I first heard about the over dinner with my girlfriends. We were talking about the link between our high stress levels, sleepless nights鈥攚aking up at 2 a.m. randomly, then struggling to fall back asleep鈥攁nd, of course, our social media algorithms, bombarding us hourly with self-care content about nervous system regulation, high cortisol, and stress management.

One friend, a physician鈥檚 associate specializing in psychiatry with an integrative approach, mentioned that she had started sleeping better and meditating more after she began wearing an Oura Ring. I looked down at the sleek gold ring on her middle finger, seamlessly stacked with her other gold rings. As we all leaned in, intrigued by this little device, a soft green glow radiated against her tan skin. No more 2 a.m. wake-ups or end-of-day fatigue? Say less, goddess.

That night, lying in bed, I ordered mine.

How Does the Oura Ring Work?

The Oura Ring uses infrared and LED light to track biometrics, including heart rate, and provides daily scores for sleep, activity, and readiness. Its stress-tracking feature relies on several of these data points to measure four key states鈥攚hich it refers to as Restored, Relaxed, Engaged, and Stressed鈥攖o show how your body responds to life.

Within a few weeks, the ring builds a baseline to reveal long-term stress patterns. It includes data from sleep, exercise, and stress responses, giving you scores (on a 0-100 scale) in three key categories: Readiness, Sleep, and Activity. These scores help you see how well your body is coping and recovering. On average, for example, Oura users experience about 90 minutes in a 鈥淪tressed鈥� state each day. Not all stress is bad鈥攈ormetic stress, or , like cold plunging or exercise, counts toward this number as well. The algorithm then combines all your scores to rate your body鈥檚 resilience to stress. Resilience is measured as: Exceptional, Strong, Solid, Adequate, or Limited.

Like other smart devices, the Oura Ring tracks my steps, heart rate, and exertion. It also measures heart rate variability (HRV), which directly reflects how well my nervous system is functioning. Essentially, a higher HRV often indicates that your body is in a more relaxed and balanced state, while a lower HRV could suggest stress or a need for recovery.

The ring is linked to an app, allowing you to view all associated metrics at a glance on your phone. Remembering to charge another device can be a burden, but I appreciate that the battery replenishes quickly (20-80 minutes on a little ring holder), and it lasts me anywhere from 3 to 5 days before I need to recharge.

Though the price point鈥�$349, plus a year-long subscription of $70鈥攊s admittedly steep, the information and the options for leveraging it have proved priceless for me.

The Good and Bad of Tracking My Stress

Wellness became something of a game for me. How could I use this data to carve out more time for rest, even when my schedule was packed and stress levels were high? I worried the Oura Ring might disconnect me from listening to my body鈥檚 natural cues, but instead, it helped me tune in more deeply.

At first, I did feel a bit neurotic. I was constantly checking the app, as if someone had revealed an analysis that wasn鈥檛 meant for my eyes, like when you see the doctor taking notes during your appointment and wonder what she might be typing. Was this too much information? Constantly having access to a portrait of my health is something I still struggle with.

Another first response: seeing that I was physiologically stressed鈥攚hen I already felt stressed鈥攐nly stressed me out more.

Within a month, my ring collected enough data to accurately depict my stress鈥攁nd, wildly, I was spending three to four hours a day in a Stressed state. I was shocked. But when I started to dig a little deeper, it was validating鈥攁nd liberating. If you鈥檙e like me and my girlfriends, we always try to do it all. And I think I鈥檓 finding that while it鈥檚 possible to do everything I want to do, sometimes I need to slow down before pushing forward. This timeless pursuit is made infinitely easier with the help of my shiny new accessory.

As I began to integrate the tool into my life, I began to check the app less frequently, and began to view the ring as an ally in understanding my wellbeing. The data empowered me to better understand how I handle stress and guided me to incorporate more mindfulness into my life.

5 Ways the Oura Ring Helps Me Live More Mindfully

Here are some ways the Oura Ring has helped me slow down, increase my Restorative time, and improve my meditation, all while managing a full, vibrant, and creative life.

1. I Spend More Time 国产吃瓜黑料

I鈥檝e always known how much being out in nature, and especially sitting quietly near the sea, calms my nerves. This goes double for outdoor movement鈥攊t鈥檚 no wonder surfers get their fix or runners chase that high.

I began to notice that even small breaks throughout the day to breathe or move in nature caused my HRV levels to rise over time. Instead of rushing off to Pilates first thing on Monday morning, I started taking walks by the sea or through a park on my lunch break, leaving my phone behind to avoid distractions. The peaceful surroundings became my moving meditation.

Having hard data from the Oura Ring to confirm how beneficial this sacred time was validated my decision; being in a Relaxed or Restored state at the end of a walk helped my brain see the clear connection between my well-being and time spent in nature.

2. I Furthered My Unguided Meditation Practice

Finding stillness in solitude without a guide or a group can be difficult. The Oura Ring helped me stay accountable as I started to meditate daily with its 鈥淯nguided Session鈥� feature.

I began with just a few minutes of sitting quietly, finding a peaceful corner wherever I was, sometimes in the front seat of my car with the windows down, or even on the rooftop at work. The more I practiced, the easier it became to meditate for longer periods at a time.

Oura tracks your heart rate, HRV, and skin temperature during meditation, letting you see how your body has responded once the session is over. I love the little details it gives you: as you enter a more relaxed state, your skin temperature begins to increase. Tuning into the body鈥檚 signals during meditation helps prove its benefits in real time, which is highly motivating. It also helps boost my Resilience, as spending more time in a Restored state strengthens my body鈥檚 ability to handle stressors.

3. Data Helps Me Reflect and Tune In

My biggest fear about wearing a device all day was that I would begin to disconnect from my body鈥檚 natural cues. Initially, it was a very cerebral experience. But over time, I started to adjust to knowing so much about my physiological state. After the initial process of integration, real-time data actually enhanced both my intuitive and physical cues. After all, knowledge is power.

For example, I noticed that late-night meals and any caffeine after noon were consistently spiking my stress. Armed with this info, I made small changes, such as switching to green tea or avoiding big meals before bed, and saw an immediate difference in how I felt.

4. I Prioritize Rest

I used to feel guilty about taking time to do nothing. My friends and I always talk about how there鈥檚 a fine line between truly restorative rest days, where you engage in healthy yet relaxing activities, and the alternative: bed-rotting, where you just scroll through social media and snack all day. I鈥檓 a firm believer that each has its time and place, but the Oura Ring鈥檚 focus on restorative sleep and relaxation helped me rethink how I define my downtime.

I started creating small rituals to ensure I carved out time for rest, whether that meant taking a nap, journaling, or simply enjoying a quiet cup of tea. The ring tracked my recovery time, showing me that rest was just as valuable as work in maintaining a healthy balance. These 鈥渘othing鈥� days became essential for recharging, and I stopped seeing rest as a luxury and started treating it as a necessity.

5. I鈥檓 Getting Better Sleep

The most significant change I noticed was in my sleep. The Oura Ring helped me understand how important it is to shift from a Stressed or Engaged state to a Relaxed one before bedtime. Each morning, you can check the app on your phone and see a score out of 100 that rates your sleep quality based on multiple biometrics tracked during the night.

I love a late night and definitely still stay out late when it feels right, but I started getting home earlier to wind my sweet body down. The ring鈥檚 sleep-tracking feature revealed that the more I allowed my body to enter a Relaxed or Restored state before bed, the deeper my sleep became and the higher my Resilience was to whatever stress came my way.

Simple changes such as eating smaller meals (with little to no meat) earlier in the evening, cutting back on alcohol and caffeine, and lying in bed reading made the biggest difference for my body when trying to enter a Restorative state and raise my Resilience.

Now, when my friends and I get together, we nerd out on our Sleep Scores.

The Oura Ring has shown me how to better balance my life. I still experience stress and set a high bar for my productivity, but I鈥檓 starting to understand my stress more intimately and have more compassion for what I do to my body to accomplish what I want in life.

I still don鈥檛 feel great when I see that I have a low Resilience score, but I鈥檓 getting better at meditating regularly and resting efficiently, which are two ways I can have my own back. Collecting both the data and the tools to be more intentional around this feels pretty revolutionary.

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Getting rest can be a difficult endeavor. While the mind should be quieting down by the time your head hits the pillow, the opposite is often true: busy thoughts abound.听What needs to get done tomorrow? What cringey joke did you say earlier in that meeting? What are you doing with your life? When your mind starts to spiral, that鈥檚 the perfect time for a guided sleep .

Incorporating a guided meditation into your evening routine can help you access a calm state before you get in bed, leading to sounder and more restorative sleep.

A Step-by-Step Guided Meditation for Sleep

Settle In and Get Comfortable

First, lie down and gently close your eyes. Make a mental note of where you are鈥攁t this moment, place, and time.

Take a Whole-Body Scan

Begin to feel your body in this position. Feel your entire back body resting against or atop whatever surface you鈥檙e on. Feel the backs of your heels, the backs of the legs, the backs of the arms.

Now, begin to feel the whole front body as it sinks into the back body. Begin to let go of any doing, of any thinking. Remember, it鈥檚 OK if thoughts are still there鈥攋ust have the intention to observe them instead of engaging with them.

Release Any Tension

Release tightness in the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the knees, and the hips. The center of the navel, your lower back, your upper back, the center of your chest, your shoulders. Your arms, your wrists, your palms. Your fingers, your toes. The center of your throat. Just releasing tension.

Relax your jaw and all the muscles of your face. Your ears, your eyes.

Bring your attention and awareness to the space between your eyebrows. Relax your forehead, the back of the head, and the crown of the head.

Take a deep breath through your nose. Open your mouth and exhale, letting go of any tension or stress.

Embrace the Ease

Even if it鈥檚 just for this moment, feel your body in a state of complete ease, held by the ground under you, the sky above you, the air against your skin.

No doing, just resting.

Notice if your mind begins to wander off. Bring your attention back to the sensation of ease in your body.

Just Breathe

There鈥檚 no technique to the breath, just a simple rhythm of inhaling and exhaling.

Very gently, begin to deepen your breath. If you鈥檙e comfortable and want to stay here for a longer period of time, feel free to do so.

Come Back Before Sleep

As you come out of the practice, allow yourself to take your time. Very gently begin to wiggle your toes, wiggle your fingers, and slowly roll over to one side, holding yourself there for a moment.

Use your hands to press yourself up to a comfortable seated position, taking a few moments here.

Now, when you鈥檙e ready, blink your eyes open and come back to the space. You can turn off this guided meditation or even start it over and do it again. Whatever you need to access a rested state.

Want more of听国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 Health stories?听.

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There鈥檚 this old where an alarm buzzes at an ungodly hour of the morning. A man opens his eyes and says, 鈥淭ime to make the donuts,鈥� before dragging himself out of bed and to work in a haze. Those 30 seconds perfectly encapsulate how I feel most days鈥攚ake up groggy, work all day, fall into bed for a restless night of sleep. Rinse and repeat.

Recently, sleep has been anything but refreshing. I鈥檓 anxious when I crawl into bed. When I鈥檓 not well-rested, I鈥檓 useless the next day, fighting brain fog and an unproductive malaise. My mind spirals as I worry that I won鈥檛 be able to string together a few consecutive hours of sleep, making it hard to relax and actually fall asleep. When I wake up, my muscles and joints are cranky in a way that鈥檚 different from the aftermath of a good workout or even age.

According to a , more than half of Americans say they need more sleep, especially women. Most people in the poll also said they were stressed, which creates a vicious cycle, making it harder to sleep.

What Is Sleepmaxxing?

For anyone who has experienced a bad night of sleep鈥攐r a series of them鈥攖here鈥檚 a desperate feeling when you just want some shuteye. These days, people are trading simple bedtime routines for 鈥�,鈥� the trend of that have taken over social media and promise to maximize and optimize sleep.

There鈥檚 mouth tape to promote breathing through the nose, white noise and blue light blockers to minimize sleep-disrupting stimulus, supplements to spur melatonin production, and sleep wearables to track your sleep. There鈥檚 specialized pillows, sheets, and mattresses to create a bedroom haven. There鈥檚 a 鈥�,鈥� tart cherry juice swirled with magnesium powder and topped off with a splash of prebiotic soda or seltzer. Some influencers swear by an elaborate beauty routine, too.

The idea behind sleepmaxxing鈥攇etting sufficient, good quality sleep鈥攊sn鈥檛 new, says , assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine. 鈥淧eople are finally realizing the importance of a good night鈥檚 sleep. There are so many positive, downstream effects,鈥� she says, on physical health, mood, memory, cognitive function, and athletic performance.

Having covered health and fitness for over a decade, I knew a full night of sleep is crucial for my health and recovery from workouts. On average, I clocked seven hours of sleep, within the range recommended by the . But I always equated more sleep with good sleep, that the reason I didn鈥檛 feel refreshed in the morning was because I went to bed too late. Or, maybe my body just needed more zzzs now that I was older. Even though I knew I woke up more during the night than I used to鈥攁nd had a harder time falling back asleep once I did鈥擨 didn鈥檛 think about the quality of my sleep. I didn鈥檛 look forward to sleeping anymore because I anticipated a night of tossing and turning.

鈥淚f you wake up feeling tired鈥攏o matter how many hours of sleep you get鈥攖he problem is the quality of sleep. It鈥檚 analogous to leaving your favorite restaurant feeling hungry,鈥� says , clinical professor at Stanford University鈥檚 Sleep Medicine division and author of the book . 鈥淵ou want to optimize all of your sleep, the number of hours and quality. You want to go to bed feeling safe and comfortable.鈥�

Both Rao and Pelayo said that most of the practices鈥攍ike not eating or drinking close to bedtime, keeping the lights dim, using blackout curtains or an eye mask, keeping the room cool鈥攁re benign, but there鈥檚 no one-size-fits-all solution. 鈥淒oes everyone need melatonin or magnesium? I don鈥檛 think so,鈥� Rao says. And if your sleep doesn鈥檛 improve, see a board-certified sleep doctor.

I Tried Sleepmaxxing

Would sleepmaxxing help me finally get a restful night of sleep? I decided to go all-in on sleep for a month to find out. But first, I had to figure out what habits and conditions in my apartment might be interfering with my sleep.

The most obvious problem was my bedroom. It鈥檚 not necessarily a sanctuary conducive for sleep. I don鈥檛 have blackout or heavy curtains or blinds. Even in the dead of night, a good amount of light seeps in from the street. I also live off a busy street in New York City, and it鈥檚 not unusual to hear (and feel) the rumble of a truck nearby.

While I try to go to sleep at 10 P.M., when I actually kept track, I realized that my bedtime was all over the place. I partly blame my son, who鈥檚 a senior in high school and up late doing his homework, studying, or binging TV. Knowing that he鈥檚 leaving home soon, I want to stay up with him. When I do head to bed, I鈥檓 often on my phone, mindlessly scrolling social media or reading a book.

Caffeine doesn鈥檛 seem to be a problem. I drink coffee in the morning and sometimes black tea in the afternoon. I drink alcohol occasionally, but much less than I used to. But I do nap. I always have鈥攁 17-minute power nap when a bad headache makes it nearly impossible to work.

I knew that if I intended to stick with a sleepmaxxing routine for more than a week, I needed to keep it simple. To start, I committed to a consistent sleep-wake schedule鈥�10 P.M. to 6 A.M.鈥攖hat鈥檚 in line with my natural bedtime and rise time. While I could go to bed earlier in order to sleep more hours, my internal clock might not be ready, Rao says, and that could lead to lying in bed restless.

I cut out alcohol in the evenings, which have found to be associated with poor sleep quality. 鈥淎 lot of things can be sedating but they don鈥檛 promote a good night鈥檚 sleep,鈥� Pelayo says. 鈥淵ou may fall asleep faster initially after drinking alcohol, but you wake up more often during the night and don鈥檛 feel great the next day.鈥�

Instead, two hours before bed, I sipped on a sleepy girl mocktail. 鈥淭art cherries are a natural source of , a hormone that plays a critical role in regulating our sleep-wake cycle,鈥� says , a registered dietitian based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sulaver advises drinking the mocktail one to two hours before bed to allow time for melatonin levels to rise.

When it comes to magnesium, it promotes relaxation and is involved in the production of melatonin, according to Abby Chan, registered dietitian and co-owner of . has found a relationship between magnesium supplementation and sleep quality, but Chan warns that most studies are conducted with small populations and have mixed results.

An hour before bed, I closed my laptop and put away my phone, swapping scrolling for reading a physical book in bed with the lights dim.

Since I wasn’t going to install blackout curtains, the next best thing was an eye mask to block out the ambient light. While colder temperatures are technically better for sleeping, according to experts, winter in New York City has been chillier than usual this winter. I added a weighted blanket on top of a duvet, hoping that the extra warmth and weight would help me relax, let go, and snooze.

The first night, I couldn鈥檛 fall asleep. The combination of the eye mask and weighted blanket made me feel claustrophobic. Even after I got rid of both, I still woke up several times during the night. But by the third night, I started to settle into a routine. The mocktail was a nice replacement for an evening drink. I also noticed that my legs felt more relaxed instead of restless. 鈥淭he antioxidants in tart cherry juice can help with sore muscles and electrolytes help with a little extra hydration,鈥� Sulaver says.

The eye mask, however, was revelatory, once I got used to it. I fell asleep faster and didn鈥檛 wake up as often in the middle of the night. When I did, I fell back asleep easier because I wasn鈥檛 awakened by the light or tempted to check my phone.

When I woke up, I鈥檇 check my sleep stats in Apple Health and write down my sleep routine from the previous night and how I felt when I woke up. That鈥檚 when it got interesting.

In an effort to optimize my sleep, sleep became a problem I needed to fix. On mornings I woke up groggy, I began to overthink what I did 鈥渃orrectly鈥� and what I did 鈥渨rong.鈥� When I stayed up later than normal whether because I was catching up with a friend on the West Coast, had a glass of wine at dinner, or worked in the evening because of an impending deadline, I blamed myself for not following my sleep rules perfectly. When I realized that I 鈥渂roke the rules,鈥� I often said screw it and told myself that tonight didn鈥檛 count. I figured that I wasn鈥檛 going to sleep well anyways so why bother with the rest of my routine?

There鈥檚 a term for this obsession with perfect sleep: . In pursuit of perfection, people are over-relying on sleep wearables and data tracking, which in turn can cause more anxiety around sleep. A recent found that stressing about sleep before bedtime influenced total sleep time and insomnia symptoms.

But sleep isn鈥檛 a problem to be fixed or controlled. 鈥淪leeping is the ultimate in giving up control. It can鈥檛 be gamed,鈥� Pelayo says. Sleep isn鈥檛 always going to be perfect either. As humans, we have some flexibility in terms of our sleep needs. Sleep habits can also evolve as needed. Halfway through the month, some of the practices that worked well, like the eye mask, started to bother me.听 At first, I was nervous that sleeping without it would mean the return of multiple wakeups per night, but it didn鈥檛.

At the end of the month, my average nightly sleep increased about half an hour, but sleepmaxxing didn鈥檛 revolutionize my sleep. I still woke up many mornings not feeling 100 percent rested.

The experiment did make me think about sleep more purposefully. I don鈥檛 approach it haphazardly anymore, as something that just happens to me at the end of the day. Instead, intentionally preparing for sleep has created a buffer zone at the end of my day. I鈥檓 no longer rushing from work to dinner to helping my kids鈥� with homework straight to bed. It gives my body and mind time to unwind, and I鈥檝e noticed that I鈥檓 more relaxed and settled before bed.

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The 2022 Tour de France Femmes was decided in the Vosges mountains, during a brutal seventh stage with three category-one climbs. Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten attacked on the second climb, then opened up a four-minute gap on the final push of the day, a grueling 3,163-foot ascent of the Grand Ballon. It was the hardest day of the Tour, and with another mountain stage coming the next day, recovery was crucial. But with their legs fried, their cortisol levels soaring, and their nervous systems cranked in fight-or-flight mode, would the riders actually be able to sleep properly?

Surprisingly, the answer was yes鈥攐r at least, mostly. Nine of the Women鈥檚 Tour riders were wearing Whoop bands on their wrists; their data, which was published earlier this year in Sports Medicine鈥擮pen, showed that the riders got an average of 7.6 hours of sleep that night, compared with an overall average of 7.7 hours both before and after the Tour. They did, however, spend a little more time than usual in light sleep and less in restorative REM sleep. Whether that matters in any practical sense is the fundamental question confronting athletes, coaches, and sports scientists as they enter a new era of sleep tracking. The technology is better than ever; we just have to figure out what to do with it.

Tracking Sleep Stages Is Still a Challenge

Sleep is hardly a new biohack, but it has been a hot topic in performance circles ever since neuroscientist Matthew Walker鈥檚 2017 book Why We Sleep. The problem with first-generation sleep trackers, though, was that they relied on accelerometers and basically assumed that if you weren鈥檛 moving, you were asleep. The latest generation of devices is more sophisticated, adding heart-rate measurements and other physiological cues like breathing rate and skin temperature to refine their algorithms, and able to tell the differences between distinct sleep stages. As a result, says Charli Sargent, a sleep scientist at Central Queensland University in Australia and lead author of the Tour de France study, 鈥淭he whole world is becoming a sleep laboratory.鈥�

Companies like Apple, Garmin, Oura, Polar, and Whoop have gotten very good at detecting sleep. Compared with sleep-lab studies, where subjects are wired up to record brain and muscle activity, the latest consumer wearables were typically 86 to 89 percent accurate at determining whether a wearer was asleep or awake, Sargent and her colleagues found. Detecting individual sleep stages, on the other hand, is still a work in progress: the wearables only got it right 50 to 61 percent of the time.

The picture for athletes is more complex. Many of the new sleep-stage algorithms rely on heart-rate variability, or HRV, the subtle fluctuations in timing from one beat to the next. HRV changes with sleep stage, but it鈥檚 also influenced by vigorous exercise. Indeed, Sargent found that HRV was systematically lower after mountain stages in male Tour de France riders. Another new study, led by Marc Poulin of the University of Calgary, had a group of healthy volunteers do a hard interval workout in the early evening, then tracked their sleep with an HRV-based Polar watch as well as collecting gold-standard sleep-lab data. The good news: the accuracy of the sleep tracker was undiminished by the workout.

What Can Athletes Do with the Data?

Overall, then, wearable sleep trackers are already pretty good, and they will likely continue to improve. The next question鈥攖he really hard one鈥攊s what we should do with the data. If cyclists are getting less REM sleep after mountain stages, what should they do differently? 鈥淩ide easier鈥� isn鈥檛 useful advice; and it hardly seems like we need a fancy algorithm to give us the usual sleep-hygiene advice about bedtimes, alcohol, and electronics before bed.

For some people, simply having objective data about when to hit the hay and when to wake up might function as a useful reminder to cover these bases, in the same way a step tracker spurs you to get your 10,000 steps. Athletes might also be interested in seeing how their sleep changes at altitude, as an indicator of whether they鈥檝e acclimatized and are ready for hard workouts. And there may eventually be subtler insights: for example, preliminary data from Poulin鈥檚 lab in older adults suggests that those who don鈥檛 get enough deep sleep are more likely to develop cognitive problems years later. For now, the best approach is to establish a baseline and then look for changes, Sargent says. If you usually get 15 to 20 percent deep sleep and that changes to 10 to 15 percent, you should probably figure out why.

Against these putative benefits, you have to weigh the risks. Poor sleep is not always a problem that can be solved by trying harder and worrying more about it鈥攐r by collecting sleep-tracking data. 鈥淎nxiety related to sleep can be both a symptom and a cause of some types of sleep problems,鈥� Sargent acknowledges. The study that sticks in my mind, from Oxford University in 2018, involved giving subjects bogus feedback about whether they鈥檇 slept well or poorly. Those who were told that they鈥檇 slept poorly the night before reported feeling scattered, fatigued, and cranky. A little bit of data can be a dangerous thing, especially if its accuracy is questionable.

As for the mystery behind the surprising finding that Tour cyclists sleep just fine, thank you very much, even after the physiological disruption of brutal mountain stages, Sargent and her colleagues propose a disarmingly simple explanation. The cyclists prioritized sleep: they went to bed early and consistently, and gave themselves plenty of time there; ergo, they slept well. Earlier studies found that super-intense endurance exercise, especially when repeated day after day, led to diminished sleep鈥攂ut the new generation of athletes are on top of it. There will be plenty to learn in years to come from the new sleep-measurement techniques, combined with robust analytical approaches like machine learning and AI. 鈥淚 consider sleep to be the next frontier in physiology,鈥� Poulin says. But none of it matters if you鈥檙e not putting in your time in the sack.

For more Sweat Science, join me on听听补苍诲听, sign up for the听, and check out my book听.

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We all know that, in theory, we鈥檙e supposed to sleep a lot. After all, it , protects against injury, , , and all sorts of other wonderful things. But sometimes there鈥檚 a gap between theory and practice. Are champion athletes also champion sleepers? Or is good sleep in the 鈥渘ice to have鈥� rather than 鈥渘eed to have鈥� category for ascending the heights of athletic prowess?

A , from sports scientists at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee led by Travis Anderson, dives into the real-world sleep habits of more than 1,600 Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In the lead-up to the Tokyo Games in 2021, they filled out a questionnaire called the . The results offer insights into the typical sleep patterns for male versus female athletes, summer versus winter Olympians, and team versus individual sports. They also suggest that a surprising number of athletes aren鈥檛 sleeping as much or as well as they鈥檇 like.

In this age of ubiquitous self-tracking, you may wonder why they鈥檙e using a questionnaire rather than some form of objective sleep tracking. The simple answer is logistics: proper sleep studies are complicated and invasive. Even wearable tech devices would have been difficult to administer to 1,600 athletes scattered around the country, and their accuracy is questionable anyway. Moreover, imposing sleep tracking on athletes is a delicate proposition, and there鈥檚 a risk it can create anxiety and interfere with the sleep it鈥檚 supposed to measure. A few years ago, Charles Samuels, the sleep doctor who works with Canada鈥檚 Olympic teams, told me that the best way to assess how someone is sleeping is to ask them, 鈥淗ow are you sleeping?鈥�

The biggest result is that roughly 40 percent of the athletes were rated as having poor sleep based on their PSQI scores. The scores take into account factors like how long you typically sleep, how long it takes you to drift off, how often your sleep is disturbed, whether you take sleep medications, and so on. The results are in line with of Dutch Olympic athletes, which found that 41 percent were poor sleepers. Similarly, in 2021 pegged 52 percent of Olympians as poor sleepers.

One of the goals of the study was to provide normative values鈥攖hat is, to offer some context on what鈥檚 normal for hard-training athletes, as opposed to for the general population on whom the PSQI was first tested. The PSQI is scored out of 21, with higher scores indicating a greater number or greater severity of sleep problems. You鈥檙e classified as a poor sleeper if you score 5 or more. The average among U.S. Olympics was 4.3; a quarter scored above 6; 10 percent scored above 8; and 5 percent scored above 10. The highest single value was 16. (The lowest was zero, and boy do I envy those people!)

There are plenty of reasons athletes might have trouble sleeping. If you have a 6:00 A.M. training session, you鈥檙e going to have trouble getting all the sleep you might like. If you鈥檙e traveling frequently across time zones to get to races or training camps, that will cost you. If your legs are aching from hard training, or your mind is racing before or after a competition, you won鈥檛 sleep well. The survey results don鈥檛 tell us exactly what鈥檚 happening, but they suggest that someone who scores 5 or 6 on the PSQI, while officially classified as a 鈥減oor sleeper,鈥� is pretty typical for a serious athlete.

The main difference between this study and previous ones is that it has way more athletes, which makes it possible to slice and dice the data into subcategories. Most notably, despite typically going to bed a few minutes earlier, women had worse sleep quality: an average of 4.7 on the PSQI compared to 3.9 for men. That鈥檚 a pattern that has shown up in some but not all previous studies. Among the specific differences were that women were less likely to report falling asleep right away after going to bed, and more likely to report using sleep medications. is that the variation in sex hormones across the menstrual cycle might interfere with sleep, but this study doesn鈥檛 tell us anything about the mechanisms, and the authors point out that it鈥檚 not really clear whether the small differences observed have any practical relevance.

The only difference between summer and winter athletes was that the winter athletes went to bed later and got up later, perhaps because there鈥檚 less light in the morning during the winter. There were no differences between Olympic and Paralympic athletes, even though factors like disrupted circadian rhythms in visually impaired athletes might lead us to expect more problems for the Paralympians. Team-sport athletes got up earlier and had poorer sleep than individual-sport athletes, but that pattern clashes with some previous studies. Overall, I鈥檇 guess that all these sub-patterns are confounded by the huge variety of sports in the sample. Runners are probably like runners, regardless of sex or Paralympic classification; they鈥檙e not like platform divers.

One way of interpreting all this data is that sleep is a great untapped frontier. If 40 percent of athletes are poor sleepers, just imagine your edge if you can master it. The other interpretation is that sleep can鈥檛 be that important, if all these Olympians can鈥檛 get it right. I鈥檒l take a middle position, as is my wont. I think sleep is important for performance (not to mention for not feeling like crap all day). But I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 one of those quantities that rewards relentless self-optimization. 鈥淚f you get what you need,鈥� Charles Samuels told me, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 as good as it gets.鈥� Take your sleep habits seriously, but remember that if you still have some problems, you鈥檙e in very good鈥擮lympic-level, to be precise鈥攃ompany.

For more Sweat Science, join me on and , sign up for the , and check out my book .

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The post-long run nap鈥攕ome athletes love it, need it, and swear by it. Others complain it鈥檚 a necessary evil, that they actually feel worse after passing out on the couch. So which is it? Is an after-workout snooze optimal for recovery? Or is it only hindering your sleep schedule later in the evening?

We caught up with a few experts to gain clarity on the topic.

The Cause of Post-Run Sleepiness

This might feel like a 鈥渄uh鈥� moment, but there鈥檚 a lot of science behind why your muscles and overall psyche become tired after a long run. When you work out, your muscles are using adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a compound in the body used as a source of energy, to contract and flex. When you deplete ATP levels, your muscles don鈥檛 have enough of it to efficiently work and move, therefore bringing about something called 鈥�.鈥� This is a type of exhaustion that occurs due to changes in the muscles themselves.

A second type of tiredness you might feel after a long run is 鈥�,鈥� which occurs when overexertion changes the brain鈥檚 chemical balance. This slows the communication between the central nervous system and muscles, making you not only mentally exhausted, but inhibits your ability to transmit messages to your legs.

There鈥檚 also that points to the idea that feeling tired after exercising is the body鈥檚 way of protecting itself from burnout and injury. But further studies need to be conducted to prove that undoubtedly.

What the Experts Say

Tag along with marathon champion Hellen Obiri for 24 hours and you鈥檒l find that this Boston Marathon winner and Olympian takes several mandatory naps a day, mostly after her training sessions. But longtime running coach, Katie O鈥機onnor, says post-run nap opportunities aren鈥檛 prescribed often for her clients. Most of them are parents or people with hectic work schedules, so taking a couch siesta isn鈥檛 exactly realistic, though they wish it was.

鈥淚n my opinion, I think it just messes with your sleep schedule later on,鈥� O鈥機onnor says. 鈥淪o many people don鈥檛 get enough sleep at night as it is. The better rested you are before your long run, the less chance you鈥檒l need to have that post-run crash.鈥�

She adds that if someone has a peak run of 20 miles or more, or is exercising through extreme cold or hot weather, a nap might be necessary. After a big race, for example, O鈥機onnor is all for athletes sleeping as much as they can. But otherwise, she feels no one should feel so exhausted that they feel the need to crash. 鈥淭here are other ways to recover than a nap鈥攃ompression boots, cold or hot soaks, getting in a protein smoothie,鈥� O鈥機onnor says.

Clinical psychologist Shelby Harris not only specializes in behavioral sleep medicine, but she is a marathon runner herself. When asked if she participated in the ceremonial post-run nap, she says, 鈥淚 used to [nap] when I was a newer runner and had a long run of more than two hours. Now I鈥檓 more conditioned to it that I don鈥檛 feel the need to.鈥�

However, she鈥檚 not against taking a siesta after an afternoon out on the trails, confirming that a post-run nap can be a useful way for your body to recover and repair muscles, as well as boost energy.

Sleep specialist Chris Winter, host of the podcast, is more focused on differentiating between feeling sleepy and feeling fatigued. For example, he can鈥檛 ever remember a time where he worked with a marathon runner who couldn鈥檛 keep their eyes open at mile 18 because they were so tired.

鈥淎nother question is to ask yourself: Why do I feel the need to sleep after a run versus just resting?鈥� Winter says. 鈥淟ack of hydration, overtraining, age, illness鈥攖here are a lot of things that can impact the fatigue severity scale.鈥�

Sure, there鈥檚 a certain amount of exhaustion that鈥檚 expected after a tough workout, but sleep experts like Winter watch out for red flags like excessive lethargy, which can hinder an athlete鈥檚 performance. That鈥檚 when it鈥檚 important to look into potential chronic illness, nutritional deficiencies, depression, or something else.

Pros of the Post-Run Nap

Muscle recovery: Sleep triggers the , which are essential in stimulating protein synthesis, a process in which proteins are used to repair the tiny tears in muscles that accumulate during exercise.

Replenish glycogen: One of the best ways to restore glycogen is by eating enough carbs after exercising, but it鈥檚 also during sleep. The body constantly and naturally produces glycogen (as long as you鈥檙e properly fueled), so when you鈥檙e asleep and not expending energy, it has time to catch up on what it鈥檚 lost during the day.

Increased mental alertness: This one seems obvious, but while you sleep, your body both mentally and physically recharges by repairing muscle and tissue, strengthening memory consolidation, from the brain (thanks to the glymphatic system), and more.

Cons of the Post-Run Nap

Grogginess: Sometimes you feel less rested after your nap, and that鈥檚 due to something called “,” the transitional period from sleep to waking up. The brain produces while you鈥檙e sleeping, and when you wake up abruptly from a nap, it might not have time to stop sending those waves. This leads to grogginess, sleepiness, and confusion.

Disrupted sleep schedule: Napping can be a vicious cycle. You nap because you鈥檙e tired, but then you鈥檙e not tired later so you don鈥檛 sleep very well overnight. The next morning, you鈥檙e tired again, so you nap again, and the cycle continues. If you鈥檙e prone to insomnia, you might want to avoid naps for this reason.

Poor nap quality: show that the benefits of sleep are most noticeable when you are in a deep sleep, which isn鈥檛 always the case with a post-run nap. More likely than not, you鈥檙e crashing on a couch (which is usually less comfortable than a bed), and your core temperature and heart rate are high, making it difficult to relax into sleep.

To Snooze or Not to Snooze?

The answer to whether or not you鈥檒l want to partake in post-run shuteye is highly personal, but most sleep experts advise following a few nap guidelines:

1. Keep it consistent. Nap everyday at the same time for the same amount of time so your body becomes accustomed to it. This will reduce sleep inertia.
2. Don鈥檛 let it become a domino effect. If you sleep during the day, you鈥檒l most likely go to bed later than usual. This can often cause people to want to sleep late the next day, disrupting their whole schedule. No matter what, keep your morning wake-up time the same.
3. Hydrate and refuel beforehand. Don鈥檛 crash without first getting sufficient electrolytes, carbs, and protein. You may even find that you don鈥檛 feel so exhausted after drinking and eating.

Here鈥檚 the bottom line: With great naps come great responsibility. You don鈥檛 necessarily need to fight sleep after a long run, but be smart about it. If you finish up late in the afternoon, it might not make a ton of sense to take a nap since you鈥檙e so close to bedtime. In that case, you can grab a cup of coffee or take a cold plunge to stay awake. But in another scenario, where you have the afternoon to spend at your leisure, a 20-minute nap isn鈥檛 a big deal. Most importantly, if you feel like your exhaustion is out of control, seek out medical advice. Don鈥檛 sleep on taking care of your Zzzzs!

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If you鈥檙e looking for the shortest path to better sleep, Patrick McKeown suggests starting at your nose. The sleep and breathing expert has authored four books, including bestseller The Oxygen Advantage, which shows the link between good breathing, good sleep, and good performance. His new Oxygen Advantage app functions as a virtual breathing instructor, with hundreds of tips and exercises designed to help you take control of your breathing and sleep better.听

鈥淕etting good sleep is important in every aspect of our lives,鈥� McKeown says. 鈥淚t affects cognition, mood, productivity, recovery from exercise, and more.鈥�

Here are McKeown鈥檚 first sleep-strengthening steps to improve your waking performance. From there, check out a full 30 days of new tips for training well, eating well, living well, and feeling great. Lean into the daily guidance and grab a to provide your body with delicious fuel to crush your goals. Each week adds up to a unique routine according to a different expert, with advice on improving everything from muscles and mobility to your mental state.

Breathe Through Your Nose听

Multiple studies show a link between mouth breathing and poor sleep.

Nasal breathing enables you to spend more time in slow-wave deep sleep and less time in light sleep, but roughly half of the population breathes through their mouth while sleeping, according to McKeown. 鈥淗ow did you feel when you woke up this morning?鈥� McKeown asks. 鈥淒id you feel totally refreshed? Did you have energy throughout the day? That鈥檚 what it鈥檚 all about.鈥�

Create good nighttime habits by breathing through your nose during the day; how you breathe during wakefulness can affect how you breathe during sleep. Starting the path toward nasal breathing is as simple as paying attention to your breathing during the day and actively trying to breathe more often through your nose.

Don鈥檛 Sleep In on Weekends

This sounds like tough love, but sleeping an extra four hours on Saturday disrupts your sleep patterns and establishes bad sleep hygiene. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like jet lag,鈥� McKeown says. 鈥淚t throws off your schedule.鈥� You鈥檒l actually feel more refreshed if you skip your weekend slumberfest.

Establish a sleep/rise schedule and stick to it daily.

Skip the Midnight Snack鈥nd Beer

Do you have a treat-sneaking routine before bed? Or maybe you like a beer after dinner? If you鈥檙e having trouble sleeping, it鈥檚 time to refine the timing of your snacks. Grab a protein bar earlier in the evening to stave off those late-night munchies. Eating late at night affects sleep quality, says McKeown, and alcohol has been proven to make people more restless at night.听

鈥淎 lot of people, including myself, experience restless sleep if they eat too late, in theory because the body is metabolizing the food, which may affect sleep quality,鈥� McKeown says. 鈥淲e should wake up feeling hungry in the morning. After all, the word 鈥榖reakfast鈥� literally means 鈥榖reak the fast.鈥欌��

As bedtimes and dinner times vary, there鈥檚 no hard-and-fast rule about when you should stop eating, so spend some time experimenting on your own. Try not snacking after dinner and see if that improves your sleep quality.

Breathe to Relax

Calming down after a hectic day can be difficult, but slow, deep exhalations have been proven to activate the vagus nerve, which signals the brain to relax, enabling you to fall asleep easier. Try this simple breathing sequence to calm down before bedtime.

Slowly breathe in through your nose for several seconds, then exhale through your nose for several more seconds, slow and relaxed to the point where you begin to feel light air hunger鈥攖hat stimulates the vagus nerve, slows the heart rate, and activates the rest response. Repeat the process for 10 minutes.

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The internet is awash with anecdotes about high-powered CEOs touting their incredibly scant sleep schedules and early rise times. Pepsi鈥檚 former leader Indra Nooyi reportedly logs four hours of sleep a night. claim to need just six.

The thought of thriving on such little sleep鈥攁nd freeing up so many more hours of your day鈥� may sound tempting. But the reality is that the vast majority of us cannot function that way. Nor can you train yourself to need less shut-eye. A lot of people underestimate the amount of sleep their body ideally needs. And finding out how much you need may require some attention and experimentation.

How Much Sleep Do Humans Need?

Sleep scientists are in about adults needing at least seven hours of sleep per night for the best health outcomes. More specifically, adults aged 18 to 64 should get of sleep, and adults aged 65 and over should get seven to eight. published in Communications Biology found that older adults tended to make better and faster decisions, as well as have better working memory, when they got seven hours a night.

Despite all this evidence, there are plenty of people who claim to need or want fewer than seven hours of sleep. But often they confuse how much sleep they need for optimal functioning with how much sleep they just happen to be getting, says , an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University.

There are, of course, exceptions. 鈥淭here are some individuals who can operate at a very high level on only a handful of hours of sleep,鈥� says Scullin. Research shows there are a that cause people to be 鈥渟hort sleepers,鈥� meaning they are highly functioning on just six hours of sleep a night.

Why You May Struggle to Find the Hours to Sleep

If your bedroom is too bright, loud, uncomfortable, warm, cold, or crowded, it鈥檚 going to be difficult to get quality sleep, says , an applied economist who studies sleep. Sure, you might be waking up early. But that might be because your body just can鈥檛 stay asleep, not because you鈥檙e well-rested.

Schofield studies the behavioral economics of sleep, focusing in particular on working communities in India. In her work, she found that when it comes to sleep and productivity, there are factors beyond the need for rest that can change people鈥檚 perception of how much sleep they need, especially when it comes to time.

鈥淲hen you use time to sleep, you can’t use that time to do something else,鈥� Schofield says. And so for some, their perceived 鈥渙ptimal鈥� amount of sleep might be a shorter duration than what鈥檚 best for their health, simply because they can get more stuff done. It鈥檚 a cost-value trade-off that every population, regardless of nationality or socioeconomic status, has to consider, she says.

Calculating Your Optimal Amount of Sleep to Be Productive

To find out how much sleep your body requires for optimal focus and energy, Scullin says to make sure your sleep environment is comfortable, quiet, dark, and cool. Then, give yourself a lot of time to be in bed. Put your electronics away and don鈥檛 set an alarm. Simply lie down鈥攁nd let yourself fall asleep and wake up at a natural time. 鈥淚f you do that across one week, or maybe two weeks, then you’re eventually going to hone in on how much sleep your personal body actually needs,鈥� Scullin says.

From there, it鈥檚 time to adjust your habits for the better. 鈥淭he great news is, if you do increase your sleep, it’s pretty immediately rewarding,鈥� he says. Sure, you may feel a little drowsy as your body adjusts to all those extra hours, 鈥渂ut as you get into a healthier sleep pattern, you鈥檒l find your mood improves,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou’re probably even going to experience a happier outlook on life鈥攁nd that’s really fulfilling.鈥�

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It鈥檚 no secret: Getting consistent, quality sleep is a challenge. But according to published in Healthcare, the key to better rest could be as simple as kicking off your shoes thanks to the benefits of grounding.

In the study, researchers in Taiwan tested the effects of grounding鈥攁 practice of having direct contact with the earth by lying on the ground or walking barefoot鈥攐n a small group of adults with mild Alzheimer’s disease. They found that 30 minutes of grounding five times a week significantly improved the sleep quality of participants.

But it goes beyond sleep. Other studies cited grounding as a potential tool to reduce inflammation, improve your mood鈥攁nd even heal wounds. Why is the simple act of going barefoot outside so powerful?

The Benefits of Grounding

Our planet鈥檚 electrical charges interact with our own electrical systems when we come in contact with the ground, says Ga茅tan Chevalier, the director of The Earthing Institute. This exchange of electrons neutralizes the acids in our bodies, which can cause inflammation, osteoporosis, and even mood swings if left unneutralized, he says. Better sleep is just the result of a more efficient system.

鈥淲e鈥檙e like a rechargeable battery,鈥� says Chevalier, who holds a PhD in engineering physics. 鈥淲hen we ground regularly, we build a reserve of electrons that our body can use. When the body lacks electrons, it鈥檒l try to get them from another source that鈥檒l cause the least amount of damage possible, such as our bones.鈥�

published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine pointed toward reduced cortisol levels as a possible explanation for this unexpected correlation. Cortisol, known as the 鈥渟tress hormone,鈥� can cause insomnia and poor sleep. After sleeping for eight weeks on a grounding mattress pad鈥攁 mat made of conductive material that transfers electrons directly from the ground via a wire鈥攖he cortisol levels of participants were more in alignment with their circadian rhythm, the body’s natural sleep-wake clock.

However, there are some limitations to this research. Chevalier says that while grounding mats provide similar benefits, it鈥檚 not the same as making direct contact with the earth. And like the first study, the sample size was small, and the results weren’t enough to draw any major conclusions.

The Importance of Going Barefoot

Katy Bowman, a biomechanist and the author of the book Whole Body Barefoot, says going barefoot is critical for both our mental and physical health. Our evolution into daily footwear has resulted in sedentary, untrained feet, she says. While we may not think much of this complex network of muscles and tendons, our feet are actually meant to be as dexterous as our hands. Not regularly working this intricate system can lead to foot pain, as well as issues with our ankles, knees, hips, and back, she says.

When we walk sans shoes outside, we’re exerting more effort鈥攊n a good way. Our feet aren’t used to feeling what she calls 鈥渧itamin texture鈥� through sharp rocks, squishy grass, and rugged tree roots.

That doesn鈥檛 mean doing so is simple. There鈥檚 often a mental block to barefootedness. “Being outside is harder than being inside,” Bowman says. “We have a natural resistance to take our shoes off. Because when you do, you have to engage with the entire world. Attentional awareness ramps way up when you’re barefoot. It’s like an instant drop down into mindful behavior.”

The Mindful Connection

Just like yoga, meditation, and journaling, grounding is a mindful practice. Ronda Holman, a dental assistant, says she got into grounding as a way to release stress. According to both her Apple Watch (via the Pillow app) and her Oura Ring, there was a significant shift in her resting heart rate on the days she practiced grounding. While she鈥檚 hesitant to give it the credit for her newfound calm, she believes there鈥檚 something to it.

“It could just be the not doing anything,鈥� she says 鈥淭aking yourself out of a stressful environment, making you sit on the ground, and distracting you with the sounds of birds and leaves and wind.”

How to Practice Grounding for Sleep

The most alluring aspect of this practice is its simplicity. Unlike the usual strict rules for getting quality sleep, grounding requires little more than your bare feet and a willingness to expose them to the elements.

Currently, there isn鈥檛 any guidance on how long you need to spend touching the earth鈥攐r what kind of ground you need to be on. Grass, dirt, sand, and other natural surfaces are all acceptable choices. Clinton Ober’s claims that even unpainted concrete is also conductive enough for free electrons to pass through. (However, he says that asphalt, wood, and vinyl are not.)

If you live in a climate that doesn’t allow for a lot of shoeless outdoor time, an indoor option may be the next best thing. Grounding socks, mats, and even bedding sets are designed with conductive materials that can give you some similar benefits as walking outside, just for a higher price. While they鈥檙e a good alternative, always opt for direct earth contact when you can.

We still have a lot to learn about the benefits of grounding and the earth鈥檚 potential to put us to sleep. But at the very least, grounding is just another reason to get outside.

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Despite the fact that advice on how to sleep better is everywhere, it鈥檚 becoming more and more challenging鈥攏ot to mention frustrating鈥攖o find reliable information.

Social media, exaggerated product claims by brands, even doctors who lack education can perpetuate myths around sleep, says Pedram Navab, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, neurologist, sleep medicine specialist, and author of .

The alternative to falling for false assertions is familiarizing yourself with advice from experts who understand the science of sleep. The following insights will help ensure you don鈥檛 lose another night鈥檚 rest.

8 Sleep Myths (and the Science That Debunks Them)

1. You Shouldn鈥檛 Exercise Before You Go to Bed

Research has long supported the fact that exercise can improve your sleep quality. Although a single workout can bring positive results, the more regularly you work out, the more likely you are to sleep better.

Until recently, experts cautioned against exercising close to when you turn in for the night. Not anymore. 鈥淔or most people, exercising at night won鈥檛 get in the way of sleep,鈥� says Michael Grandner, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and lead scientific advisor to Sleep Reset, a personalized sleep program.

Proof lies in a that concluded evening exercise didn鈥檛 adversely affect quality of sleep in subjects. In fact, it seems to have improved it. The only exception were those who practiced high-intensity exercise, such as running or cycling, within an hour of trying to fall asleep. Many of these subjects reported experiencing difficulty falling asleep and poorer quality sleep.

If you鈥檙e a late-night exerciser and suspect exercise is messing with your rest, try working out earlier or lowering the intensity of your nighttime routine. You could even try or , or a hybrid yoga class that begins with a fast-paced sequence and slowly settles into long-held stretches known as .

2. It鈥檚 Only What You Do At Night That Matters

Yes, everyone knows that consuming caffeine and taking long naps can stifle sleepiness hours after the fact. But there are less obvious daytime behaviors that can influence your ability to fall asleep. Notably, stress. has shown us again and again that stress and sleep engage in a complicated relationship.

鈥淲e think 鈥業鈥檓 going to be up all day working and then I鈥檓 going to turn my life off,鈥� says , PsyD, a behavioral sleep medicine provider and sleep expert with Calm, the sleep and meditation app and mental health brand. 鈥淏ut as sleep informs the day, the day informs sleep.鈥� Harris suggests that you think of sleep on a 24-hour continuum as a reminder to 鈥減ay attention to all the ways you manage your physical and emotional health throughout the day, which in turn influences your ability to sleep.鈥�

She suggests getting outside to ensure adequate exposure to natural light, which can reset your circadian rhythm. Also, Harris says, taking brain breaks as needed or whatever else helps you be at a better baseline. One thing she regularly recommends is meditation.

鈥淲hen you meditate during the day, you cultivate a life of mindfulness and notice when your brain is talking so much, and you learn to bring it back,鈥� says Harris. 鈥淚t makes it easier for them to use meditation at night when the stakes seem higher. You can say, 鈥楴ope, not now, back on track.鈥欌��

3. Lying in Bed With Your Eyes Closed Counts

Technically, yes, lying in bed awake with your eyes closed constitutes rest. But it鈥檚 no substitute for sleep. Ironically, that well-intentioned behavior could actually set you up for continued sleep disruption.

According to Grandner, remaining in bed when you can鈥檛 sleep is the most common behavior that can turn short-term sleep issues into long-term insomnia. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e creating a wake association with the bed,鈥� says Grandner. This means your body and mind get used to not sleeping in bed, which can make falling asleep more stressful and keep you awake.

If you鈥檝e been lying awake for more than 20 minutes or are getting frustrated, get out of bed and do something relaxing, says Grandner. For instance, meditate or read a non-stimulating book in a dimly lit room. As soon as you start feeling tired, head back to bed. Resist the urge to look at any digital device while you鈥檙e up. The device could stimulate your mind too much to fall back asleep and the blue light could mess up your production of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone, according to the .

4. You Need 8 Hours of Sleep

For years, we were told that we needed eight hours of sleep. While it鈥檚 possible eight hours is what you need, not everybody requires that amount. Some may need a little more, some a little less, Harris says.

The confusion arose, says Harris, when the National Sleep Foundation recommended that adults log between seven and nine hours of sleep. But somehow that was misunderstood as a single-digit average that applied to everyone.

In fact, in terms of cognitive performance, less may actually be okay. A revealed that somewhere between 5.5 and 7.5 hours could do the trick, the sweet spot being 6.5 hours, Navab says.

5. There鈥檚 Nothing Wrong With Hitting the Snooze Button

You know the scenario. You hear the alarm clock go off in the morning and you slap the snooze button鈥ot just once, but twice, thrice, sometimes more. Although some of us might think it鈥檚 helpful to gradually awaken, science suggests that relying on the snooze button could mess up your sleep patterns in several ways.

First, relying on the snooze function interrupts your sleep cycle, only to start a new one that鈥檚 interrupted again. 鈥淭his can lead to sleep fragmentation, which may leave you feeling groggy and less refreshed after waking up,鈥� Navab says. This is known as , a state of grogginess and cognitive impairment that can linger after waking. Translation? Less productivity.

Plus, if you鈥檙e not consistent with your wake-up times, you could disrupt your body鈥檚 internal clock. As a result, you may have trouble falling asleep at night, Navab says. It could even lead to long-term sleep disorders.

Instead, set your alarm for the exact time that you want to get out of bed. Then鈥攖his demands some discipline鈥攔esist the urge to snooze. If necessary, place your alarm several feet from your bed so you have to actually get out of bed to turn it off.

6. You Can Make Up For Lost Sleep

Everyone knows someone who insists that when they skimp on sleep during the week, they can easily catch up on the weekend. If only this were true.

Sleep consists of different stages. Each fulfills a critical role. It鈥檚 the deep, or restorative, stage that is often sacrificed with diminished sleep. During this stage, your body literally restores itself at the cellular level by repairing damage to tissues, bolstering the immune system, and engaging in neural reorganization.

鈥淲hen you consistently deprive yourself of sleep, your body and brain experience a deficit in the amount of restorative sleep that鈥檚 required for optimal performance,鈥� says Navab. Those deficits accrue over time and can鈥檛 be reclaimed.

What鈥檚 more, when you try to make up for that sleep, you could make things worse. Your internal clock, also known as your circadian rhythm, is regulated by consistency in your sleep patterns. 鈥淎ttempting to regain lost sleep can disrupt this rhythm and make it more difficult to attain the benefits,鈥� says Navab.

So what do you do after a crappy night or two of tossing and turning? Take a nap. Navab considers daytime sleep to be productive and beneficial as long as you follow two rules: Schedule it for no later than 1 pm and nap for no longer than 30 minutes. Otherwise, you could disrupt your sleep later that night. If you鈥檙e a shift worker, take a nap before leaving for work.

7. You Can Train Your Body To Get By With (A Lot) Less Sleep

You can train your body to do incredible things. Climb a fourteener in Colorado. Hit a PR in a 10k. Nail in yoga class. But train it to get less sleep? In your dreams.

When researchers study sleep deprivation, they find that people feel like they鈥檙e adjusting to less sleep and report being less impaired, Grandner says. In reality, though, they鈥檙e functioning poorly, both physically and psychologically.

According to the , staying awake for 17 hours elicits the same effects as having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .05 percent (.08 percent BAC is when you鈥檙e legally impaired). That rises to .10 percent if you鈥檝e been awake for 24 hours.

鈥淏rain function and other effects of sleep loss continue to increase over time,鈥� says Grandner. 鈥淧eople may not notice anymore, though, because they start getting used to being impaired.鈥�

Also, without proper sleep, you鈥檙e more likely to gain weight, lack energy, develop high blood pressure and diabetes, be more prone to getting a cold or the flu as well as take longer to recover. And that鈥檚 the short list.

There鈥檚 no getting around it: You鈥檝e got to give your body the sleep it needs.

8. Slumbering With Your Four-Pawed Friend is Bad

According to the Center for Sleep Medicine, of pet owners let their cats or dogs bunk with them at night. Although experts have warned against this behavior for years, there may not be any substantiation for it. In fact, recent suggest co-sleeping with your pet may be less disruptive than sleeping alongside another human.

Navab says that for many of us, allowing a furry companion in bed can help relieve anxiety and promote relaxation. 鈥淧ets can potentially improve insomnia,鈥� he says, explaining that the nightly routine you create for your pet can help you establish a consistent bedtime routine for yourself, which promotes a 鈥渞obust homeostatic drive to sleep.鈥�

So permission granted鈥ort of. The results are highly individual, cautions Navab. If allergies (yours) or noisy and disruptive behavior (theirs) become an issue, you may need to try keeping them out of your sleeping quarters and see if your rest patterns change. As with humans, it seems not everyone will make an ideal nighttime companion.

About Our Contributor

is an award-winning journalist who specializes in health, fitness, nutrition, travel, and animals. She鈥檚 been widely published in numerous leading publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, O, Real Simple, Eating Well, Women鈥檚 Health, Prevention, and more. She鈥檚 also the author of , a certified personal trainer, and Nordic walking world record holder who spends her spare time rescuing and fostering dogs.

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