People who compensated for sleep deprivation with catch-up sleep did not have an increased risk of mortality. People who consistently slept too little without ever making it up did

<p>Sleep improvement is rarely a dramatic overnight transformation. More often, it begins with quieter changes: less dread at bedtime, fewer anxious thoughts at

Chronic insomniacs are treated harshly in the media. We’re told that six hours of sleep damages the brain, weakens the immune system, and causes the heart to fail. That the risk of depression increases. And yet, some people still make it to 95 just fine

People with insomnia have a specific tension profile, in which sleep-related and anxiety-related forms weigh most heavily. This explains why insomnia can be so persistent

A forty percent higher risk of dementia. Brains that function as if they are four years older. These are the figures from a study involving more than 2,700 adults with chronic insomnia

When you’re under pressure your body enters a state of alertness. The stress hormone cortisol keeps you vigilant. That’s useful in urgent situations, but the brain doesn’t distinguish between a caregiving task tomorrow morning and a lion around the corner. Under stress, the body remains in a heightened state of readiness, which prevents proper recovery during sleep. As a result, you either don’t get enough sleep or the quality of your sleep declines.

On TikTok and Instagram, it’s showing up more and more: people showering in the dark shortly before bedtime. Just warm, running water and darkness. They claim that dark showering helps them fall asleep faster. Is that true?

If you think you sleep poorly because your father or mother did too, and that it’s simply “in your DNA,” some nuance is needed. Predisposition explains why you may be more vulnerable. It doesn’t necessarily explain why you’re sleeping poorly now or why it just isn’t improving.

During a scroll through social media, I notice how persistent certain sleep myths still are. I’ve listed four common ones.

A study by researchers from the University of Salzburg compares eight popular sleep trackers with polysomnography, the medical gold standard for sleep research. The findings are surprising.

A large observational study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, conducted among over 53,000 adults, shows that three small daily adjustments together can already make a noticeable difference for your heart

Various scientific studies confirm that listening to music before going to sleep can improve sleep. This is especially true for people with mild to moderate sleep problems.

The ‘Dutch Method’: A viral sleep trend that misses the science

Good sleep is rarely the result of luck. More often, it reflects a pattern of choices, signals, and rhythms that either support rest or quietly undermine it.

As long as your days are filled with obligations, your evenings will be filled with procrastination. That’s why simple solutions like putting your phone away or going to bed earlier rarely work.

The metaphor of the accelerator pedal and brake pedal is powerful because it provides insight. It shows that insomnia is not a lack of ability to sleep, but a disruption of balance. It’s something that arises when your system receives the right signals and nothing is standing in the way anymore

The next time your “smart” watch tells you that you only got 45 minutes of deep sleep or your sleep score has dropped below 70, take a moment to breathe calmly