You’re restless, tossing and turning. The pillow’s too hot. The room is too cold. The clock on your nightstand reads 2:17 a.m. You calculate how much time you have left until it’s time to wake up — only five hours of sleep left. This stresses you out and wrecks any chance of falling asleep anytime soon.

Now, a new study from Indiana University confirms something that alarm clock owners may have long suspected — watching the clock while trying to fall asleep will only make your insomnia worse, as well as your reliance on sleep aids.

Researchers asked nearly 5,000 patients at a sleep clinic to complete questionnaires about the severity of their insomnia, their use of sleep medication and the time they spent monitoring their own behavior while trying to fall asleep.

The findings were straightforward: The more folks fretted over what time it was, how much sleep they would get and how long it would take them to fall asleep, the more upset they became. Consequently, they had a much harder time falling asleep.

After that, their tendency to turn to sleep aids to correct the problem increased.

Insomnia affects between 4% and 22% of adults and can encourage a bevy of unpleasant health problems, like heart disease and diabetes.

So, what is a sleep-deprived person to do? Turn your alarm clock around or cover it altogether. Stash your phone far enough out of reach that you’re physically unable to constantly check the time.

Once your ability to measure time is removed, falling asleep becomes much easier.

You may not be able to turn back the hands of time, but you’ll sleep easier without watching them.