Short Answer: The latest research suggests that 8.6 hours is a solid goal to shoot for. If that seems like a very specific number, that would be because it is. It was derived from Harvard Medical School and the University of Surrey during one of their large sleep studies. So in short, shooting for around 8.5 hours per night seems to be optimal. 

Long Answer: The more complex answer comes when you start introducing different variables. Factors such as age, sex, activity levels, genetics, or even sleep consistency can have a large effect on the needs of an individual. Being pregnant, going through puberty, or even menopause can have a large effect on how much sleep one requires. A big one to be aware of is age. Newborns and teens can benefit from sleeping far more than 8.5 hours, infants up to 18 hours and teens up to 10. Most adults need around 7-9 hours of sleep. It is important to remember that individual needs vary. With that being said, Matt Walker, a well known sleep researcher, warns that you should be getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night, no matter who you are. Less than this starts to affect health negatively in numerous ways. One final note to be aware of is that just because someone is in bed for 8 hours, does not mean they were asleep for that long. Sleep quality and sleep quantity are both important, however if sleep quality is poor, the amount of hours “sleeping” will be higher. 

Short answer: Snoring is not necessarily harmful to your sleep and there are several simple remedies. However, it may be the symptom of an underlying condition, like obesity or sleep apnea, and may be disturbing your bed partner’s sleep. Even if you feel like your snoring is harmless, it may be worth it to bring it up with your doctor.

Long answer: Occasional snoring is usually harmless, but if it is particularly loud, frequent and long term, it could have health consequences such as decreased blood oxygen levels (hypoxia), difficulty concentrating, fatigue, increased risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, or type 2 diabetes.

When you fall asleep, it’s natural for your throat to relax. Snoring happens when your tongue slips backward and there is a narrowing of your airway causing vibrations and the snoring sound. For some people, a fix is as simple as not sleeping on your back. In some, but not all cases, other underlying conditions can lead to snoring:

• Obesity or excess weight. Extra tissue in the neck area can cause a narrowing of the airway..

• Weak muscle tone in the throat and tongue. A natural result of aging. Or alcohol and medications can relax muscles in the throat.

• Pregnancy hormones can cause swelling and congestion during sleep. sleep 

• Nasal obstruction from a cold or allergies.

• Sleep Apnea

Talk to your doctor if you are concerned about snoring. Or try lifestyle changes like avoid sedatives in the evening, elevate your head, sleep on your side, stay active and maintaining a healthy weight, try nasal strips to open the airway in the nose, or purchase an anti-snoring pillow that keeps your head in an ideal position for an open airway.

Basically, sleep quality and sleep quantity are equally important because you can’t have quality sleep without the right quantity. Good sleep quality is an efficient and continuous night of sleep where you spend appropriate amounts of time in each phase of sleep and progress through them all multiple times. This is often the difference between feeling rested and renewed upon waking and struggling to wake up/feeling sleepy throughout the day. However, remember that quantity is an element of sleep quality, so there are really no shortcuts to getting quality sleep. You still need to put the time in the sack to progress through the needed stages of sleep.

Short answer: Not recalling dreams doesn’t mean you don’t have them—everyone experiences mental imagery during REM sleep. Although poor sleep quality may affect dream recall, dream recall also changes depending on a variety of factors not involving sleep quality.

Long answer: Not recalling dreams doesn’t mean you don’t have them. Researchers believe that during REM sleep, everyone experiences “mentation” (i.e., thoughts and mental imagery that constitute dreams). Although everyone dreams, there are differences in memory retention due to several factors such as genetics, sleep quality, personality, what you think about upon waking, whether you wake up right after a REM cycle, and stress levels (We may either have less REM sleep when stressed, or the content of the dream is more intense so we remember it more easily.). Most dreaming happens during REM sleep where we process our emotions and experiences. Remembering dreams can be an indication that you had plenty of REM sleep. However, if you have sleep disturbances that wake you up frequently at night (often during REM), this will also result in remembering your dreams. So, we can’t conclude that recalling dreams always means good, quality sleep. In fact, a study from Izawa et al. (2019) found that our ability to remember and store memories is impaired during REM sleep, suggesting we are wired to forget our dreams.

Short answer: Sleeping in during the weekend may help you to recover from lost sleep during the week, but it won’t work as well as you’d like and it will not protect you from the negative effects of sleep deprivation during the remaining five days of the week.

Long answer: Like saving money now for a later date, “Sleep banking” is the attempt to sleep longer on the night before an expected sleep deprivation. “Sleep debt,” or sleep deficit, is the amount a person is already behind on their sleep. The pattern of sleeping in during the weekends to make up for lost sleep throughout the week is problematic for a few reasons. 

First, sleep banking only improves mood, alertness, and cognitive performance if sleep is banked for several days leading up to the sleep deprivation. One or two nights of extra sleep does not appear to have the same benefit (Rupp et al., 2009). Second, you can’t “bank sleep” if you haven’t already paid off your “sleep debt” from prior nights. It can take up to 4 days to recover from only 1 hour of lost sleep, and over a week to eliminate a true sleep debt (Depner et al., 2019). This means that by sleeping poorly for five nights of the week, you will incur far more “sleep debt” than can be paid off with two nights of extra sleep. Third, sleep is optimized by keeping a consistent sleep/wake schedule. Obviously, this is impossible to do when sleeping in on the weekends. Those glorious, 10-hour weekend snoozes may feel great, but they will not be as efficient and may make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep during the rest of the week.

So, should you sleep in after one or more nights of bad sleep? If you get the chance, absolutely. Try and fall asleep early rather than waking up late. However, regularly sleeping in during the weekends and sleeping poorly throughout the week is harmful and a hard habit to break. At best, you may feel the benefits of sufficient sleep on the two days you sleep in, but you will likely feel every ounce of sleep deprivation during the remaining five. Sleeping in on the weekends simply does not protect from future sleep loss as well as many people seem to think (we’re looking at you, high school/college students). 

Short answer: Caffeine is a stimulant that blocks sleep-inducing adenosine, remains active in the body for hours, disrupts circadian rhythms, reduces total sleep time and efficiency, and can alter sleep structure even if you feel unaffected. Avoid caffeine at least 8.8–13.2 hours before bedtime depending on the dose and your tolerance.

Long answer: Caffeine is a drug. It is a stimulant that blocks the adenosine receptor responsible for sleepiness. The half life of caffeine is between 3 to 5 hours and the quarter-life is up to 11 hours. So, drinking a cup of coffee at 4 p.m. means that at 9 p.m. there may be one half cup of coffee still active in your system, and as late as 3 am, up to 25% of the caffeine from that coffee may still be actively trying to keep you awake. 

Further, caffeine can disrupt the natural 24 hour circadian clock. One study found a caffeine equivalent of a double espresso 3 hours before bedtime delayed the circadian rhythm by 40 minutes (Burke et al., 2015). A meta analysis found caffeine intake reduces total sleep time by 45 minutes per night and reduces the efficiency of sleep by 7% (Gardiner et al., 2023). To avoid these effects, consume caffeine (107 mg, the equivalent of one cup of coffee) at least 8.8 hours before bedtime, or (217.5 mg, the standard pre-workout supplement) at least 13.2 hours before bedtime. 

Many people feel like they can consume caffeine shortly before sleep without experiencing any negative side effects. However, even if you fall asleep just as fast and stay asleep throughout the night after consuming caffeine, it still may be interfering with your brain’s natural structure of sleep, causing irregular timing of your sleep stages and even keeping you in light, stage 1 and 2 “garbage” sleep for much more of the night than you’d like. Although everyone is affected by caffeine differently, it still may contribute to daytime sleepiness and a cycle of needing more caffeine to feel alert. Caffeine simply not belong in the hours leading up to sleep. 

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine provides a chart of common products and their amounts of caffeine.

Short answer: This is a question that is currently being debated by sleep scientists. Some argue that snoozing leads to junk sleep and morning stress while others argue that it helps by reducing sleep inertia. Snoozing is most likely going to be helpful for those who suffer from abnormally high levels of morning grogginess and those who are forced to go to bed and wake up earlier than they prefer.  We encourage everyone to focus on getting enough sleep and to experiment with snoozing on the side.

Long answer: We’ve all been there. The alarm goes off in the morning and all you want to do is keep sleeping. So, you hit the snooze and fall back asleep until, after 10 minutes, the alarm goes off again. You repeat the cycle until, 40 minutes later, your morning plans lie in ruin and you’re forced to rush to get out the door and to work/school without being late. Once again, you’ve fallen victim to your snooze button.

Although we’ve all had our morning plans ruined by hitting the snooze button, is snoozing inherently bad for your sleep? The short answer is maybe. We hesitate to recommend snoozing because it may cause you to spend time in light “junk sleep” that you could have spent in deep, restorative sleep. The time that passes between alarms is typically spent “half awake” and is likely not enough to slip back into quality, deep stages of sleep, such as REM sleep and deep wave, non-REM sleep. These are the stages of sleep that matter most for resting and restoring our minds and feeling alert and energetic in the coming day. Furthermore, those last 30 minutes may make the difference between completing a cycle of deep sleep and being jolted out of an incomplete cycle, causing sleep inertia. Recall that sleep inertia is excessive morning grogginess and fatigue that comes as the result of waking up during deep, non-REM sleep as opposed to REM sleep or stage 1 and 2 sleep. Last of all, snoozing can turn waking up into a stressful experience if it causes you to run late and be in a hurry. For these reasons, many sleep professionals encourage people to simply get up when they need to rather than compromising the last 30+ minutes of their sleep by snoozing. 

Recently, however, evidence has arisen showing that snoozing may actually reduce sleepiness upon waking by allowing you to gradually transition from deep sleep to light sleep to wakefulness. These researchers argue that waking up all at once out of deep sleep increases sleep inertia and decreases cognitive performance, causing people to feel less satisfied with the sleep they got upon waking (Hilditch & McHill, 2019). Others have found evidence that snoozing does not negatively affect mood, stress upon waking, morning sleepiness, or sleep quality. They also argue that the 6 minutes of sleep that are typically lost during a 30-minute snooze may be worth it given the protection they offer from waking directly out of deep sleep (Sundelin et al., 2024). Overall, these studies serve as evidence that snoozing may be helpful for some people, especially those who struggle with sleepiness upon waking and those who prefer later sleep schedules than the ones they are forced to follow.

So, is it better to snooze or not to snooze? The best answer is neither. Remember that the very best way to wake up is by waking up naturally. This comes from following a consistent sleep schedule and by simply letting your body wake itself up when it has gotten enough sleep. Doing so prevents you from experiencing all of the problems that may arise from snoozing or not snoozing. However, since this ideal situation isn’t always possible, most people will still depend on alarm clocks. While sleep researchers continue this debate, it may be wise for you to simply experiment with and without snoozing in the morning to see what makes you feel better upon waking and throughout the day. If you do choose to snooze, do what it takes to eliminate stress from your morning routine by deliberately planning around the extra time you will spend snoozing. Also make sure your snoozing isn’t disturbing your bed partner, roommates, or family members. Most importantly, remember that there is no good substitute for simply getting enough sleep, not even snoozing!

Many of the most tried and true methods to treat insomnia are found in this module, yet some people will need the help of a professional to get to the bottom of sleep issues. A professional may start by asking you to keep a sleep diary for two weeks to track your sleep patterns and those activities during the day that may affect sleep like caffeine and alcohol intake, naps, exercise and medication. 

You may be a candidate for a sleep study where instruments can detect sleep disorders while you sleep in a clinic. In addition to insomnia, these tests can detect sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, night terrors and nocturnal panic attacks, certain types of seizures and epilepsy, night paralysis, and other disorders disrupting sleep. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is a first line treatment that lasts 6-8 weeks working with a doctor or therapist using CBT to reduce stress about not being able to sleep, meditation and relaxation training, sleep hygiene education, stimulus control therapy (learning to associate bed with sleep by only going to bed when you are tired, getting out of bed when not sleepy, and only using the bed for sleep and sex), and sleep restriction therapy (reducing the amount of time in bed so that with time, quality and quantity of sleep is improved). Note that we do not encourage attempting sleep restriction therapy without the guidance of a professional. 

Trouble sleeping and anxiety often go hand in hand. Sleep disturbances are a diagnostic symptom of many anxiety disorders. There is strong evidence to support that anxiety causes sleep disturbances. On the other hand, it can also go the other way; lack of sleep may exacerbate anxiety symptoms.

Insomnia is also a risk factor for developing depression. The link between insomnia causing depression is stronger than the link of depression causing insomnia, while the link between anxiety causing insomnia is stronger than the link between insomnia causing anxiety.

Because sleep directly impacts mental health, targeting sleep is effective to make positive changes in well being. Improving sleep quality has been found to improve mental health quality, specifically for anxiety and depression (Scott, et al., 2021). Adequate sleep is needed for your brain to make decisions and regulate emotions, and when these skills are compromised, mental health suffers. To read more on the connection between anxiety, depression, and sleep, refer back to the section entitled “a note on clinical sleep disorders,” under the Anxiety/Depression dropdown menu.

Short answer: Sleep is essential for athletic performance because it promotes muscle recovery, growth, and injury prevention through the release of human growth hormone during deep sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to reduced accuracy, slower reaction times, impaired coordination, and decreased endurance, while well-rested athletes experience improved strength, speed, mental performance, and resilience to pain.

Long answer: Athletes likely require more sleep than non athletes due to the need for the body to recover from the physical demands of the sport, yet insufficient and poor sleep quality are prevalent among athletes who often struggle with time demands.Human growth hormone is released during deep sleep and is responsible for tissue repair and muscle growth.

Sleep debt is associated with reduced athletic performance, mental performance, slower recovery and an increased risk of injury. One study found a decrease in the accuracy of 3-point shots by 50% when players were sleep deprived and an increase of 10% when well rested. Improving sleep also improves physical strength, speed, reaction time, cognitive performance and mental health. Another study on professional baseball players found significantly better judgment in the strike zone for those who were well rested compared to those who were fatigued (Kutscher, 2013). When sleep deprived, physical performance is affected by reduced energy and impaired coordination.

Athletes push their bodies to become stronger and faster, and as a result, there is wear and tear on the tissues that need time to rebuild. Sleep provides this recovery and repair time. Without it, injuries are much more likely. Young athletes who regularly got 8-10 hours of sleep suffered 63% fewer injuries than those athletes who slept less (AAP, 2012). 

Resilience to the pain of muscle exhaustion is also a factor that improves physical performance in the well-rested. Sleep can help manage pain levels by promoting relaxation and reducing inflammation. A study on competitive cyclists found time to exhaustion was decreased by 10% in those who were well rested (AASM, 2016). Sleep is vital for overall physical health, and absolutely necessary for the athlete to maximize muscle growth, energy levels, coordination, and recovery.

Short answer: As people age, they tend to experience lighter and shorter sleep due to changes in circadian rhythms, reduced deep sleep, and medical or social factors that disrupt rest. Hormonal fluctuations, particularly in women during menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause, can lead to sleep disturbances, with issues like insomnia, hot flashes, or increased risk of sleep apnea. To counteract these effects, individuals can improve sleep by maintaining a consistent schedule, managing environmental factors, using supportive sleep aids when necessary, and seeking medical guidance for persistent issues.

Long answer: Age:

• It is normal for sleep time to decrease with age. Generally, starting at age 20, for every decade, total sleep time decreases 8 minutes for men and 10 minutes per decade for women (Dorffner et al., 2015). A lab study found young adults to naturally sleep 10.5 hours, the middle aged  9.1 hours and older adults 8.1 hours (Campbell & Murphy, 2007). This may be due to the body’s natural shift from prioritizing growth and reproduction during early years to promoting maintenance and repair in later years. 

• Still, the need for sleep is mostly consistent throughout life. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-8 hours of sleep for those over 65. However, older adults tend to have more trouble getting the sleep they need (Hirshkowitz, et al., 2015). Biological factors like changing circadian rhythms (falling asleep earlier and waking earlier), waking more often, reduced deep sleep, and shorter sleep duration, reduce the quality of sleep for older adults (Ohayon et al., 2004). Medical factors like sleep apnea, neurodegenerative disease, and chronic pain, are more common in later life which interfere with sleep. Finally, social changes like retirement, changes in living conditions (retirement homes), reduced physical activity, and bereavement can disrupt sleep patterns (Koffel et al., 2023). 

• The efficiency of sleep--the ability to achieve deep and restorative sleep--also declines steadily with age. The natural secretion of Human Growth Hormone and melatonin at night time decreases with age, and may contribute to ‘light sleeping’ in older adults (Pandi-Perumal, et al., 2005). It’s normal for older adults to want to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier as well as need to spend more time in bed at night to feel rested, or take naps during the day.

• Most sleep experts agree that older adults typically need the same amount of sleep (7-9 hours) as younger adults, and the decreased sleep time that comes with age is a result of diminished sleep drive rather than a reduction in the actual requirement. Diminished sleep drive can be caused by an increase in medications that negatively affect sleep, changes in circadian rhythms that come with age, and medical conditions that bring pain and discomfort making it difficult to get deep rest. Poor quality of sleep in older adults can result in physical injuries such as increased falls, mental health concerns such as depression, and declining cognitive function.

Women:

• For menstruating women, it’s not common that the rise and fall of progesterone and estrogen result in sleep disturbances. However, for some with premenstrual syndrome, sleep disturbances can be a symptom. If you are noticing an inability to sleep on your cycle, birth control pills may help. More often it may be the pain of cramps keeping you up at night. For these, you might try a pain reliever with a sleep aid.

• Pregnancy related sleep problems may be due to both hormonal shifts and physical changes such as an increased need to urinate at night, breast tenderness and a growing and kicking belly. Women who experience more sleep disturbances while pregnant are at a higher risk for postpartum depression.Try using pillows to support the tummy and back, or sleep on your left side with a pillow between your legs and one under your belly. There are also products available like full length body pillows and wedges designed for pregnancy sleeping comfort. Yoga, massage, stretching, deep breathing, and warm baths and showers before bed can also relax and prepare your body for sleep.

• Postpartum sleep disturbances are likely a combination of reduced estrogen as well as the demands of a newborn’s night time schedule. Women in this stage of life need extra care and monitoring as sleep disorders in postpartum women are associated with depression. Low dose estrogen and antidepressants can help during this time period. 

• Women experience declining levels of estrogen leading up to menopause and many report sleep disturbances. Two thirds of women in perimenopause experience hot flashes at night interrupting sleep. Other symptoms include trouble falling asleep, early awakening, and interrupted sleep. In one study, 37% of women between the ages of 40 and 55 reported difficulty sleeping (Kravitz and Joffe, 2011). These sleep disturbances can go on for years. Mood changes that come along with menopause like anxiety and depression, as well as weight gain also contribute to poor sleep. Sleep apnea is more prevalent (2-3 times more likely) at this stage in life, and increases with age. Sleep apnea is present in 42% of pre menopause ages, 47% in perimenopause, and 60% in post menopause (Valiensi et al., 2019). Most postmenopausal women have sleep apnea (Zhou et al., 2017). Though it differs from person to person, many find sleep disruptions are reduced and symptoms stabilize post menopause (Delamater & Santoro, 2018) when they are no longer being woken by hot flashes. 

Basically, every issue we’ve listed here is related to sleep drive irregularity, or in other words, your body’s altered ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, and move through the appropriate stages of sleep. These issues are common across all populations who struggle with sleep, not just women and the elderly. Therefore, even those whose symptoms are caused by unique circumstances like advanced age and changing hormones can drastically improve their sleep by applying the interventions outlined in this module. We introduce these practices in the coming section, Intro to Changing your Sleep. Still, if you find that your sleep does not improve, consult the resources for women and the elderly that we have listed in the resources section at the end of the module.

Short answer: Older adults should aim for 7-8 hours of quality sleep, as insufficient sleep is linked to increased risks of dementia and other health issues. Anyone struggling with sleep, especially those getting fewer than 5 hours per night, should consult a doctor to address underlying factors and improve sleep quality.

Long answer: As mentioned above, your need for sleep goes down with age. However, the National Sleep Foundation still recommends that adults aged 65 and up get 7-8 hours of sleep. They also note that lower amounts of sleep (5-7 hours) may also be acceptable. As an older adult, how can you be sure of how much sleep you need given that the possible range is so great? 

Any older adult, especially those getting fewer than 5 hours of sleep per night, who is concerned about their sleep should immediately talk to their doctor. A sleep-informed doctor will be able to sort through any medications, conditions, or circumstances that may be interacting with your naturally decreased need for sleep. They can give better guidance and clarity on how much sleep to expect. As a general rule of thumb, however, it is important to focus on your sleep quality. Start by figuring out how to optimize your sleep, which is what we focus on in the next two sections of the module. Sleeping for as long as possible (no longer than 8-9 hours) when your sleep is optimized may be the best advice we can give to our older adult audience. 

It may be especially important that older adults get as much sleep as possible due to the frightening connection between poor sleep and dementia, which is the gradual and terminal decay of memory and brain function. One study of 2,800 older adults found that those who got 5 or fewer hours of sleep were 50% more likely to develop dementia than those who got 6-8 hours (Robbins et al., 2021). The connection between insufficient sleep and dementia is supported across many other studies (Pase et al., 2017). Additionally, studies show that in older adults, dementia has a dose-response to insufficient sleep. This means that as the amount of sleep goes down, risk for dementia goes up, which serves as evidence that a decrease in sleep may be a true cause of dementia. While researchers are still asking whether poor sleep truly does cause memory loss and mental decline, there’s one question you should be asking yourself: is it worth the risk?

Follow these 5 important tips for helping your infant get to sleep and stay asleep. Within the first three days of consistently following this regimen, you should see drastic changes to your infant’s sleeping patterns. After three days, you should continue to see moderate improvements (Mindell et al., 2017). Don’t hesitate to consult with your pediatrician if your infant’s sleep doesn’t change or if it gets worse.

• Consistent Timing: Implement a regular and consistent bedtime for the infant. This involves choosing a specific time each night for bedtime.

• Predictable Sequence: Establish a predictable sequence of activities leading up to bedtime. This might include activities like a warm bath, reading a book, or gentle rocking.

• Calm and Soothing Activities: Ensure that the activities in the bedtime routine are calm and soothing, creating a peaceful transition to sleep.

• Limit Stimulating Activities: Avoid activities that are overly stimulating or involving screens and electronic devices, as these can interfere with sleep.

• Consistency is Key: It's important to be consistent in following the bedtime routine each night to reinforce the association between these activities and sleep.

For more guidance on how to help your young children get to sleep and stay asleep, check the resources tab of our module here.

Short answer: Whereas adults need 7-8 hours of sleep, teenagers typically need 8-9 or more hours of sleep as per the National Sleep Foundation. Teenagers also tend to gravitate naturally to later bedtime schedules. 

Long answer: For a long time, adults have been confused and frustrated by how much sleep  their teenagers should get. In order to better understand the kind of sleep teenagers need, there are two important things for you to know: First, teenagers tend to naturally be night owls more than adults. Research shows that the internal signals to bring on sleepiness in adolescent brains (i.e., chronotype) simply happen later at night than they do for adults. In fact, anthropologists have discovered that even in humanity’s ancient hunter/gatherer days, the young members of the tribes always stayed up later, socializing around the fire. Although this may change as teens grow older, it’s important to remember that they’re not being lazy. It’s just natural for them to want to go to bed later. Second, teenagers simply need much more time asleep than adults do. Their developing brains call for 8-10 hours per night, and when they don’t get that need met, they often suffer consequences to their brain development, mental health, and school performance. 

Check out this testimonial from a teenager who decided to get more sleep: “Before I started managing my sleep, my patience ran thin and my brain felt like it was always shut down. This made maintaining relationships with the most important people in my life difficult and obnoxious. Lack of sleep was constantly causing me to get behind in schoolwork which then introduced stress and the lack of deep sleep into my life. I was tired of the cycle that seemingly wrecked every aspect of my life. I began the switch to a healthier sleep cycle and noticed I became happier around friends and family, able to focus in class and less stressed all around.” -Hailey K, 16 y.o.

So, next time you’re frustrated with the teenager in your life for being asleep until noon every Saturday morning, try to cut them some slack. After all, getting only 7 hours of sleep for them might feel the same as you getting only 5 hours of sleep. Try to encourage them to get their 8-10 hours and be understanding if they want to go to bed later than you.

There are plenty of health benefits from taking short naps which include relaxation, reduced fatigue and increased alertness. However, the time of day and the length of the nap are key. Keep naps from 10 to 35 minutes. The cons of sleeping longer may outweigh the pros, with levels of post-nap grogginess and disorientation lapsing the typical benefits of napping past the 35-minute mark. Younger adults may be able to tolerate longer naps than older adults.

Don’t nap after 3 p.m. as it may interfere with nighttime sleep. People with insomnia often should avoid napping altogether in order to “save” their sleep drive for sleeping hours.

Short answer: No.

Long answer: The theory that wearing blue light glasses for screens at night to improve sleep stems from the understanding that the sun’s light is connected to the body’s circadian rhythm and that blue light from screens may confuse the body, giving the cue that it is still daytime. There isn’t sufficient evidence to support that blue light filters improve sleep in a normal population. It may be more likely that the stimulation of what a person is viewing on the screen is the bigger factor in why screens in the evening affect the ability to fall asleep. While there is some mixed evidence that these glasses help reduce eye strain during prolonged screen use, it may be wise to save your money on blue light glasses as a sleep aid and instead consider reducing activities that are arousing or overly engaging before bed. 

Short answer: While sleep medications are generally effective and safe when prescribed by a competent, sleep-informed doctor, there are several issues with their long-term use. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia is considered the frontline treatment for addressing sleep issues. 

Long answer: The majority of people who seek treatment for sleep problems receive prescription medication rather than psychological/behavioral treatment. Doctors usually prescribe sedatives, antidepressants, and benzodiazepines, such as Ambien, Lunesta, Trazodone, Seroquel, Valium, and Restoril, among others. Research reviews suggest that medications are generally effective for treating sleep problems. However, there are some issues stemming from their use. 

Using medications for extended periods may lead to issues like a decline in daytime functioning, psychological dependence, tolerance, and addiction (especially to benzodiazepines). Further, sleep medications don’t address the underlying mental and behavioral issues that are frequently at the heart of sleeping issues, such as the ones we try to address in this module. Therefore, a sleep pill may be enough to knock you out at night, but your sleep still may not flourish until you address the underlying issues. These underlying issues will continue to be problematic especially if you build a tolerance to your medication. Last of all, stopping the use of your sleep pill can be challenging due to rebound effects, where the original symptoms temporarily come back worse than they were to begin with.

Sleep medications can be especially useful when taken temporarily during exceptional circumstances (like during a bout of physical or mental illness) or at the beginning of treatment for a sleep disorder. However, we encourage our readers to be wary of their permanent use for the above reasons. Various studies and comprehensive reviews indicate that non-medication treatments can be equally or more effective. In modern sleep medicine, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia is widely considered the gold standard intervention for serious insomnia and other sleep disorders (Soong et al., 2021). If your sleep problems are not improved by practicing the activities in this module, then you may want to find this kind of care. Consult carefully with your doctor or therapist to make sure you get the treatment that will work the best for you. Check out the resources section for more info.

“I kept many bad habits I had picked up in college. I would stay up late with friends, often while drinking. The next day at work I would drink coffee all day to help keep me going. I ate meals whenever I could spare the time. As a result I wasn't sleeping regularly. I thought about taking sleeping pills, but I didn't like the possible side effects. So I decided to make changes in my behavior. I go to bed at about the same time every night, exercise after work 3 days a week, and limit how much alcohol and coffee I drink.” Alejandro, 25 y.o., healthwise.net

Many prescribed and over the counter medications affect your sleep. Some include:

• Antidepressants

• Cold and allergy medication

• Diuretics

• Steroids

• Beta blockers

• Smoking cessation drugs

If you learn that trouble sleeping is a side effect of a prescription drug you are taking, work with your doctor to try the following: you might try taking it during the day instead of before bed, try a lower dose, practice good sleep hygiene, or ask your doctor if you can switch to a different drug.

If your sleep doesn’t feel restful, you’ve come to the right place! Many times when you feel this way, your issues are likely related to troubles with falling asleep, staying asleep, and moving through the stages of sleep rather than the amount of time you spend in bed trying to sleep. Although these issues can be caused by not getting enough sleep, they can also be caused by poor sleep hygiene, conditioned arousal, and unhealthy thoughts and beliefs about sleep, all things that we talk about throughout this module. 

In short, if you get enough sleep but still don’t feel alert throughout the day, you may have an issue of sleep quality rather than sleep quantity. Read on to the following section, Intro to Changing Your Sleep, to find out for yourself what you can start changing in order to feel more alert during the day.

Short answer: Using electronic devices before bed has a small impact on sleep, and the light from screens is not as disruptive as commonly believed. More important factors include overall daily light exposure, screen brightness, and personal habits, such as getting too engaged in content and delaying bedtime. Research suggests that dimming lights in the evening and getting plenty of bright light during the day are more beneficial for sleep than avoiding screens entirely. To improve sleep, adjust screen brightness, be mindful of engaging content, and set a bedtime alarm if needed.

Long answer: There is a common belief that using your personal electronic device before bed will disrupt your sleep, but there are some myths we’d like to clear up. There is a link between technology use before bed and increased sleep problems, however the effect is small (using an e-reader before bed delayed sleep by only 9.9 minutes (Chang et al, 2014)). Specific reasons for the link are more nuanced than simply the light emitted from the screens. Here, we'll talk about some of these nuances, which include the brightness and hue of your device, the other daylight exposure that you get throughout the day, the level of engagement you experience with your device, and the individual differences between those who do experience sleep problems because of their devices and those who don't.

Research from Dr. Michael Gradisar challenges the commonly held belief that the light from screens is the main problem in difficulty falling asleep. Previous studies by Gradisar have found that exposure to bright light in the evening (using light boxes at 1000 lux) can delay sleep onset by 30 minutes. The light emitted from screens is only around 50 lux. After viewing a dim screen for an hour it took only 11 minutes to fall asleep, and after viewing a bright screen it took 14 minutes - not a big difference (Heath et al., 2014). To put ‘lux’ into perspective, a sunny day emits 100,000 lux. 

In another myth-busting study, researchers found that if we are exposed to enough light during the day, it doesn’t make a difference whether or not we use a screen at night. 1508 participants were exposed to bright light during the day (6.5 hours) and then either read a physical book or used a tablet for 2 hours before bed. Melatonin, time to fall asleep, and slow wave patterns were measured. There were no differences between the two groups (Rangtell, et.al. 2016). Gradisar suggests that exposure to bright light during the day may be more useful for good sleep than avoiding screens at night, and screens may not be the problem many of us have been led to believe. With that said, it is wise to consider the brightness of your screen and use the dimming features of your device as well as dim the lights in your house in the evening. Household lights tend to be overly bright in the hours before bedtime. 

In addition to the brightness of light, the wavelength or hue is also a factor that is commonly thought to affect sleep. The cooler the color (blues, around 450 nanometers) the more it delays the release of melatonin. Warmer colors (oranges and reds) don’t have this effect. However, recent research is showing the hue of the light we are exposed to at night probably matters much less to our circadian rhythm than we’ve been led to believe. In recent research comparing blue light to yellow light, no evidence that the difference in the color of light along the blue-yellow dimension was significant in affecting human circadian rhythm (Blume et al., 2023). More research is needed to understand the role light colors play in sleep.

There are individual differences in how people react to the content of what they are watching on their screens. For some, this delays falling asleep, but for others it does not. For some, the content may be either so stimulating or stressful that it keeps the person aroused long after it is shut off. Or a person may be so engrossed in the content that they don’t have the willpower to shut it off when it’s time for bed. Bedtime displacement is a concept coined by Yan Van den Bulk (Exelmans & Van den Bulck, 2017), that describes when a person doesn’t necessarily intend to use technology in the hour before bed. They may lose track of time, get caught up in it, have a hard time turning it off and push back bedtime well beyond what they intended and then have to deal with the consequences in the morning. Some people are more susceptible to procrastinating turning off devices at bedtime while others are more disciplined. 

Furthermore, your level of engagement with the content may also be a factor. If what you're looking at is so arousing that it's hard to put down, then you may find that your screen is indeed revving up your mind in a way that makes it harder for you to fall asleep. For example, a cliffhanger that drives you to watch the next episode or a social media binge that felt like 10 minutes but was actually an hour. If you find yourself losing track of time on your device, try setting a nightly bedtime alarm and keeping to it. There are also individual differences in how the content of what you are watching affects sleep. For some, watching t.v. can be a way to relax and escape the pressures of the day. For others, if the content is stimulating or upsetting, it may disturb sleep. Be choosy about the content of what you watch in the evening and monitor how it affects you personally.

In summary, here’s how to best optimize your sleep regarding electronic devices: 1. On its own, your screen isn't likely to ruin your sleep, contrary to popular belief. 2. In the evening dim the lights in the house and on the screen, and turn the volume down. You can even download a lux meter app onto your phone to test the brightness of the lights in your environment. More importantly, expose yourself to lots of light during the day. 3. Choose a warm color or black and white setting for your device at night. . Consider your own personality type. Are you one who can easily shut off a program before it’s finished? Or do you tend to get sucked in and sacrifice sleep? Consider setting an alarm and adhering to a strict bedtime, and if devices are making that hard, it might be worth it to stay away from them in the evening. 

Episode 68 and Episode 70 of the Matt Walker Podcast are great resources if you’d like to learn more about this topic. Much of the information we included here on electronic devices was brought to us through Matt Walker’s podcast.

Short answer: If you believe that you are “built different” and don’t need that much sleep, you might be right. But from a statistical, genetic, and biological standpoint, you’re almost definitely wrong. 

Long answer: We all have that friend who takes pride in the fact that they can get by with a miniscule amount of sleep, say, three or four hours. Maybe that friend is you. However, there may be hidden costs, and this type of sleep schedule isn’t sustainable for the vast majority. It is true that some seem to get better quality of sleep in a shorter than average period of time. By studying families that have shorter sleep cycles, scientists have found a gene that is linked to sleeping less than 6.5 hours without any apparent ill effects (Shi, et al., 2019). However, there are more people who believe they have this genetic super power than there are people who actually have it, and most of us who seemingly get by with so few hours are only accumulating a sleep debt that is reducing productivity instead of increasing it. Studies have found that sleeping five to six hours a night results in 19% less productivity than people who sleep seven to eight hours a night. And sleeping only 5 hours reduces productivity by 29% (Yang et al., 2018).

Being sleep deprived affects the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for creating new memories. One of the main functions of sleep is to consolidate memories, and so a lack of sleep is going to cause cognitive impairments in this area. Insufficient sleep is also linked to reduced productivity, diminished awareness, less attention to detail, and lowered social proficiency. We encourage all our readers to change their mindset from “what more could I get done with less sleep?” to “what more could I get done with more sleep?”

We all have a genetically set preference for when we fall asleep and wake up. This is called chronotype. But when work, school and life schedules change (not to mention daylight savings shifts), it’s not uncommon to find yourself needing to wake up earlier than you’d like. Luckily, it is possible to adjust your body’s natural clock with some effort and time. If you want to change your sleep schedule, it’s best to change your sleep and wake time 15-30 minutes per day. As you change schedules, strictly maintain your planned wake time even if you struggle to fall asleep when planned.

• Small adjustments (1-2 hours shift): Can take a few days to a week if done gradually. 

• Larger shifts (4+ hours, like jet lag or night shift changes): May take one to three weeks to fully adapt.

• Factors that speed up reprogramming: Bright light exposure at the right times, melatonin supplementation, consistent sleep schedule, and avoiding light at inappropriate times.

• Factors that slow adaptation: Irregular schedules, inconsistent light exposure, and lifestyle habits like substance use or caffeine intake.

• Although most people have success reprogramming their sleep schedule in just over a week, but it’s best to only try to change it by a couple of hours (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 2005). 

Unfortunately, the hard work you do to reprogram your circadian rhythm can be undone in 1 to 3 nights if you return to your original, genetic sleep schedule. Use the tips in this module to gradually go to bed earlier and wake up consistently at the same time, even on weekends, to keep the new programming in place.

Try this sleep diary from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Wearable devices are also somewhat useful. They use body movement, pulse, and blood oxygen measures in an attempt to calculate sleep duration, nighttime waking, sleep quality, and your movement through the phases of sleep throughout the night. Typically, these watches and rings reliably track sleep duration and nighttime waking but provide far less valid measures of sleep quality and sleep stages. So take what they say with a grain of salt!

Short answer: As mentioned earlier in the module, the importance of good sleep for weight management is overlooked yet cannot be understated. Poor sleep disrupts hormones that regulate appetite, increasing hunger and fat storage while decreasing satiety. Just two days of sleep loss lowers leptin by 18%, raises ghrelin by 28%, and spikes endocannabinoid levels, making cravings for unhealthy foods stronger. Sleep deprivation also impairs insulin function, promotes fat storage, reduces motivation for exercise, and makes weight loss harder by increasing muscle loss while dieting. While diet and exercise are important for weight management, quality sleep is also crucial.

Long answer: Sleep quality and duration is rightly associated with overall health, therefore most people aren’t surprised to hear that their sleep also has a direct impact on their body weight. What does surprise people is the extent to which their sleep can affect their body weight. This topic was discussed in great detail by sleep scientist Dr. Matt Walker on his podcast (#15 Sleep and Weight Gain - Part 1; #16 Sleep and Weight Gain - Part 2, The Matt Walker Podcast). Here’s what he found:

Leptin and ghrelin are the body’s two main hormones for regulating appetite. When leptin goes up, appetite goes down, while the opposite is true of ghrelin. The levels of these two hormones are extremely sensitive to the amount of sleep you get, with leptin levels dropping 18% and ghrelin levels rising 28% as a consequence of four hours of sleep loss over two days (Spiegel et al., 2004). Further, your levels of endocannabinoids (naturally occurring chemicals in your body that increase appetite) skyrocket when you don’t get enough sleep. Additionally, poor sleep disrupts insulin function, promoting fat storage and increasing the risk of weight gain. Unfortunately, the additional calories that are burnt during the extra time spent awake don’t even come close to offsetting the excess calories that are consumed as a result of these changes in appetite. This means that not getting enough sleep causes measurable physical increases in your body’s drive to overeat. Basically, people with insufficient sleep gain weight, even though they’re only eating to satisfy what feels like their normal appetite. 

Further, sleep restriction appears to have a negative impact on our preference for unhealthy foods. In his Podcast, Dr. Matt Walker explains that sleep-restricted individuals experience a 33% increase in their drive to eat sugary foods, a 30% increase in their drive to eat heavy carbs, and a 45% increase in their drive to eat salty foods. Sleep deprivation also impairs decision-making, leading to poor and impulsive food choices and overeating. Obviously, insufficient sleep also contributes to a lack of willingness/motivation to engage in physical activity that would otherwise mediate weight gain.

Finally, insufficient sleep does not bode well for losing weight once you have gained it. Research has shown that cutting back on sleep reduced the amount of fat loss while dieting by 55% (3.1 lbs with 8.5 hours of sleep vs. 1.3 lbs with 5.5 hours). It also increased the loss of muscle and other fat-free body mass by 60% (3.3 lbs vs. 5.3 lbs). This was linked to changes in hormones, making people feel hungrier and causing the body to burn less fat (Nedeltcheva et al., 2010).

Are you starting to see why we believe that getting sleep that is sufficient in quality and quantity is essential for your wellbeing? Exercise and a healthy diet are wonderful solutions for addressing weight gain, but it is important to remember that improper sleep is also a strong mechanism in the frustrating cycle that perpetuates unhealthy weight gain. Consider breaking this cycle through improvements to your sleep.

A final note: if weight loss feels like an important goal to you, you may also be interested in the relationship between physical exercise and sleep. Basically, exercise improves sleep, good sleep improves your likelihood of exercising, and both can have a drastic effect on managing body weight. Sounds too good to be true? Check out our Physical Exercise activity at the end of the module. Finally, for all people wishing to improve their health, it is worth taking a look at our Body Appreciation mini-module here. 

Short answer: The best type of mattress or pillow for sleep ultimately comes down to personal preference. Although there are some factors that guide optimal mattress/pillow selection, nothing can replace proper sleep hygiene, sleep beliefs/attitudes, good bedroom environment, etc. 

Long answer: The pillow that is right for you depends on your sleep position. Generally a good pillow will be one that supports healthy neck and spine alignment. A back sleeper with a pillow that is too firm will have their head tilted forward and can close the airway during sleep. A side sleeper with a pillow not firm enough to hold up the head in alignment with the spine will experience neck fatigue. And throw the pillow in the dryer on high heat for a few minutes every month or so to kill dust mites that may cause allergies.

The mattress is responsible for temperature regulation, back alignment and pressure relief. Research shows that a medium firm mattress with adjustable inflation seems to be the best type of mattress for sleep quality and comfort for most people (Radwan et al., 2015). However, personal preference for softness, firmness, and temperature reigns. If you are waking up stiff and unrested, you might experiment with other options if they are available to you.

Just remember that there’s no amount of money you can spend on the world’s most advanced, “cutting edge” mattress technology that can be a replacement for healthy sleep habits. Your body needs sleep, and is often able to adapt to sleep well on whatever surface you find yourself on. One of the authors of this module, for example, spent several months sleeping on a thin foam pad while camping throughout the summer. To this day, he frequently sleeps on the ground in his bedroom because now, it simply feels better to him. So, before you drop thousands of dollars on the latest and greatest mattress tech, focus first on improving your sleep through sleep hygiene, sleep beliefs, etc. We go into great depth on these things in the final two sections of the module. 

Follow these recommendations as outlined in Optimizing Sleep for Night Shifts, by Mckenna and Wilkes (2018).

• Adopt a Consistent Schedule: Maintain a consistent sleep-wake schedule even on days off to help regulate the body's internal clock.

• Control Light Exposure: Minimize exposure to bright light by wearing dark shades when commuting home after a night shift and use blackout curtains to create a dark sleeping environment when sleeping during the day.

• Use Napping Strategically: Short naps (20-30 minutes) before a night shift can help boost alertness, while longer naps should be avoided to prevent interference with nighttime sleep.

• Manage Caffeine and Meals: When necessary, consume caffeine strategically during the first parts of the night shift to stay alert, but avoid taking it 6-10 hours leading up to bedtime if at all possible. 

• Eat your main meal before the shift with a smaller meal during the shift, but not within one hour of going to sleep for the day.

• Stay Active: Engage in regular physical activity to help regulate sleep patterns, but avoid vigorous exercise close to bedtime (1 hour).

• Follow standard sleep hygiene practices and cultivate healthy attitudes and beliefs about sleep, as outlined in the rest of this module.

• Limit Sleep Medications: Unless directed by a medical professional, minimize the use of sleep medications, as they can disrupt the natural sleep-wake cycle.

• Social Support: Seek support from family and friends to help with social adjustments and reduce stress related to night shift work.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to avoid every health risk involved with night shift work. Long-term night shift work is linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, obesity, type-2 diabetes, gastrointestinal problems, mental health disorders, and social strain. In fact, the CDC has designated nightshift work as a known carcinogen as evidence has mounted connecting cancer to working at night (CDC, 2021). Unfortunately, there will always be a demand for night shift workers. Wherever possible, however, it is recommended that people find daytime work or that they work the night shift only temporarily.

Short answer: There is not a single illicit substance that does not have a known, well-studied negative effect on sleep.

Long answer: Initial research on cannabis shows both possible benefits and drawbacks to sleep. Small doses of THC may be calming and induce sleep in the short run, while larger doses are connected to increased alertness or anxiety. Still, many use marijuana for sleep because THC induces drowsiness. It does so by increasing levels of adenosine and binding to CB1 receptors in the brain responsible for signaling sleep. Although your brain uses these mechanisms to fall asleep naturally, the artificial activation of these systems can have unintended consequences. When THC is used to induce sleep, it tends to suppress REM sleep, which is a phase of sleep that is vital for memory consolidation and emotional well-being, among other things. With continued use, sleep decreases in quality due to your body's need for REM sleep. Over time, your brain also begins to deactivate CB1 receptors, making it so you need more and more THC to get the same effect. 

When people go off of THC and try to sleep naturally, they often experience terrible sleep because the brain is no longer able to signal sleepiness on its own. Additionally, many experience a REM Sleep Rebound, which is when your body has a dramatic increase in REM sleep to compensate for the REM sleep that was lost while THC was being used. These two factors cause a "rebound effect" where the sleep problems that existed before the use of THC come back much worse than they were to begin with, driving people back to the use of marijuana and possibly perpetuating a cycle of addiction. 

Some studies suggest CBD, the non-psychoactive component of marijuana, aids in sleep and anxiety, while other research suggests it increases alertness (Shannon et al., 2019). In general, the research on CBD is mixed and highly inconclusive. Both THC and CBD may reduce the amount of time in REM sleep and habitual users of cannabis are more likely than non users to either over sleep (9 plus hours) or under sleep (less than 6 hours) (Kaul et al., 2021). Additionally, teenagers and young adults should avoid cannabis due to well known effects on the developing brain, as well as pregnant and nursing women. Talk to your doctor if you think cannabis may be a temporary solution for sleep issues.

Above, we use Marijuana as an example of how mind-altering substances can harm your sleep. Though we won’t go into detail on every drug out there, we will impart the following rule of thumb: if a mind-altering drug, especially illicit ones, has any stimulating or depressing/sedating effect, it will most likely damage your sleep, especially with continued use. 

Examples of psychoactive substances that are known to hurt your sleep include caffeine, nicotine, methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA (Ecstasy), LSD, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), PCP, heroin, synthetic opioids, prescription painkillers (when used illicitly), benzodiazepines (when used illicitly), barbiturates, cannabis (especially high-THC strains), GHB, and rohypnol. If you have any concerns quitting any substance, consult the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or dial 1-800-662-HELP.

Short answer: Many Americans consume alcohol daily and find it to be useful for getting to sleep. However, sedation cannot be mistaken for real sleep. The negative effect of alcohol on sleep architecture, night time awakenings, sleep quality, and other measures of sleep health. Avoid alcohol within 4 hours of sleep. 

Alcohol is a sedative and does help a person initially fall asleep by depressing the central nervous system. However, alcohol is far more harmful than it is helpful, especially when had in excess. Alcohol’s sedation is purely artificial and can result in something called rebound wakefulness when, after the alcohol has been metabolized, your body and mind regain the same level of arousal they had when you began to drink. This causes awakenings and a decrease in sleep quality. This effect is compounded by alcohol’s tendency to decrease REM sleep and increase light sleep, also known as “junk sleep.” Sleep is further disrupted by alcohol’s tendency to increase blood pressure, heart rate, urine production, temperature irregulation, and the chances of an airway obstruction. Even when alcohol doesn’t lead to a full-blown hangover, it reduces the quality and efficiency of sleep especially during the second half of the night and leaves a person tired the next day (Aldrich, 1998). To reduce the effects of alcohol on sleep, drink lightly and avoid drinking 4 hours before bedtime. If you have any concerns quitting any substance, consult the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or dial 1-800-662-HELP.

“I kept many bad habits I had picked up in college. I would stay up late with friends, often while drinking. The next day at work I would drink coffee all day to help keep me going. I ate meals whenever I could spare the time. As a result I wasn't sleeping regularly. I thought about taking sleeping pills, but I didn't like the possible side effects. So I decided to make changes in my behavior. I go to bed at about the same time every night, exercise after work 3 days a week, and limit how much alcohol and coffee I drink.” Alejandro, 25 y.o., healthwise.net

Short answer: Melatonin supplements do have specialized applications, but their benefits for most adults are dramatically overinflated. Discuss with a qualified, sleep-informed medical professional whether melatonin supplementation may be helpful for you, but generally avoid it.

Long answer: Your body is likely producing enough melatonin naturally to do its job. Melatonin, a hormone that signals sleepiness in response to low levels of light, is one of many neurotransmitters and hormones that contribute to the onset of sleep. The body begins producing melatonin at sunset and peaks about 7 hours later. Taking melatonin can be effective to help a person fall asleep faster, but experts recommend using it as a short term solution to adjust to a new time zone or schedule, or to aid in shift work, and not as a replacement for regular good sleep hygiene. Other than making you fall asleep 5 or so minutes faster, research has shown no additional benefits to sleep quality or duration. Any perceived benefits are likely attributable to the placebo effect. There is even some concern that melatonin supplementation may contribute to sleep fragmentation, strange or unusual dreams, and increased grogginess upon waking.

Further, melatonin is a supplement, and is therefore unregulated by the FDA. Unfortunately, this means that there can be unsafe variability in how much melatonin is actually being put into the supplement from brand to brand and even from pill to pill. One study found that some melatonin supplements contain only 87% of the recommended dose while others contained 478% of the recommended dose. They also found that individual pills from the same bottles could have similar levels of variability (Erland & Saxena, 2017). These findings are alarming and have led to concerns over the safety of taking melatonin as a supplement. 

To be very direct, melatonin supplements do not do for your sleep what most people believe they do. The kind of improvements to your sleep that you are looking for will be found in consistent changes to your behaviors and beliefs over the course of time. Still, if melatonin has been or feels like it could be useful, take 1 to 5 milligrams from a reputable brand about 30 minutes before bed, and consult with a doctor before giving it to children.

A bad night or bad week of sleep, it isn’t cause for alarm. Symptoms that occur 3 or more times per week for 3 months or longer indicate a chronic sleep issue. Lighter symptoms simply indicate areas for improvement or may be the result of a stressful life event that may be difficult to adjust to such as a divorce, a job loss, or the death of a loved one. Be patient with yourself and your body in these times.

The short answer is probably not! Memory consolidation (your ability to remember what you learn and experience) is a key function of sleep, and it happens especially during REM cycles. Interestingly, REM cycles grow in length as the night goes by. Your first REM cycles last between 5-15 minutes while REM cycles at the end of an 8-hour night of sleep can last up to 60 minutes (Patel et al. 2024). In essence, the majority of your memory-consolidation sleep happens during the second half of the night, which is the sleep you’re giving up if you choose to sleep less and study more. This may limit your brain’s opportunity to encode (store) everything you worked hard to study during the day. Unsurprisingly, sleep deprivation consistently yields poorer test results in experiments where people completed learning tasks, were sleep deprived, and then tested on what they had learned compared to those who were not sleep deprived (Newbury et al., 2021).