Have you been ‘treating’ or ‘solving’ bad sleep? (Vault 5-Part Sleep Clarity Series: Part 2)

Treating vs Solving Sleep Problems: What Matters Most

Last time, we explored poor sleep as a symptom—a signal pointing to underlying issues rather than the source problem itself. We used back pain as our comparison: the pain itself tells us something needs attention, but managing the pain doesn’t rebuild the structural support your spine requires (If you’re jumping in mid-series or need a refresh, start with Part 1 here).

Today, we’re making a distinction that explains why considerable effort may have produced minimal lasting change: the difference between “treating” vs. “solving”.

Let’s first return to the back pain comparison to see why this matters.

What Treating Back Pain Actually Accomplishes

Treating back pain manages the symptom:

• Wearing a back brace for external support
• Avoiding prolonged sitting to prevent aggravation
• Using anti-inflammatory medications to reduce pain signals
• Applying heat or ice to affected areas

These strategies serve an important function.

They prevent worsening.

They make the condition manageable.

But here’s what they don’t do: they don’t create the structural integrity needed for healthy movement. Avoiding sitting doesn’t strengthen your core. A back brace doesn’t rebuild the muscular support your spine requires for proper load distribution.

What Solving Back Pain Requires

Solving back pain targets the source:

• Strengthening core musculature to provide spinal support
• Correcting movement patterns that created the initial dysfunction
• Restoring proper joint mechanics and load distribution
• Addressing muscular imbalances that compromise stability

These approaches rebuild the system’s capacity to function without external support. They don’t just manage symptoms or prevent worsening—they restore the underlying architecture that prevents the problem from happening again.

The Sleep Parallel: Why Comprehensive Protocols Still Leave Us Awake at 3 AM

Think about the most common strategies: blue light blockers, cooling mattresses, new pillows, meditation tracks, white noise machines…

Now, ask yourself: When you use these, does it feel like you are correcting the original source of the problem, or does it feel like you are managing the day-to-day symptom of being unable to sleep?

If results have felt temporary—”sometimes, somewhat, a little”—there’s a concrete reason for that pattern.

Most sleep recommendations fall into the “treating” category:

• Room temperature optimization (65-68°F)
• Cooling mattress technology
• Blackout curtains and eye masks
• White noise machines
• Calming pre-bed routines

These environmental controls are useful. They remove obstacles and can prevent disruption. But they don’t build or create the physiological capacity for initiating or sustaining sleep.

Consider blue light exposure. Reducing blue light after sunset prevents melatonin suppression. This is valuable. But if your body lacks the materials to synthesize melatonin in the first place, removing blue light won’t restore the signaling pathway.

You can’t solve an internal signaling problem with external environmental adjustments, just as you can’t solve structural spinal instability by avoiding sitting.

Today’s Win: You Now Have a New Lens

Here’s what changes with this understanding:

Many approaches we’ve implemented—with considerable effort and consistency—were designed to remove disruption (like blue blockers) or prevent worsening (like calming prebed routines).

They are not designed to restore the body’s core sleep-generating system.

The reason our results have been “somewhat better” or “sometimes helpful” rather than consistently restorative is this: we’ve been treating when we needed to solve.

What Comes Next (Part 3 of the Vault Sleep Clarity Series)

Next time, I’ll show you a simple framework that distinguishes treating approaches from solving approaches—a lens you can use to categorize any sleep recommendation you encounter.

This framework is also what helped me make sense of my own 15 years sleep struggle (why I had a 50-step prebed ritual, yet still found myself staring at the ceiling at 3 AM several nights a week.)

It’s a clarifying lens worth having.

See you next time.