Insufficient sleep is not just a wellness issue. It is an economic drag that shows up as slower output, more mistakes, higher health costs, and lower GDP. Japan is a clear case study: national sleep debt is estimated to cost nearly 3 percent of GDP each year, the highest among major economies (Hafner, Stepanek, Taylor, Troxel, & Van Stolk, 2016; Hafner et al., 2017).

Roommates can be your best friend or your worst nightmare. As a sleep researcher, I’ve found that good sleep in a shared room comes from coordination, not luck. You need predictability, respect, and clear communication. Here are three moves to protect your sleep in a college dorm or any roommate situation. - Dr. Brian N. Chin

Evening screen use, from phones to tablets, affects sleep in two important ways: by exposing you to blue‑wavelength light, which interferes with melatonin production, and by mentally stimulating your brain right before it should be shutting down.

If bedtime feels like a battleground, hours spent staring at the ceiling, a swirl of regret about lost sleep, and the anxiety of facing another restless night, CBT‑I may offer the reset you've been searching for.

You finally get the chance to sleep in – no alarms, no early classes – and you wake up at noon, expecting to feel refreshed. But instead? You feel like a zombie. Foggy, sluggish, and somehow more tired than when you went to bed. What gives?

That annoying grogginess you’re feeling isn’t just a random glitch. It’s a real phenomenon called sleep inertia, and it’s stronger than you might think.

Most of us have heard the rumors: “I only need 5 hours of sleep, I trained myself!” Sorry to break it to you, but that’s basically science fiction. Outside of a few genetic marvels, your brain won’t let you hack your sleep needs. In fact, experts warn that you can’t really adapt to chronic sleep loss – you just get used to feeling groggier. Research shows human sleep need is largely hardwired by biology. So, unless you’re one of the extremely rare “natural short sleepers,” cutting your sleep short won’t make you a superhero, just a sleep-deprived mortal.

Experienced restless nights are common — tossing and turning, struggling to fall asleep, and waking up feeling unprepared for the day ahead. There are various factors that can contribute to this, including your sleep environment, which plays a large role in your sleep and overall efficiency. So, how can you optimize your space to create the ideal sleep-friendly environment?

It’s the night before a big exam, and you’re buried in textbooks, highlighter in one hand, caffeine in the other. You tell yourself, Just one more hour—but at what cost? While last-minute cramming may feel productive, it can actually work against your brain’s ability to retain information. Sleep plays a crucial role in memory consolidation, and neglecting it in favor of extra study time could be hurting your performance more than helping it. So, does studying before bed enhance memory, or is it just a myth? Let’s dive into the science behind sleep and learning.

For many teens, balancing school, extracurriculars, social life, and sometimes even work means sacrificing sleep during the week. The obvious solution? Sleeping in on the weekends to "catch up." But does it actually work? While getting extra rest may seem like a quick fix, research suggests that inconsistent sleep schedules can actually do more harm than good. The idea of sleep debt—where you try to repay lost hours of sleep—is more complicated than just snoozing for an extra few hours on a Saturday morning.