A new study from researchers at the University of Florida found that several healthy habits, including quality sleep, social support, maintaining a healthy waistline and avoiding tobacco, are linked to slower brain aging.

A look inside the study

The research followed 197 adults, most of whom lived with chronic pain related to or at risk of knee osteoarthritis. Over two years, the participants received MRI brain scans that were analyzed by a machine learning system.

The research team estimated each person’s “brain age,” then compared it to their actual age. The difference between the two, called the brain age gap, served as a marker of overall brain health.

The main findings were that certain protective factors and habits appeared to keep brains younger. Participants who had less sleep impairment, got more restorative sleep, had better stress management with more optimism, maintained a healthy weight with a lower waist circumference, avoided tobacco, and had supportive relationships tended to have younger-looking brains.

On the other hand, stressors such as chronic pain, low income or lower education were linked to brains that appeared older than expected.

In fact, those who had the most protective factors at the start of the study had brains that looked eight years younger than their chronological age — and they continued to show slower brain aging over time.

Why it matters

The researchers pointed out that healthy behaviors don’t just help with pain or physical function; they may also add up to real benefits for the brain. Choices like getting enough sleep, staying active, managing stress and maintaining healthy habits can collectively support long-term brain health.

Sleep, in particular, is a modifiable behavior. That means you can take steps today to improve your sleep and potentially protect your brain over time.

Simple steps to sleep better

Improving your sleep doesn’t have to be complicated. Try these habits to help your body and mind wind down for a better night’s rest:

1. Keep a consistent sleep-wake schedule — go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends.
2. Set a bedtime that allows for at least seven hours of sleep.
3. Use your bed only for sleep and sex.
4. Keep your bedroom cool, dark and quiet.
5. Limit fluids before bed.
6. Turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
7. Avoid heavy meals late at night; opt for a light snack if hungry.
8. Skip caffeine in the afternoon or evening.
9. If you can’t sleep after 20 minutes, get up and do something calm and quiet.
10. Avoid alcohol before bedtime.

The bottom line

This study found that getting good sleep was one of several key factors linked with healthier, younger-looking brains. The takeaway? You can take steps tonight to protect your brain for years to come. A few small changes to your sleep routine can make the difference between a restless night and truly restorative sleep.

Medical review by Dionne Morgan, MBBS, FCCP

Additional resources:

• Take a short quiz to learn how to get a better night’s sleep.
• Calculate your ideal bedtime.
• Begin and keep a sleep diary.
• Talk to your doctor about sleep.
• Get support from a sleep center.

Related content:

• Can a nap without sleep help your brain? New research explores the possibilities
• Nightly “brain wash” protects against Alzheimer’s disease during sleep
• Short sleep linked to aging brain

Authored by: Kate Robards

The post Good sleep may help your brain stay younger appeared first on Sleep Education.

Cats are pros at snoozing
Cats sleep up to two-thirds of their lives. They dream, they twitch and sometimes they even snore. (Source)

Penguins power nap
Chinstrap penguins fall asleep thousands of times a day, but only for about four seconds at a time. All those tiny microsleeps add up to more than 11 hours of sleep per day while they guard their nests. (Source)

Elephant seals nap while diving
Northern elephant seals get just two hours of sleep a day at sea. They take short naps of less than 20 minutes while diving deep underwater, entering full REM sleep as they drift down below their predators. (Source)

Walruses rest half a brain at a time
Walruses can snooze nearly 19 hours a day on land. In the ocean, they experience “unihemispheric sleep,” where one half of their brain sleeps while the other stays active, letting them swim and sleep at once. (Source)

Spiders may dream
Jumping spiders suspend from silk threads and experience eye movements and twitch their limbs in their sleep, showing signs of REM. That means they may dream, much like humans. (Source)

Bees need dark nights
Honey bees need sleep to perform the “waggle dance,” a communication method to share the location of food sources with hive mates. Disrupted sleep from too much artificial light at night throws off their body clocks and makes them dance and communicate poorly, threatening their role as pollinators. (Source)

Flat-faced dogs sleep a lot
Breeds like pugs and French and English bulldogs sleep more because their breed-specific sleep apnea increases daytime sleepiness. They tend to live shorter lives than other dogs. (Source)

Pandas get “jet lag” in zoos
Pandas in zoos outside their natural latitude range can feel out of sync. Changes in daylight and temperature throw off their rhythms, leaving them sluggish. (Source)

Bears keep ticking in hibernation
Even while hibernating, grizzly bears’ internal clocks still run. Their energy cycles rise and fall in a daily rhythm through months of deep sleep. (Source)

Termites don’t sleep like we do
Worker termites have body clocks that guide their activity, but they don’t have a normal sleep cycle. Instead of resting in long stretches like humans, they stay active around the clock, chewing through wood nonstop. (Source)

Related:

• Meet the creator of Cozy Critters — The podcast helping kids fall asleep fast
• Do all animals sleep?
• The Animals Sleep: Book review

Authored by: Kate Robards

The post The curious world of animal sleep appeared first on Sleep Education.

A separate AASM survey found that 91% of people admitted they have stayed up too late binge-watching TV.

Phones and televisions are a normal part of daily life, but they may also cost us valuable sleep. Recent research shows that screen use at night can raise the risk of insomnia and shorten sleep.

What researchers found

A study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry in March 2025 examined screen use in bed among nearly 40,000 university students in Norway. Researchers compared different activities, such as social media use, streaming, surfing, listening to audio books or music, gaming or studying, to see how they affected sleep.

The findings showed a link between more screen time and worse sleep. Each one-hour increase of screen time after going to bed was tied to a 59% higher chance of having symptoms of insomnia. Students also slept an average of 24 minutes less per night for every extra hour of screen use. Over time, those lost minutes can add up to hours of missed sleep each week.

Another study, published in JAMA Network Open in March 2025, looked at screen use in adults across the United States and Puerto Rico. The results were striking. Compared with people who avoided screens, those who used them before bed had a 33% higher rate of poor sleep quality. They also slept about 50 minutes less each week. On workdays, nightly screen users slept an average of 7.6 minutes less per night. On nonworkdays, they slept about 5 minutes less.

These numbers may sound small, but the effect builds night after night. Less sleep can mean lower energy, reduced focus and long-term health concerns. Together, these studies add to a growing body of evidence showing that screen habits affect both the quality and quantity of sleep.

How to take back your bedtime

The good news is that small changes can make a big difference. Here are some ways to start:

• Turn off devices early. Power down electronics at least 30 to 60 minutes before bed.
• Move your phone. Keep it in another room if possible. If you use it as an alarm, try a clock instead.
• Create a routine. Reading, journaling or a warm shower can help your body wind down.
• Stick to a schedule. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day supports healthy sleep.
• Silence alerts. If you must keep your phone nearby, turn off notifications so they don’t disturb you.

The takeaway

Digital media use is here to stay, but that doesn’t mean it has to interfere with sleep. Even small losses add up, and poor sleep can affect your health, mood and daily life. By limiting screens before bed and building a calming routine, you can protect your rest and feel better during the day.

Medical review by Ahmed Saleh, MD

Related:

• How technology is helping – and hurting – your sleep
• Improve your sleep in five simple steps
• Best ways to improve sleep without medication
• Many men are losing sleep to play video games and drink alcohol

Authored by: Kate Robards

The post Screen time and sleep: What new studies reveal appeared first on Sleep Education.

Artificial naps show surprising results

In a recent study, scientists found that brief naps (without REM sleep) improved visual task performance in macaque monkeys. The surprise came when researchers replicated this brain boost by electrically stimulating the monkeys’ brains while they were awake. The stimulation mimicked sleep-like brain activity and produced similar cognitive improvements.

These so-called “artificial naps” hint at a possible future where the brain could be refreshed without actual sleep. While this technique is still limited to primates, it opens the door to new research in humans, especially for those with sleep disorders or limited time for rest.

What we know about real napping

While artificial naps are still experimental, there is growing research on how regular daytime naps affect human health. At this time, the findings are conflicting. Some studies show benefits, while others show risks related to daytime napping.

Recent studies include:

• Nap habits and health risks
  A large analysis presented at SLEEP 2025 found that longer naps, inconsistent nap durations, and frequent naps around midday were linked to an increased risk of mortality in middle- and older-aged adults.
• Napping and brain preservation
  A 2023 study led by researchers at University College London and the University of the Republic in Uruguay found that people who regularly napped had larger total brain volume. This suggests that habitual napping may slow brain shrinkage and support brain health as we age.
• Napping and dementia risk
  A 2022 study from researchers at UC San Francisco and Harvard Medical School tracked older adults and found that those who napped more than an hour a day, or napped at least once a day, had a 40% higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to those who napped less frequently or for shorter durations.

These findings suggest that not all naps are created equal, and more research is needed. Frequency, duration and timing may all influence long-term health outcomes.

Nap smarter, not longer

So how long should a nap be?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that healthy adults limit daytime naps to 20 to 30 minutes, ideally taken in the early afternoon. These short naps can improve alertness, mood and performance without interfering with nighttime sleep or causing post-nap grogginess, or “sleep inertia.”

What’s next for artificial napping?

Could brain stimulation ever be used to mimic a nap in humans? A Scientific American article suggests that if the method proves effective, artificial naps could one day help enhance cognition, reduce fatigue or support people with sleep disorders.

For now, the best advice is to keep naps brief and intentional. But in the future, the science of sleep may offer new ways to rest — no shut-eye required.

Medical review by Margaret Hovda, MD

Related:

• When napping is good for older folks
• FAQs of Zzz’s: Answering your top 10 sleep questions
• Improve your sleep in five simple steps

Authored by: Kate Robards

The post Can a nap without sleep help your brain? New research explores the possibilities appeared first on Sleep Education.

How much sleep are people really getting?

According to the CDC, more than one-third of U.S. adults (36.8%) report not getting enough sleep. That number has remained consistent since 2013. Sleep habits also vary by state. Hawaii has the highest percentage of sleep-deprived adults at 45.9%, followed by West Virginia (42.6%) and Alabama (41.4%).

In a 2024 survey by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), 54% of respondents said that they get too little sleep. Women are more likely than men to report that they don’t get the right amount of sleep.

Recommended sleep by age

The amount of sleep you need depends largely on your age. Here are the AASM’s official recommendations for children, teens and adults:

• Infants (4–12 months): 12–16 hours (including naps)
• Children (1–2 years): 11–14 hours
• Children (3–5 years): 10–13 hours
• Children (6–12 years): 9–12 hours
• Teens (13–18 years): 8–10 hours
• Adults (18+): 7 or more hours

These numbers are general guidelines. As we age, our sleep needs shift, with children and teens needing more sleep than adults. Your ideal sleep time may vary depending on your health, daily routine and individual needs. Still, falling short of these recommendations on a regular basis can lead to long-term consequences.

Can you catch up on sleep?

Some people try to “make up” for lost sleep on the weekends. This is called weekend catch-up sleep, and studies show it may offer some benefits.

For example, recent research found that teens who slept up to two extra hours on weekends showed fewer symptoms of anxiety. Another study found that adults who regularly sleep less than six hours on weekdays may lower their risk of heart disease if they add extra sleep on weekends. Moderate catch-up sleep is also linked to fewer depressive symptoms.

Still, relying too much on weekend sleep can throw off your internal clock. A consistent sleep schedule is usually best.

Signs you’re not getting enough sleep

Not sure if you’re getting enough sleep? There are some common red flags your body and brain may be sending you.

• You feel tired or drowsy during the day
• You need caffeine to stay alert
• You fall asleep quickly whenever you sit or lie down
• You sleep much later on weekends than weekdays
• You struggle with memory, focus or mood

Sleepiness may be a marker of insufficient sleep, and it can have wide-ranging effects. Excessive sleepiness is linked to problems with attention, reaction time, memory and decision-making. It can reduce your ability to function safely and effectively in daily life — and in severe cases, it may lead to injury or even death.

Sleepiness can also be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder, such as obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia or chronic insomnia. These conditions often cause disrupted or poor-quality sleep, even if you spend enough time in bed.

If you’re frequently drowsy, mentally foggy, or relying heavily on caffeine to stay awake, your body could be signaling that it needs more high-quality sleep.

When to get help

If you’re consistently tired despite spending enough time in bed, it may be time to talk to a sleep professional. An AASM-accredited sleep center can help diagnose and treat sleep disorders that might be affecting your rest.

Need help figuring out when to go to bed? Try the AASM’s bedtime calculator to find a schedule that works for you.

Getting enough sleep isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity for your physical and mental well-being. If you’re wondering how much sleep you need, start by aiming for the age-based recommendations, then adjust based on how you feel during the day. Your body will tell you what it needs.

Medical review by Katherine Moawad, DO

Related:

• How much sleep do children need?
• Daytime sleepiness: More than just feeling tired
• FAQs of Zzz’s: Answering your top 10 sleep questions
• 7 and Up: The Healthy Sleep Duration for Adults

Authored by: Kate Robards

The post How much sleep do I really need? appeared first on Sleep Education.

Why sleep matters for kids

Sleep is essential for children’s physical and mental health. It helps their bodies grow, strengthens the immune system and supports brain development. When children sleep, their brains process what they learned during the day, helping them retain information and build new skills. Sleep also supports emotional regulation, helping kids handle stress, frustration and social interactions more effectively.

Without enough sleep, kids may face serious challenges. According to an AASM survey, parents reported that poor sleep affected their children’s mood (58%), attitude (49%), behavior (49%), physical energy (44%) and academic performance (30%). Over time, sleep deprivation can contribute to obesity, depression and an increased risk of chronic diseases.

Sleep also offers a natural way to support children’s health without relying on medication. It improves focus, emotional stability and physical energy — all key factors for success in school and life.

“Making sleep health a priority is one of the simplest and most effective ways to support the next generation,” said Dr. Eric Olson, president of the AASM. “Sleep can impact every aspect of a child’s well-being — physical growth, mental resilience, learning ability and even long-term disease prevention. By investing in sleep research and education, we can make a meaningful, lasting impact on our nation’s children.”

Make America Healthy Again Commission

Chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Make America Healthy Again Commission is developing recommendations for President Trump on how to address chronic diseases in children.

The Healthy People 2030 initiative of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion is one example of how the federal government is already emphasizing the importance of sleep for health, productivity, well-being, quality of life and safety. Its sleep health objectives include increasing the number of children and teens who get enough sleep.

The need for more sleep research

Advancing research in sleep science is vital for understanding and preventing health conditions that begin in childhood and continue into adulthood. Scientific studies link poor sleep in children to long-term health issues, including chronic diseases, weakened immune function and mental health challenges. More funding for pediatric sleep research is essential to allow scientists to develop evidence-based strategies to improve kids’ sleep habits and prevent these problems before they start.

The National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, established by Congress in 1993, plays a vital role in advancing sleep science. Increased funding for the center would drive new studies on how sleep affects children’s growth, learning and well-being. This research could lead to better strategies and interventions to improve children’s sleep health at a national level.

“By supporting policies that promote healthy sleep and funding research to better understand its impact, we can take meaningful steps toward preventing disease and improving the well-being of everyone — especially our children,” said Dr. Olson. “Prioritizing sleep health is a vital part of the broader mission to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ by addressing one of the most fundamental yet often overlooked aspects of our health.”

Learn more about the importance of sleep at sleepisgoodmedicine.com.

If you have an ongoing sleep problem, use the AASM’s sleep center directory to get help from the sleep team at an accredited sleep center.

Related:

• Healthy sleep is vital to children’s well-being
• Late bedtimes linked with childhood obesity
• Sleep disorders in children
• Resolution 1103 supports the designation of National Student Sleep Health Week

The post Sleep experts urge focus on children’s sleep health appeared first on Sleep Education.

About the study

The small clinical trial included six participants, all living with narcolepsy. The study tested a blend of cognitive behavioral therapy for nightmares (CBT-N) and a technique called targeted lucidity reactivation (TLR).

Cognitive behavioral therapy for nightmares

During the first phase of the study, participants attended weekly telehealth sessions focused on CBT-N. These sessions taught them about nightmares, healthy sleep habits and bedtime relaxation techniques. Participants also learned to rescript their nightmares — rewriting them as dreams they’d prefer to have — and practiced visualizing these revised dreams before falling asleep.

Inducing lucid dreams

In the study’s fifth week, researchers introduced TLR to half the participants. TLR aims to induce lucid dreams, where the dreamer is aware they are dreaming and can potentially influence the dream’s content.

To implement TLR, scientists monitored the participants’ brain activity using EEG to identify when they entered REM sleep, the stage of sleep when vivid dreaming occurs. At this point, they played cues, like a piano chord or keywords, associated with the participants’ rescripted dreams. The goal was to guide their dreams toward the positive scenarios they had rehearsed.

Promising findings

The study, published in the Journal of Sleep Research in Oct. 2024, showed encouraging results:

• Reduction in nightmare severity and frequency: All participants reported fewer and less severe nightmares after treatment.
• Improved emotional response: Participants felt less anxious and ashamed of their nightmares.
• Lucid dreaming success: Two participants who underwent TLR recalled dreams similar to their rescripted versions, indicating the technique may help alter the content of nightmares.

This research provided both proof of concept for the use of TLR as well as supporting preliminary evidence for CBT-N in the treatment of narcolepsy-related nightmares.

Understanding narcolepsy and nightmares

What is narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to regulate sleep-wake cycles. Symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep-related hallucinations, sleep paralysis, fragmented sleep and cataplexy (sudden muscle weakness triggered by strong emotions).

The connection between narcolepsy and nightmares

People with narcolepsy often experience vivid, frightening dreams more frequently than the general population. Studies show that the frequency of nightmares in individuals with narcolepsy varies, with 29% to 41.5% experiencing frequent nightmares or nightmare disorder. For instance, a 2022 study found that 39% of those with narcolepsy type 1 and 29% with narcolepsy type 2 reported frequent nightmares, while a 2014 study identified nightmares in one-third of patients.

Lucid dreaming is also more common in this group, which may make them particularly suited to treatments like TLR.

Treating nightmares

Nightmare treatments often include therapy techniques like counseling, imagery rehearsal therapy, systematic desensitization or stress management. These approaches focus on addressing underlying causes, reshaping frightening dream outcomes, reducing emotional responses to distressing content, and lowering stress levels to improve sleep quality.

The combination of CBT-N and TLR could represent a new, non-invasive option for managing nightmares in people with narcolepsy.

Looking ahead

This first-of-its-kind study highlights a potential breakthrough for treating narcolepsy-related nightmares. By blending CBT-N with techniques to induce lucid dreaming, researchers are providing hope for those living with the dual challenge of narcolepsy and frequent nightmares. As this research develops, it may offer a better quality of sleep for many people.

Anyone who has a sleep problem can use the AASM’s sleep center directory to get help from the sleep team at an accredited sleep center.

Medical review by Dionne M. Morgan, MBBS, FCCP

Related:

• My life with narcolepsy
• Treating nightmare disorder in adults
• What you never knew about sleep paralysis

Authored by: Kate Robards

The post A new approach to treating nightmares in narcolepsy appeared first on Sleep Education.

But a definitive explanation continues to be elusive; the question remains an “unsolved mystery.”

Now an editorial by UCLA’s Jerome Siegel suggests that sleep may not fulfill a universal function across all species. Instead sleep appears to be adaptive; its role may be based on “ecological variables” that differ from one species to another.

This would explain why the sleep habits of animals are so diverse. For example, a brown bat sleeps more than 20 hours per day; but a giraffe only sleeps for about four hours.

Siegel views sleep as “a variant of dormant states” seen in both the plant and animal kingdoms. He proposes that sleep “optimizes the timing and duration of behavior.”

So how and when an animal sleeps are based on its waking needs. The brown bat wakes up at the time of day when its food source is most plentiful; it’s the optimal time to eat.

Why do we sleep? Perhaps we need to understand why we are awake, Siegel suggests. That may be how we find the clues to the mystery of our need for sleep.

By Thomas M. Heffron

The post We sleep to be awake appeared first on Sleep Education.

“What a lot of shut-eye all the other species get, and how sleep-deprived humans seem in comparison!” the editorial lamented. “To grasp the force of human culture, all you have to do is consider how hard we try to organize our sleeping.”

One way researchers try to unlock the mysteries of human sleep is by studying sleep in other species. Results show a diversity of sleep habits.

A 2008 study involved brown-throated, three-toed sloths. The results emphasized the importance of studying animals in their natural environment.

In captivity sloths sleep for more than 16 hours per day, BBC News reported. But the study found that they only slept for 9.6 hours in the wild.

Last month BBC News reported on a study of fire ants. It found that queen ants fell asleep 90 times a day; these sleep periods lasted a little longer than six minutes. Their total daily sleep was more than nine hours.

In contrast, a single worker took 250 naps per day; each nap lasted just longer than a minute. Their total sleep was only 4 hours and 48 minutes a day.

The article added that this productivity may come with a cost: The worker ants only live for months; the queen ants live for years.

A 2009 study examined the sleep of dolphins. A dolphin only sends half of its brain to sleep; the other half remains conscious.

The dolphins in the study were able to remain vigilant over a five-day period. They also showed no signs of sleep deprivation.

It’s often assumed that every animal sleeps in one way or another. But is this true? Do all animals sleep?

It’s a difficult question to answer; it can be hard to tell whether an observed animal is sleeping or in a state of “quiet rest.”

UCLA’s Jerome Siegel published a review of the evidence in 2008. According to Siegel, we may be wrong to assume that there is a “universal state of sleep” among all animals.

“The evidence that all animals have a state that meets the accepted definitions of sleep is quite poor,” he concluded.

How much do animals sleep? Download this classroom activity sheet to find out.

By Thomas M. Heffron

The post Do all animals sleep? appeared first on Sleep Education.

It explains how their research is taking the study of sleep and memory in new directions. It also examines the question that lies at the foundation of their research: Why?

Why do we sleep? It’s a simple question. And progress is being made to answer it. But definitive answers remain elusive.

“Why is it that the brain cells need to sleep?” researcher Chiara Cirelli said in the article. “That’s really what we are trying to understand.”

Cirelli and colleague Giulio Tononi probed this question last fall in the essay, “Is sleep essential?” They conclude that there is still no consensus for “the elusive phoenix of sleep.”

Emmanuel Mignot explored this “unsolved mystery” last year in, “Why we sleep: the temporal organization of recovery.” He concludes that it is still unclear why sleep is required. But “recent work suggests multiple roles.”

And Jerome Siegel addressed the topic in the 2003 article, “Why we sleep.” He writes that “we have no comparably straightforward explanation for sleep.” But sleep research has led to numerous “reasonable proposals.”

A group from Spain offered a more controversial perspective in the 2007 article, “The trivial function of sleep.” They argue that “sleep does not provide additional advantages over simple rest.”

So why do we sleep? Researchers are exploring complex answers to this simple question. And the debate is sure to continue.

By Thomas M. Heffron

The post Why do we sleep? appeared first on Sleep Education.