Insomnia

• Why Does Menopause Cause Insomnia?

  Menopause insomnia is trouble falling or staying asleep that starts or gets worse during the years around your final period. It is one of the most common symptoms of the change. Studies found that roughly 4 in 10 women after menopause, and about 1 in...

• Why You Wake Up at 3 a.m.: The Real Reasons Behind Early Morning Awakenings

  Waking up around 3 a.m. and staring at the ceiling is one of the most common sleep complaints. It is also one of the most misunderstood. Here is the key point. No study shows that 3 a.m. itself has special meaning. What research does show...

• Binge-Watching and Sleep: How “One More Episode” Costs You Rest, and How to Get It Back

  It is 11:40 p.m. The episode ends on a cliffhanger. A small countdown in the corner says the next one starts in five seconds. You tell yourself it is just one more. Two hours later, you are still awake, and your alarm is set for...

• Viral Sleep Game Teaches About Sleep Hygiene

  Most of my patients already know the sleep rules. Cut the late coffee. Put the phone down. Keep the room cool and dark. Then they go home and do the opposite, because nobody ever showed them what each habit actually costs them at 3 AM....

• White Noise vs. Brown Noise vs. Red Noise: What the Science Says About Sleep Sounds

  Brown noise and red noise are the same sound. That surprises most people. The bigger surprise is what recent research shows about colored noise and sleep: it can help in a noisy room, but it is not a free upgrade for everyone, and louder is...

• Does White Noise Help Sleep? Why Sleep Doctors Recommend It

  Some swear by their bedroom fan. Others have tried every sleep sound app and still wake at 3 a.m. when a car door slams. Here is the short answer. White noise can help you sleep, mostly when noise is the thing waking you up. It...

• What Is a Short Sleeper? Do They Really Not Feel Tired?

  Some people sleep 4 to 6 hours a night, wake up without an alarm, and feel great. No afternoon slump. No weekend lie-in. No triple espresso to get through the day. They are called natural short sleepers. They are real, but they are rare. Most...

• Orthosomnia: When Sleep Tracking Makes Your Sleep Worse

  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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• Overuse of Melatonin in the US

  Melatonin is a hormone your brain makes in the evening to tell your body that its getting closer to sleep time. In the US it is sold over the counter as a dietary supplement, and its use has exploded. Most people take it the wrong...