You check your ring or watch first thing in the morning before you even sit up. The score says 62. Now you feel tired, even if you felt fine ten seconds ago. That reaction has a name. It is called orthosomnia, and it is becoming a real problem in sleep clinics. Sleep trackers have helped… Continue reading
Post Category → Insomnia
Do I Have Insomnia? How to Recognize the Signs and When to Get Help
You lie in bed. Your mind is running through tomorrow’s to-do list. An hour passes. Then two. You start to wonder if this counts as insomnia, or if you are just a light sleeper going through a rough patch. This question comes up in my clinic almost every week. Here is how to tell the… Continue reading
Why CBT-I Is the Best Treatment for Insomnia
If you have insomnia, you have probably been told to try sleep hygiene tips first. Cut caffeine. Dim the lights. Stick to a schedule. These things help a little, but they rarely fix chronic insomnia on their own. The treatment with the strongest evidence behind it is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, known as CBT-I…. Continue reading
Can Poor Sleep Raise Your Risk of Dementia? Here Is What the Research Shows
If you regularly sleep six hours or less a night in your 50s and 60s, your risk of developing dementia later in life goes up by roughly 30 percent. That number comes from a 25-year study of nearly 8,000 people, and it is one of the strongest signals we have that sleep is not just… Continue reading
How Many Hours of Sleep Does an Adult Need?
Most adults need at least 7 hours of sleep a night. That’s not a rough guess. It’s the conclusion of a joint consensus statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society (SRS), based on a review of more than 5,300 scientific studies. If you’re consistently sleeping less than that,… Continue reading
How Dust Storms Disrupt Your Sleep (And What You Can Do About It)
If you live in a region prone to haboobs, you already know the drill. The sky turns orange, visibility drops, and you shut your windows and wait it out. What you may not know is that the storm keeps affecting you long after the dust settles, especially at night. There are no studies yet that… Continue reading
Can You Trust Your Sleep Tracker? Here’s What the Research Actually Shows
You wake up, check your watch, and see a sleep score. Maybe it says you only got 12 minutes of deep sleep. Maybe it tells you your REM sleep was low. You start the day feeling like you failed at sleeping. Here’s the problem. That number might be wrong. Consumer sleep trackers and apps have… Continue reading
Sleep Changes During Menarche: What Every Teen and Parent Should Know
If your daughter suddenly can’t fall asleep, feels tired all day, or seems moodier than usual after her first period, it’s not just teenage behavior. Menarche changes your biology in ways that directly disrupt sleep. Why your sleep changes when your period starts Menarche is the first menstrual cycle. It marks the start of a… Continue reading
Overuse of Melatonin in the US
As a sleep physician, most of my clinical encounters involve patients asking about melatonin or already taking it to help them sleep. Almost none of them know the risks that come with it. There is a melatonin epidemic brewing in the US, and the numbers back that up. Melatonin use among US adults quintupled in… Continue reading