Blue Light and Sleep: How Much Screens Really Matter, According to the Research
Blue light from screens can delay melatonin release and shift the body clock, but the effect of typical evening phone use is modest. Laboratory…
Read article
Blog Category
Sleep
Articles on sleep: insomnia, snoring, sleep apnea and the habits that help, with the symptoms that deserve a sleep study rather than another night of self-help.
Mattress Firmness and Back Pain: What the Evidence Says About Medium-Firm
The best-studied answer is medium-firm. In a randomized trial of 313 adults with chronic low back pain, people given a medium-firm mattress reported less…
Read article
Sleep Restriction Therapy: The Counterintuitive Insomnia Treatment That Works
Sleep restriction therapy is a structured part of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia that temporarily limits time in bed to roughly the hours a…
Read article
Sleep Positions Explained: Back, Side or Stomach: What Each Does to Breathing, Spine and Reflux
No single sleep position is best for everyone. Side sleeping suits most adults: it keeps the upper airway more open, reduces snoring and, on…
Read article
Exercise Before Bed: Does Evening Training Ruin Sleep? What the Trials Say
For most healthy adults, exercise before bed does not ruin sleep. Randomized trials show moderate evening workouts leave total sleep time and deep sleep…
Read article
Sleeping Too Much: When Long Sleep Is a Symptom Rather Than a Luxury
Sleeping too much is usually defined as regularly needing more than nine hours a night and still feeling unrefreshed. It can be a normal…
Read article
Cognitive Shuffling: The Fall-Asleep Trick Backed by a Small Study
Cognitive shuffling is a bedtime technique in which you picture a random series of unrelated, emotionally neutral objects, often by working through the letters…
Read article
The Military Sleep Method and 4-7-8 Breathing: Do the Viral Fall-Asleep Techniques Work?
The military sleep method and 4-7-8 breathing are relaxation routines that combine muscle release, slow breathing and calming imagery. They are low-risk and can…
Read article
The Best Temperature for Sleep: Why a Cooler Room Deepens Sleep
For most healthy adults the best temperature for sleep is roughly 60 to 67°F (about 15.5 to 19.5°C), with some guidance settling around 64…
Read article
How to Sleep Better: The 12 Evidence-Backed Habits, Ranked by How Much They Actually Help
To sleep better, keep the same wake time every day, get outdoor light within an hour of waking, use the bed only for sleep,…
Read article
Caffeine Half-Life: Why a 3 pm Coffee Is Still in Your Blood at Midnight
Caffeine half life is the time your body needs to clear half of a dose, about five hours in a typical healthy adult, with…
Read article
Sleep Score: What the Number Means and How Seriously to Take It
A sleep score is a proprietary estimate, usually on a 0-to-100 scale, that blends how long you slept, how restless you were, and sleep…
Read article
Sleep Cycles Explained: The 90-Minute Rhythm, the Stages and Why Waking Time Matters
A sleep cycle is one pass through the light, deep and REM stages of sleep, lasting roughly 90 to 120 minutes in adults, with…
Read article
Is 7 Hours of Sleep Enough? What the Research Says About the Minimum That Protects Health
For most healthy adults, yes: seven hours of actual sleep a night is the minimum that major sleep medicine and public health bodies recommend,…
Read article
What Causes Lack of Sleep? The Medical, Hormonal and Lifestyle Reasons, Sorted
Lack of sleep usually has more than one cause. Doctors sort them into medical conditions (pain, reflux, sleep apnea, restless legs, thyroid disease), mental…
Read article
How Much REM Sleep Do You Need? What the Numbers on Your Tracker Mean
Most healthy adults spend about 20 to 25 percent of the night in REM sleep, which works out to roughly 90 to 120 minutes…
Read article
Weighted Blankets: What Trials Show for Sleep and Anxiety-Related Restlessness
A weighted blanket applies gentle, evenly spread pressure across the body, and the best available evidence suggests it can modestly ease insomnia symptoms and…
Read article
Sleep Inertia: Why You Wake Up Groggy and How to Shorten It
Sleep inertia is the temporary grogginess, slowed thinking, and disorientation many people feel right after waking. It typically fades within 15 to 60 minutes,…
Read article