Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with the surrounding environment. While sleep differs from wakefulness in terms of the ability to react to stimuli, it still involves active brain patterns, making it more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness.
A sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder of an individual's sleep patterns. Some sleep disorders are severe enough to interfere with normal physical, mental, social and emotional functioning. Sleep disorders are frequent and can have serious consequences on patients' health and quality of life. Polysomnography and actigraphy are tests commonly ordered for diagnosing sleep disorders.
Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, irritability, and a depressed mood. It may result in an increased risk of accidents of all kinds as well as problems focusing and learning. Insomnia can be short term, lasting for days or weeks, or long term, lasting more than a month. The concept of the word insomnia has two possibilities: insomnia disorder (ID) and insomnia symptoms, and many abstracts of randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews often underreport on which of these two possibilities the word insomnia refers to.
Delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD), more often known as delayed sleep phase syndrome and also as delayed sleep–wake phase disorder, is the delaying of a person's circadian rhythm compared to those of societal norms. The disorder affects the timing of biological rhythms including sleep, peak period of alertness, core body temperature, and hormonal cycles.
A hypnic jerk, hypnagogic jerk, sleep start, sleep twitch, myoclonic jerk, or night start is a brief and sudden involuntary contraction of the muscles of the body which occurs when a person is beginning to fall asleep, often causing the person to jump and awaken suddenly for a moment. Hypnic jerks are one form of involuntary muscle twitches called myoclonus.
Sleep hygiene is a behavioral and environmental practice developed in the late 1970s as a method to help people with mild to moderate insomnia. Clinicians assess the sleep hygiene of people with insomnia and other conditions, such as depression, and offer recommendations based on the assessment. Sleep hygiene recommendations include: establishing a regular sleep schedule; using naps with care; not exercising physically or mentally too close to bedtime; limiting worry; limiting exposure to light in the hours before sleep; getting out of bed if sleep does not come; not using bed for anything but sleep and sex; avoiding alcohol as well as nicotine, caffeine, and other stimulants in the hours before bedtime; and having a peaceful, comfortable and dark sleep environment. However, as of 2021, the empirical evidence for the effectiveness of sleep hygiene is "limited and inconclusive" for the general population and for the treatment of insomnia, despite being the oldest treatment for insomnia. A systematic review by the AASM concluded that clinicians should not prescribe sleep hygiene for insomnia due to the evidence of absence of its efficacy and potential delaying of adequate treatment, recommending instead that effective therapies such as CBT-i should be preferred.
A bedtime story is a traditional form of storytelling, where a story is told to a child at bedtime to prepare the child for sleep. The bedtime story has long been considered "a definite institution in many families".
Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book, also known as The Sleep Book, is an American children's book written by Dr. Seuss in 1962. The story centers on the activity of sleep as readers follow the journey of many different characters preparing to slip into a deep slumber. This book documents the different sleeping activities that some of the creatures join in on: Jo and Mo Redd-Zoff participate in competitive sleep talking and a group "near Finnigan Fen" enjoys group sleepwalking. It opens with a small bug, named Van Vleck, yawning. This single yawn sets off a chain reaction, effectively putting "ninety-nine zillion nine trillion and two" creatures to sleep.
Counting sheep is a mental exercise used in some Western cultures as a means of putting oneself to sleep.
The Good Night Show is a defunct television programming block for preschoolers that aired on the Sprout channel. It was designed to help preschoolers get ready for bedtime. The block featured recurring themes based on preschoolers' nightly routines, such as dreams, brushing teeth, and cleaning up before bed.
"Insomnia" is a song by British musical group Faithless. Released as the band's second single, it became one of their most successful. It was originally released in 1995 and reached number 27 on the UK Singles Chart, topping the UK Dance Chart in the process. When re-released in October 1996, the song achieved a new peak of number three in the United Kingdom and topped the charts of Finland, Norway, and Switzerland, as well as the American and Canadian dance charts. It also featured on Faithless's 1996 debut album, Reverence.
Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either chronic or acute and may vary widely in severity. All known animals sleep or exhibit some form of sleep behavior, and the importance of sleep is self-evident for humans, as nearly a third of a person's life is spent sleeping.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is a technique for treating insomnia without medications. Insomnia is a common problem involving trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting quality sleep. CBT-I aims to improve sleep habits and behaviors by identifying and changing the thoughts and the behaviors that affect the ability of a person to sleep or sleep well.
My Brother, My Brother and Me is a weekly comedy advice podcast distributed by the Maximum Fun network and hosted by brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy. Regular episodes of the podcast feature the brothers comedically providing answers to questions either submitted by listeners or found online.
The NoSleep Podcast is an anthology horror fiction podcast.
Day 5 is an American post-apocalyptic drama web series created by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Josh Flanagan, and Chris Demarais. It premiered on Rooster Teeth's website on June 19, 2016. New episodes premiered exclusively on Rooster Teeth site via their paid sponsorship program, FIRST. Announced March 11, 2016, it was noted for being a dramatic departure from Rooster Teeth's typically comedic productions.
Night Vale Presents, formerly known as Commonplace Books, is a production company and independent podcast network founded in 2015 by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. In 2016 Night Vale Presents expanded into a network hosting original podcasts other than Welcome to Night Vale. Night Vale Presents is partnered with Public Radio Exchange.
Behavioral sleep medicine (BSM) is a field within sleep medicine that encompasses scientific inquiry and clinical treatment of sleep-related disorders, with a focus on the psychological, physiological, behavioral, cognitive, social, and cultural factors that affect sleep, as well as the impact of sleep on those factors. The clinical practice of BSM is an evidence-based behavioral health discipline that uses primarily non-pharmacological treatments. BSM interventions are typically problem-focused and oriented towards specific sleep complaints, but can be integrated with other medical or mental health treatments. The primary techniques used in BSM interventions involve education and systematic changes to the behaviors, thoughts, and environmental factors that initiate and maintain sleep-related difficulties.
Meditative Story is a podcast that combines first-person storytelling, mindfulness prompts and original cinematic music, to create a unique listening experience. It is owned and produced by WaitWhat, the media company founded and led by former TED executives, Deron Triff and June Cohen. The first three seasons were created in partnership with Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company led by Arianna Huffington and Dan Katz. Variety describes Meditative Story as “part first-person narrative podcast and part guided meditation.” The podcast is hosted by Rohan Gunatillake and has featured guests such as On Being’s Krista Tippett, A Slight Change of Plans’ Maya Shankar, travel writer Pico Iyer, Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, journalist and amateur boxer Thomas Page McBee, award-winning writer Isabel Allende, comedian Tig Notaro, Grammy award-winning composer and musician Terence Blanchard, actor Randall Park, musician and Leinster Rugby player Niall Breslin, NASA astronomer Michelle Thaller, Peloton exercise instructor Robin Arzón, and MOMA curator Paola Antonelli, among others.
The cognitive shuffle is a cognitive strategy meant to facilitate initial sleep onset, or subsequent sleep onset after early awakening from sleep. The cognitive shuffle was developed by Luc P. Beaudoin, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University. It is based on Beaudoin's theory of the human sleep onset control system called the somnolent information processing theory (SIP), according to which mental perturbance is insomnolent, meaning that it can delay sleep onset.
