All posts tagged: sleep

Why scrolling on your phone before bed hurts your sleep more than you realize, according to experts

Why scrolling on your phone before bed hurts your sleep more than you realize, according to experts

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore “Avoid screens before bed” is one of the most common pieces of sleep advice. But what if the real problem isn’t screen time − it’s the way we use social media at night? Sleep deprivation is one of the most widespread yet overlooked public health issues, especially among young adults and adolescents. Despite needing eight to 10 hours of sleep, most adolescents fall short, while nearly two-thirds of young adults regularly get less than the recommended seven to nine hours. Poor sleep isn’t just about feeling tired − it’s linked to worsened mental health, emotion regulation, memory and academic performance (Getty Images) Poor sleep isn’t just about feeling tired − it’s linked to worsened mental health, emotion regulation, memory, academic performance and even increased risk for chronic illness and early mortality. At the same time, social media is nearly universal among …

Scientists reveal what caffeine actually does to your sleep

Scientists reveal what caffeine actually does to your sleep

Published by Jenni Sidey

Eight hours in bed can look like a full night’s rest. The brain may tell a different story. That is the tension running through a growing body of research on caffeine and sleep. Coffee does not always keep people awake in the obvious way. It does not always slash total sleep time or leave someone staring at the ceiling. Instead, the bigger change may happen after sleep begins, when the brain shifts into a lighter, less restorative state. “EEG allows us to see not only whether a person is sleeping, but also how the brain is sleeping. Classical sleep assessment assesses sleep duration and its stages, whereas quantitative EEG analysis reveals more subtle changes, such as reduced slow-wave activity, which is an important marker of sleep depth and its restorative character,” explains Prof. Donata Kurpas from the Department of Nursing, Wroclaw Medical University. That matters because slow waves are a defining feature of deep sleep, the part of the night tied to physical recovery, energy restoration, and proper brain function. Sleep EEG approaches relevant to …

Weed really does change your dreams

Weed really does change your dreams

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. It’s four in the morning and you wake from a dream. It wasn’t a nightmare exactly, but it was vivid and unsettling—a circus of imagery in which the other commuters stuck in gridlock beside you were all octopi  or your feet were transformed into a pair of horse hooves while going through airport security.  Maybe you don’t often remember your dreams but this one, this episode that fused the mundane with the outlandish, it sticks. Even days later, you can still see those tentacles gripping the steering wheels or feel the awkwardness of your gait running to catch your flight.  It couldn’t have been that joint you smoked before bed, could it? Science says maybe. How weed effects sleep cycles Reports of vivid …

Opioid Overdose Is Not Sleep. It Can Be a Brain Injury Event

Opioid Overdose Is Not Sleep. It Can Be a Brain Injury Event

Published by Jenni Sidey

Many of the drugs used in operating rooms are the same or close pharmacologic relatives to drugs involved in overdose deaths. Fentanyl changed the opioid epidemic, making opioid, cocaine, and other drug use deadly, but fentanyl remains a cornerstone of modern anesthesia. The difference lies in self-administration, dosing, monitoring, airway management, oxygen delivery, and the presence of trained professionals prepared to intervene the moment breathing becomes compromised. But individuals addicted to opioids receive none of these protections. The risk of dying from general anesthesia is extremely low—roughly 1 in 200,000 cases. Hundreds die of drug overdoses, but 60,000 patients safely receive general anesthesia for procedures every day in the United States. A new study from investigators at Yale School of Medicine has renewed scientific debate about what happens to the brain during unconsciousness. This study demonstrated that propofol anesthesia generates electroencephalographic features resembling both sleep and coma, while also displaying brain activity unique to anesthesia. The authors argued that the traditional “sleep versus coma” framework is too simplistic. General anesthesia, they suggested, is neither fully …

Best Sleep Trackers of 2026: Oura, Whoop, and Eight Sleep

Best Sleep Trackers of 2026: Oura, Whoop, and Eight Sleep

Published by skeptic

Apple Watch Series 11 for $399: If you already have an Apple Watch Series 4 or later, you can use it to track your sleep. Between the heart rate sensor and the accelerometer, your Apple Watch can break your slumber down into four stages. Newer models can also measure blood oxygen and temperature. It feels like a general overview compared to some of the other sleep trackers I tried, and there’s no sleep score, though this is obviously by design (it’s debatable whether you need more data). Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) for $1,000: All of Garmin’s fitness trackers track sleep to some extent, but the Epix Pro has what Garmin calls advanced sleep monitoring, or the ability to track sleep stages, your blood oxygen saturation, your respiratory rate, and restlessness. Contributor Adrienne So found that the Epix Pro regularly accounted for her getting a half-hour to an hour more sleep than she actually got most nights, as double-checked by a Whoop and Oura. It also doesn’t add naps to your sleep score. Photograph: Simon …

Mom With A Fear Of Vomiting Makes Sick Child Sleep In Driveway

Mom With A Fear Of Vomiting Makes Sick Child Sleep In Driveway

Published by Jenni Sidey

Parenting is not glamorous, especially when a sick kid is involved. From barf to diaper blowouts, sick children and their fluids tend to get everywhere, and if that sort of stuff grosses you out as a parent, well … good luck.  One mom who claims to have emetophobia, an actual intense, anxiety-inducing fear of seeing or thinking about or experiencing vomit in any way, shared a video on social media of her sick child and husband snuggling in the driveway while she was safely ensconced in the house. Needless to say, it sparked a bit of outrage, with many people wondering if the fear was that bad, and how she was able to take the video in the first place. A mom with a fear of vomiting shared a video of her sick child sleeping in the driveway while she stayed in the house. In a recent TikTok post, mom influencer The Accidental Adult shared a video of her sick toddler lying down on what appears to be a makeshift bed with the caption, “POV: …

Does Magnesium Spray Actually Help Ease Stress and Improve Sleep?

Does Magnesium Spray Actually Help Ease Stress and Improve Sleep?

Published by Jenni Sidey

If you listen to wellness podcasts, follow health influencers, or know anyone with sleep problems, you’ve probably heard people wax poetic about magnesium. The supplement seems to be on the tip of everybody’s tongue—literally and figuratively. Part of magnesium’s popularity comes from its wide breadth of benefits, which make it appealing to pretty much everyone. Some highlights include supporting muscle function, regulating blood sugar, DNA repair, and helping with brain function. Beyond being consumed as a supplement, topical magnesium products in the form of lotions or sprays are becoming increasingly popular for pre-bedtime rituals—due, in part, to the role the nutrient plays in relieving anxiety and supporting sleep. But is putting magnesium on your body as effective as putting it in your body? We talked to functional medicine doctors about how topical products, like magnesium spray, work, and how they measure up to consuming magnesium-rich foods or supplements. Magnesium’s role in reducing stress and improving sleep If you’re considering buying a magnesium spray for stress relief or sleep purposes, it’s important to know what magnesium …

Rolling Stones: Keith Richards created the most iconic riff in rock in his sleep – and other key moments from new biography

Rolling Stones: Keith Richards created the most iconic riff in rock in his sleep – and other key moments from new biography

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This The Rolling Stones are gearing up to release their latest album Foreign Tongues, and now there’s a juicy new biography from author Bob Spitz that offers a comprehensive, unsparing and bloody history of the biggest rock band of all time. The moment Mick Jagger strutted on to the stage for the first time, their fate was set. From their earliest days as blues-obsessed kids to living in freezing squalor, to the first taste of fame and the day they landed in the US and went stratospheric – and all the grit, glamour and gore in between – the book uses Spitz’s own knowledge of the band along with archive Rolling Stones interviews and new commentary from their colleagues and friends. Of course, many of these tales have long-been cemented into rock ‘n roll lore, but with a history as colourful as the Stones’, …

Emma Mattress Sale 2026: Save Up To 45% On Award-Winning Bedding Today

Emma Mattress Sale 2026: Save Up To 45% On Award-Winning Bedding Today

Published by Sam Flores

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI – prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication. If there’s anything to make you realise you need a new bed set-up, it’s this inescapable sweltering heat. Mattresses can get sweaty, and you might find your sheets soaked in one night (a nightmare if you find changing your sheets a snoozefest). In other words, it may be time for an upgrade. According to The Sleep Foundation, you’ll need to replace your mattress every six to eight years, or if it’s negatively impacting your sleep. Well, here’s some good news for you: whether you’re in the market to replace your mattress or just want a fresher sleeping sitch, Emma currently has 25% off its entire site right now. Until June 8th, the retailer is …

Jackie and Shadow’s chicks no longer sleep with mom in the nest bowl

Jackie and Shadow’s chicks no longer sleep with mom in the nest bowl

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. If you’ve ever shared a bed with your child, you know the pain of flailing limbs at 3am. Bald eagle parents can relate. Jackie and Shadow‘s 2026 eaglets, Sandy and Luna, have reach near-adult size, which has made sharing the nest bowl at night a difficult task. Viewers of the eagles’ 24/7 livestream have noticed that the parents no longer sleep right next to the young pair, instead resting on a nearby branch while the chicks doze at night. “While it looks like she just needs a break from the kids, one of the most practical reasons is space management,” Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV), the non-profit behind the livecam, explains. “By the time the chicks are 6 to 7 weeks old, …