The top questions people ask about sleepand how to answer them

Reviewed by Jennifer Martin, PhD

Google hears well-nigh everyone’s sleep problems, at all hours of the night.

And chances are, if BILLIONS of people are wondering why they can’t sleep, why they alimony waking up at night, what they can do to fall unconsciousness faster, and how long they should be sleeping, your clients are wondering, too.

In this article, we’re going to imbricate everything you need to know well-nigh the sleep problems your clients are likely to struggle with the most, withal with science-supported practices that can help.

In this article, we’ll try to requite you some resources to do that.

If you want, read the pursuit Q and As from top to bottom. Or, just jump to the ones that interest you the most:

Question #1. Why can’t I sleep?

Question #2. Why do I alimony waking up at night?

Question #3. How much sleep do I need?

Question #4. Why do we sleep?

Question #5. What’s the weightier way to track sleep?

Let’s start with the top sleep question people type into Google—likely bleary-eyed, at 3 am…

Why can’t I sleep?

Technically, everyone can sleep. Stay awake long unbearable and sleep will veritably find you. Our sleep momentum is built into our biology.

So when someone types “why can’t I sleep?” into Google, what they’re really asking is:

“Why does it take so long for me to fall asleep?”

Usually, one of the pursuit is going on, says Chris Winter, MD, tragedian of The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child, and co-author of Precision Nutrition’s Sleep, Stress Management, and Recovery Coaching Certification.

Answer #1: You have uneasiness over not stuff worldly-wise to sleep.

Here’s a worldwide scenario:

You go to bed at your usual time.

Twenty minutes go by. Then an hour. Blink. Blink. Still awake.

As you toss and turn, you think things like, “Ugh, again? WHY?! Tomorrow‘s going to be a disaster! I NEED to sleep… NOW!”

Naturally, those thoughts lead to anxiety, and trigger the release of smart-ass chemicals that alimony you zestful and (gulp) awake.

To unravel this maddening cycle, write and reframe the underlying thoughts and emotions. You’ll likely discover you have some unhelpful and maybe plane unrealistic beliefs well-nigh sleep.

Rather than berating yourself for not sleeping, consider gently reminding yourself that…

You’ll fall unconsciousness eventually. Like we said earlier, all humans have an innate momentum and topics for sleep.

You’re likely getting increasingly sleep than you realize. According to Dr. Winter, most people aren’t enlightened of their lightest sleep phases. They think they’ve spent most of the night awake when, in fact, they slept several hours.

Occasional sleep loss is normal. Expressly during times of excitement, anticipation, change, or stress. For most, this is a temporary phase. Trust that your sleep will recalibrate eventually.

(For increasingly ideas on how to unravel self-ruling from sleep uneasiness read: How to Sleep Largest When Nothing Helps You Sleep Better)

Answer #2: You have an afternoon coffee habit.

Caffeine blocks the function of adenosine, a neurochemical that makes you sleepy.

But that doesn’t midpoint you have to requite up caffeine entirely.

Some people find that wearing back—say, having just one espresso shot instead of two—ameliorates their sleep issues.

Other clients have told us that they’re okay if they have caffeine surpassing noon, but not after.

Answer #3: You sleep in.

It takes well-nigh 16 hours of wakefulness for unbearable adenosine to build up in your smart-ass to nudge you into slumber.

So, waking up later ways you probably won’t finger sleepy until later.

(In other words, do the math: Sleeping in until 10 am might midpoint that your smart-ass isn’t ready to rest until well-nigh 2 am.)

It’s tempting to alimony hitting snooze, expressly if you slept crummy the night before, but do your weightier to get out of bed at a reasonable time, and you’ll set yourself up largest for a reasonable bedtime.

Answer #4. You don’t get much sunlight, expressly in the mornings.

Most organisms, including humans, have evolved to organize their physiological processes in response to light and dark.

Morning sunlight in particular seems to help set the body’s quotidian rhythm, helping you finger tired when it gets visionless in the evening.

Try to get 10 to 20 minutes of sunlight within two hours of waking up. (And yes, overcast days still count!)

Answer #5. You snuggle up to screens in the evening.

Melatonin increases sleep momentum as night approaches, but it requires relative darkness to do its work.

Light from phones, tablets, televisions—also known as undecorous light—and plane overhead incandescent lighting can disrupt this sleep-promoting hormone, making sleep elusive.

As the sun begins to lower, lower the lighting in your house too. If you can, limit screen time expressly in the hour surpassing bedtime.

5 evergreen strategies to modernize sleep

Sleep hacks come and go, but these five principles of good sleep are nearly universally recommended by sleep experts and good sleepers alike:

1. Alimony your sleep-wake schedule consistent.

Wake at roughly the same time each day (including weekends) and hit the sack virtually the same time each evening.

2. Use a pre-sleep ritual.

About 30 to 60 minutes surpassing going to bed, get into wind-down mode. Turn off screens. Dim the lights. Relax with a bath, stretching, or time with a book. By doing the same behaviors each evening, you’ll train your smart-ass to know it’s bedtime.

3. Stave high-fat, high-calorie evening meals.

Consume moderately sized meals no later than 3 hours surpassing bedtime. Eat meals higher in carbohydrates and protein rather than high-fat meals, which can worsen sleep quality in some people.

4. Stave energizing exercise in the evening.

Schedule weight lifting and intense cardio older in the day. Closer to bedtime, opt for calming, gentle movements like walking or slow yoga.

5. Alimony your room dark.

If possible, make your bedroom as visionless as possible or consider wearing a sleep mask. That way, you reduce interference from street lights or other lights in your environment, which can inhibit melatonin.

(For increasingly science-based translating to get increasingly rest, read: How to Sleep Better: Your 14-Day Plan for Largest Rest)

Why can’t I sleep through the night?

Lots of people wake at night—and Dr. Winter wants to tell you it’s no big deal.

Here are a couple of scenarios that often distress people, but are unquestionably totally normal:

Early waking: You’re wide awake at 5 am, a full two hours surpassing your alarm. Plane though you think you should be sleeping longer, your smart-ass might be fully recharged and ready to slay your day.

Biphasic sleep: You sleep for several hours, then wake and finger zestful for 45 minutes or so, and then go when to sleep for several increasingly hours. If that’s you, waif any uneasiness over your mid-night waking; just seem it’s normal, read for a little bit, then let yourself fall when unconsciousness when you’re ready.

For both of the whilom situations, if you finger rested and zestful during the day, there’s no true sleep problem, says Dr. Winter.

On the other hand, if it seems as if no value of sleep will fix how tired you feel, consider whether any of the worldwide offenders might be interfering with your worthiness to sleep through the night.

What Wakes People During the Night

If you’re someone who has trouble falling unconsciousness then without you’ve woken up in the middle of the night, it might help to prevent disruptions from happening in the first place.

Take a squint at the pursuit list of worldwide nighttime troublemakers, and see where you have tenancy modifying or lamister them:

Alcohol: Having a stirrup (or two) often helps people finger increasingly relaxed—and maybe plane fall unconsciousness faster. But as swig metabolizes, your soul experiences “rebound” arousal, causing a fitful sleep.¹

Caffeine: As mentioned, caffeine blocks the function of adenosine, a neurochemical that makes you sleepy. Try to stave caffeine—not just coffee, but caffeinated soda, too—a minimum of six hours surpassing bedtime.

Intense evening exercise: A natural effect of intense exercise is an increase in cortisol, a hormone that makes us finger alert. Some people find that if they exercise vigorously too late in the evening, they still finger “pumped up” when it’s time to sleep.

Sedentary lifestyle: Research shows that people who are chronically deprived of physical worriedness are increasingly likely to struggle with insomnia.² This can create a vicious cycle, considering if you’ve slept poorly the night before, you might be inclined to stay in bed or on the hovel the next day. Plane if you’re tired, get your steps in. One study showed sleep quality was largest in those who walked more.³

Smoking cigarettes: Nicotine is a stimulant. So, much in the way that caffeine can jangle your nerves too tropical to bed, so can cigarettes (or vaping).

Drinking liquids too tropical to bed: Have a recurring dream where you’re running virtually trying to find a bathroom, and every stall is locked? Stave drinking liquids two to three hours surpassing bed, and you’ll be less likely to be tormented in the middle of the night with a full bladder.

Snoring spouse: Snoring isn’t grounds for divorce, but it’s definitely grounds for investing in a good pair of earplugs. Or maybe separate bedrooms. (And if your spouse sounds like a lawnmower, get them to ask their doc well-nigh it. Snoring is a worldwide sign of sleep apnea.)

Pets and children: Co-sleeping with pets or children sounds cozy, but if it’s disrupting your sleep, it might not be worth it. Set Rover up with a dog bed (maybe in a separate room). If kids alimony coming into your bed at night, uncomplicatedly walk them when to their room, and tuck them in. With consistency, most kids (and pets) learn to sleep on their own.

In wing to the above, talk to your doctor well-nigh your sleep. It might be worth getting screened for sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and other conditions that disturb sleep.

How much sleep do I need?

On average, most people need somewhere between seven and nine hours of sleep each night.

But that’s an average, not a good-health edict.

“There are people who require slightly increasingly and slightly less sleep,” says Dr. Winter. Above- and below-average sleepers fall into three main categories:

Natural short sleepers finger spunky and clear-headed with just six or seven hours of shuteye.

Natural long sleepers need 10 or increasingly hours in order to finger refreshed.

Children, teenagers, and many young adults need increasingly sleep for their developing persons and brains.

Meanwhile, others sleep 14, 17, 24 or increasingly hours with very little interruption—and still wake feeling tired.

“If you’re one of these people, it might be an indication that there is something wrong with your sleep quality, not necessarily the quantity,” Dr. Winter says.

For example, sleep disorders like sleep apnea can disrupt sleep, causing people to sleep increasingly hours and still wake feeling unrefreshed. These disorders require medical treatment, so mention any concerns to your doctor.

Why do we sleep?

Researchers haven’t figured out exactly what sleep does, but there’s one thing they’re sure of:

Sleep is important.

Every physiological process, in some way, is regulated or influenced by sleep.

Getting unbearable good-quality sleep:

Improves your mood and your worthiness to manage your emotions
Makes you less impulsive (which helps you make largest decisions)
Helps you learn and remember
Improves thinking, concentration, and attention
Keeps your brain healthy
Helps you regulate your appetite, plus preserve and repair valuable lean tissue like muscle and bone
Regulates thoroughbred sugar and lipids like cholesterol and triglycerides

What’s the weightier way to track sleep?

If you spend time reading Precision Nutrition’s content, you’ll see we’re funny well-nigh the word “best.”

That’s considering the BEST translating for any one person depends on their sex, age, genetics, lifestyle, preferences, and an variety of other factors.

This “no best” philosophy applies to diets, stress management techniques, exercise, and, yes, plane sleep trackers.

Because there’s no one “best” way to track sleep, it’s largest to simply present clients with options. Then, they can decide on the weightier approach—for them.

Below we’ve listed some of those options, starting with the least expensive.

Sleep tracking option #1: The sleep diary

For well-nigh a month, get your vendee to track:

What time they flipped off the lights at night
What time they got up in the morning
Whether they woke up in the middle of the night
If they napped during the day (and if so, for how long)

On top of that, get them to alimony notes on how they finger during the day, expressly during low-stress activities such as watching television or reading.

Do they finger alert? Or ready to snooze whenever they stop moving?

At the end of the month, squint over the log together and see if you can spot any patterns. (For example, does a daytime nap seem to increase the likelihood of having a disrupted sleep at night? Or not?)

If a vendee often feels spunky during the day, that’s a good sign they’re getting all the sleep they need.

On the other hand, if they’re nodding off during dinner, try prioritizing sleep until they’re getting seven to eight quality hours per night.

If your vendee is unceasingly struggling to fall or stay asleep—and they finger zombie-like during the day—encourage them to mention it to their doctor.

Sleep tracking option #2: Commercial sleep trackers

At-home devices aren’t unchangingly as precise as many manufacturers claim.

While technologies are improving significantly, and some devices and apps are largest than others, many of them just aren’t very well-judged when it comes to precisely monitoring specific stages of sleep.

They are, however, pretty good well-nigh telling you how long you slept. These trackers are expressly helpful for…

People struggling with insomnia

Most people aren’t enlightened of their lightest sleep phases. They think they’ve spent most of the night tossing when, in fact, they slept several hours.

As a result, these devices can often help folks with insomnia realize that they’re getting increasingly sleep than they realize.

Anyone who’s experimenting with a new sleep strategy

Whether you’re using a white noise machine or turning lanugo your thermostat a few degrees, these devices can help you see whether the tactic unquestionably led to improved sleep.

On the downside, monitoring can make some people increasingly yellow-eyed or obsessive well-nigh their sleep… which ways they get plane worse sleep.

(Read increasingly well-nigh tracking health metrics and anxiety: Are Fitness Trackers Worth It?)

Sleep tracking option #3: Sleep studies

Requested by a physician, a sleep study can help your doctor determine whether you have a health problem that’s interfering with sleep.

Home-based sleep studies are an wieldy and relatively inexpensive way for physicians to test for sleep apnea, when zoetic repeatedly stops and starts during the night.

To diagnose other health conditions, your physician may ask you to spend a night in a sleep lab.

How to help sleepless clients

As you might have learned from personal experience, if you tell clients well-nigh all of the horrible things that will happen if they don’t get increasingly sleep, their sleep will likely get worse.

(Thanks, sleep anxiety.)

Another losing strategy: Pushing the same so-called magical sleep protocol on everyone.

Truth is, no ONE practice will help every single client.

That’s why, to truly goody your clients, we recommend experimenting.

Talk well-nigh a wide range of possible changes and how they might help

Ask, “What are you willing to try?” Then pick 1-2 deportment they’re ready, willing, and worldly-wise to commit to for a period of time (two weeks is a good frame)

Gather data over time. Then ask: Is this making your sleep better? Worse? The same?

Use what you learn from the whilom process to iterate. Eventually, your vendee will discover the set of practices that works best—for them.