diff --git a/include/qemu/coroutine.h b/include/qemu/coroutine.h
index ce5b9c6851..c5d7742989 100644
--- a/include/qemu/coroutine.h
+++ b/include/qemu/coroutine.h
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ typedef struct QemuCoSleepState QemuCoSleepState;
 
 /**
  * Yield the coroutine for a given duration. During this yield, @sleep_state
- * (if not NULL) is set to an opaque pointer, which may be used for
+ * is set to an opaque pointer, which may be used for
  * qemu_co_sleep_wake(). Be careful, the pointer is set back to zero when the
  * timer fires. Don't save the obtained value to other variables and don't call
  * qemu_co_sleep_wake from another aio context.
@@ -304,7 +304,8 @@ void coroutine_fn qemu_co_sleep_ns_wakeable(QEMUClockType type, int64_t ns,
                                             QemuCoSleepState **sleep_state);
 static inline void coroutine_fn qemu_co_sleep_ns(QEMUClockType type, int64_t ns)
 {
-    qemu_co_sleep_ns_wakeable(type, ns, NULL);
+    QemuCoSleepState *unused = NULL;
+    qemu_co_sleep_ns_wakeable(type, ns, &unused);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/util/qemu-coroutine-sleep.c b/util/qemu-coroutine-sleep.c
index eec6e81f3f..3f6f637e81 100644
--- a/util/qemu-coroutine-sleep.c
+++ b/util/qemu-coroutine-sleep.c
@@ -32,9 +32,7 @@ void qemu_co_sleep_wake(QemuCoSleepState *sleep_state)
                                            qemu_co_sleep_ns__scheduled, NULL);
 
     assert(scheduled == qemu_co_sleep_ns__scheduled);
-    if (sleep_state->user_state_pointer) {
-        *sleep_state->user_state_pointer = NULL;
-    }
+    *sleep_state->user_state_pointer = NULL;
     timer_del(&sleep_state->ts);
     aio_co_wake(sleep_state->co);
 }
@@ -63,16 +61,10 @@ void coroutine_fn qemu_co_sleep_ns_wakeable(QEMUClockType type, int64_t ns,
     }
 
     aio_timer_init(ctx, &state.ts, type, SCALE_NS, co_sleep_cb, &state);
-    if (sleep_state) {
-        *sleep_state = &state;
-    }
+    *sleep_state = &state;
     timer_mod(&state.ts, qemu_clock_get_ns(type) + ns);
     qemu_coroutine_yield();
-    if (sleep_state) {
-        /*
-         * Note that *sleep_state is cleared during qemu_co_sleep_wake
-         * before resuming this coroutine.
-         */
-        assert(*sleep_state == NULL);
-    }
+
+    /* qemu_co_sleep_wake clears *sleep_state before resuming this coroutine.  */
+    assert(*sleep_state == NULL);
 }