Getting enough sleep is important, but the timing of that sleep matters too. Going to bed and waking up at very different times from one day to the next can make it harder for your body to maintain a predictable rhythm. This can be especially noticeable on weekends, when sleeping much later than usual may …
Your sleep does not begin when you turn off the lights at night. The light you receive earlier in the day also helps your body keep track of when it should feel awake and when it should prepare for sleep. Morning light is one of the signals that helps regulate your circadian rhythm, the internal …
That familiar afternoon slump can arrive almost like clockwork. Your eyes feel heavy, your concentration starts to fade, and getting through the rest of the workday suddenly feels harder than it did a few hours earlier. For many people, some afternoon sleepiness is completely normal. Your circadian rhythm naturally includes a period of lower alertness …
Need a nap every day just to get through the day? A short nap can be a welcome reset when you are temporarily tired, helping you feel more alert, relaxed, and ready to keep going. But there is an important difference between choosing a nap because it feels helpful and feeling like you need one …
If your sleep keeps going wrong, it is tempting to focus on the last hour of the day. Maybe you need a better bedtime routine. Maybe you should stop using your phone. Maybe the room is too warm. Maybe you need to go to bed earlier. Those things can matter. But sleep does not begin …
Waking up with a headache after a restless night can feel like one more consequence of not getting enough sleep. But the relationship between sleep and headaches is more complicated than that. Poor or disrupted sleep can make headaches more likely, particularly for people with migraine. At the same time, a morning headache can sometimes …
A spicy dinner does not automatically mean a bad night of sleep. For some people, though, the problem may show up after the heat has faded. Capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their heat, can affect the digestive system. If spicy food leaves you with heartburn, stomach discomfort, or a need to use the …
What you eat and drink in the evening can affect more than your appetite. Certain choices may make it harder to feel sleepy, leave you uncomfortable in bed, or disrupt sleep after you have already drifted off. That does not mean you need a strict list of foods to avoid. Timing, portion size, and your …
After a poor night of sleep, you may notice something that feels surprisingly hard to explain: you are hungrier than usual, snack more often, or suddenly want foods you normally would not think about. That is not simply a matter of willpower. Sleep affects the systems involved in hunger, fullness, and food reward. And when …
You can feel tired all evening, start getting ready for bed, and then suddenly feel completely awake the moment your head hits the pillow. It can be confusing, especially when you were sure you were ready to sleep just minutes earlier. Sometimes the problem is not that your body has lost its ability to sleep. …
