Most of us are inclined to think that the occurrence and duration of sleep are out of control in our life. We anticipate that some external forces will determine if we have a good night of sleep. Many of the pathways to sleep that I have identified are external entities that produce high-quality sleep. Prather (2022, p. xv) pushes us in this regard. He emphasizes the internal control we have over our night of sleep: “There’s a lot about our lives and our health we can’t control. But sleep is one of the areas where we can see a huge transformation with a few concrete changes”.
Furthermore, with the changes we can make in our night of sleep, Prather (2022, p. xv) believes that we are also controlling many other daytime functions:
“It turns out that improving our sleep can lead to improvements in many other aspects of our life, including how we feel, what we eat, how we learn, and how we react to others during the day, things that are often harder for us to change on our own. When we sleep better we feel better, we’re more creative and engaged, have more energy to exercise, and have a greater tendency to pile our plates with healthy foods and colorful fruits and veggies.”
Prather moves to the “big picture,” indicating that a good night of sleep improves our whole life. According to Prather, successful sleep creates a foundation for health and well-being. This is a lofty claim; however, Prather’s claim is increasingly supported by research regarding the benefits of eight hours of sleep (e.g. Science News Today, 2025).
Anticipation and T.O.T.E.
I wish to expand on the analysis that Prather has just offered by reintroducing the concepts of anticipation and T.O.T.E. When we can successfully anticipate what is about to occur and take action that is appropriate to this anticipation, then we are likely to feel and believe that we are “in control” (internal locus of control). Under such conditions, we are successfully engaged in the feedback-based process of text-operate-test-exit (T.O.T.E.) While our actions might not always be successful, we learn from what we have done and do a better job the second time—we test, operate and test again. It is as an ongoing learner that we believe in our control over the world in which we operate. It is when we don’t learn and keep making the same mistakes that we are likely to assume a belief and deeply feel that we no longer control our life or our destiny.
Applied to the matter of sleep, we are likely to feel and believe that we have control in our life, when we prepare for and have a good night of sleep. We wake up with this strong belief in our mind, and this strong feeling in our heart and gut that we are captain of our ship. As Prather (2022, p. xv) suggests, “when we sleep better, we feel better, we’re more creative and engaged” and so forth. This positive outcome of a good night of sleep might be produced in part by this Internal Locus of Control that not only provides energy but also provides guidance regarding other conditions when we can be “in charge.”
Allostasis and Homeostatic Sleep
I return to Aric Prather’s analysis of sleep dynamics. Prather (2022, p. 5) offers the widely accepted concept of the two primary biological mechanisms that enable us to sleep:
“You have two main “drivers” of sleep: your homeostatic sleep drive and your circadian rhythm. These two natural, internal processes in your body work together (though they are independent) to keep you awake when you need to be awake, and asleep when you need to be asleep. They also need to be in sync for you to get great sleep. When they become dysregulated, you start to rµn into trouble.”
