleep quality … reported each morning after your sleep cycle completes\"",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Whoop product documentation",
   "source_url": "https://developer.whoop.com/docs/whoop-101/",
   "locator": "vendor marketing and developer documentation",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "19",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-19",
   "status": "REPORTED",
   "status_label": "Reported",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "A 2024 cross-sectional study of 523 adults estimated orthosomnia prevalence at 3–14% depending on definition, with 35.8% of participants regularly using sleep-tracking devices",
   "quote": "— figures from secondary summary; primary not yet opened —",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "Brain Sciences, 2024",
   "source_url": "https://doaj.org/article/50f708de43bd4086a44688d71f87f333",
   "locator": "—",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  },
  {
   "id": "20",
   "url": "https://durabilitycurve.com/claims/you-cannot-try-to-fall-asleep/#c-20",
   "status": "REPORTED",
   "status_label": "Reported",
   "removed": false,
   "claim": "A validated Bergen Orthosomnia Scale was published in 2025",
   "quote": "",
   "removal_reason": "",
   "source": "secondary summary only",
   "source_url": "",
   "locator": "—",
   "date_read": "2026-08-02"
  }
 ]
}