There's one single piece of advice that's universal amongst all sleep experts and researchers. It's to have a consistent bedtime and rising time. This can seem impossible in a culture where we essentially have control over the sun (our indoor lighting). Why does that matter? I'll share a few examples and you'll hopefully have a good laugh at how annoying it is for the human body to change up the schedule too often.

Once you sound the stress alarm bell, your body produces stress hormones to help you cope. One hormone, cortisol, is produced fresh with each stressful episode and it stays in your body until it is metabolized out. Excess cortisol disrupts sleep. Which results in daytime fatigue.

You feel tired when you want and need to be awake and you are awake during times you want to be asleep. Frustrating.

Sharing a bed with a loved one has benefits. Sleeping together can enhance your bond, your sleep, your health and your mood. It doesn’t always work out logistically. Snoring, restless legs, opposing sleep needs and bedtime routines can all hinder sound sleep.

Your brain has a program to run every night. There are consequences of cutting it short. You need enough of the five different kinds of sleep every night. Just like you need food, water, exercise, relationships, etc. every day.

Not all sleep is created equal. Just like not all components of cooking a meal are the same. Washing produce, chopping it, cooking it and serving the meal are the different (and necessary) stages that happen for a complete meal. Each stage of sleep has a purpose and role in sleep.

“There isn’t enough time for sleep”. I hear this. It’s a very real modern day barrier to getting enough sleep. It’s the number one barrier for exercise also.

There is so much to do. We are a busy species. Thankfully, research has examined this topic and can let us loose from this misconception. Sleep is worth our time.

Find out if I ate the cake my neighbor brought over to my house the other evening…

You don’t have to “fall behind” when the clocks change on Sunday. Anyone else show up an hour too early when you could have been sleeping in? Bummer!

Feeling groggy and “off” after the time change is to be expected.

We have been mislead. We misunderstand. But now we know...

7-9 hours is the “gold standard” recommended sleep for adults. The problem with this seemingly simple guideline is that some adults need all 9 hours. Not the bare minimum.

I often hear people say they don’t like sleeping too much because they feel groggy afterward.

What follows is often, “I don’t need a lot of sleep” or “See, too much sleep isn’t good for me”.

Too much sleep can be problematic, but only if it’s chronic over-sleep, like every single night for years.

There’s a misunderstanding of what your body is telling you with an acute episode of “too much sleep”.

Sleep has the potential to help people lose weight, but not just any sleep will do. It’s important to get an adequate amount of deep sleep every night, as it is the most restorative, providing both mental and physical recovery benefits, which supports the weight-loss journey.