6 things we get wrong about sleep

There’s no question that sleep is important for your health. Without enough of it, your risk of developing diseases such as dementia, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes can increase, and you’re more likely to feel irritable and anxious.

In pursuit of a perfect night’s rest, some people have tried drinking “sleepy girl mocktails” or invested in elaborate nighttime routines. But many of these solutions aren’t backed by research, and they won’t address underlying sleep hygiene issues.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to move the needle” on common misunderstandings about sleep, said Rebecca Robbins, an assistant professor in the sleep medicine division at Harvard Medical School and lead author of a 2019 study on sleep-related misconceptions.

The New York Times asked 11 sleep experts to set the record straight on some of the myths they hear most often.

You can’t train your body to need less sleep.

If you’ve experienced long-term sleep deprivation, you might have felt as if your body eventually adjusted.

You can find ways to cope with less sleep, like drinking caffeine or skipping late-night activities, said Dr. Ian Katznelson, a neurologist at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital. But that doesn’t mean you’ll actually sidestep the negative effects of little rest, which can include worsened memory, mood swings and diminished creativity.

More sleep isn’t always better.

Poor-quality, short sleep isn’t good for you, but oversleeping can be linked to health problems, too, experts said.

A 2023 study that included data from nearly 500,000 participants found that adults who slept more than nine hours per day were 35% more likely to die from a respiratory disease. And a 2021 review found that long sleepers were at a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes compared with those who slept seven to eight hours a day.

But it remains unclear whether sleeping excessively can cause health problems, or whether long sleep is a symptom of underlying health issues, said Dr. Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, who serves on the board of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Adults should generally try to get seven to nine hours of sleep per night, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you feel the need to sleep significantly more, consider visiting a sleep specialist, said Dr. Jennifer Goldschmied, a sleep researcher and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Such specialists can help you assess whether you have a disorder such as sleep apnea, which causes fragmented, poor-quality rest.

You can’t make up for lost sleep over the weekend.

Sleeping in for 30 minutes or so on Saturday morning is generally no cause for concern, experts said. But if you’re sleeping in for hours every weekend, it is likely a sign that you’re not getting enough rest during the week, said Dr. Thomas Kilkenny, director of the Sleep Institute at Northwell Staten Island University Hospital.

If you thrive on seven hours of sleep, but get only about six hours Monday through Friday, for instance, you’ve missed out on nearly an entire night of sleep once Saturday arrives, Kilkenny said. This is what experts call “sleep debt,” he added.

To get your seven hours of sleep and completely repay the debt from the week, you’d need to sleep for 12 hours in just one night. That’s not logistically possible for most people. But even if you can pull it off, experts say you’ll probably get trapped in another sleep debt cycle, since you’ll feel less tired the following night. Instead, consider dispersing more shut-eye throughout the week by gradually sleeping earlier.

“Try to go to bed 15 minutes earlier tonight and maybe 15 more the next night,” Robbins said. “Not sweeping changes.” As you adjust your bedtime, note how you feel the next day to determine the best schedule for you, she added.

Waking up during the night isn’t always a sign of poor sleep.

Getting up at 3 am to use the bathroom may feel disruptive, but experts say it’s not necessarily a reason to worry. Your body goes through various sleep stages throughout the night, and sometimes the shifts cause brief awakenings, Goldschmied said.

Many people believe that “you should lay your head down on the pillow, fall asleep instantly and not wake up for the rest of the night,” Goldschmied said. “And what I usually say is: ‘That’s not sleep. That’s a coma.’”

But if it takes you more than about 15 or 20 minutes to fall back asleep, get out of bed. Tossing and turning can leave you frustrated and make it even harder to rest, said Dr. Mehwish Sajid, a sleep medicine physician at University of Michigan Health. Do something relaxing instead, like reading a calming book or meditating. Return to bed only once you feel sleepy again, she added.

Grogginess isn’t always cause for concern.

After a long nap or deep sleep, you may wake up feeling dazed and disoriented. This might temporarily worsen your cognitive performance or put you in a bad mood, but some grogginess can be normal — experts call it sleep inertia.

“You don’t just wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed,” said Dr. Ann Romaker, director of the sleep disorders centers at the University of Cincinnati.

According to the CDC, sleep inertia can last anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. If you’re sleep-deprived, you may experience the feeling for longer — though experts say the reasoning isn’t fully understood. Sleep aids and some medications that make you tired, such as antihistamines and sedatives, may also exacerbate sleep inertia and create “a hangover effect,” Goldschmied said.

To manage the feeling, Goldschmied recommended taking a brief walk outside in the morning, if possible: Sunlight is a natural cue to the body that it’s time to wake up. But if that groggy feeling never goes away or makes your everyday life more difficult, it’s worth talking to a sleep medicine doctor.

Snoring isn’t always harmless.

Tens of millions of Americans report snoring here and there, but it’s not always benign, Sajid said.

Frequent, loud and disruptive snoring is often a sign of obstructive sleep apnea, a common form of sleep apnea that happens when your throat tissues and tongue muscle relax and block your airway, Sajid said. Some groups, including men, postmenopausal women, people with obesity, smokers, drinkers and middle-aged and older adults are at a higher risk for the condition. (Romaker noted that women with sleep apnea may not always snore loudly, and they may experience frequent awakenings during the night.)

Sajid said that if you find yourself “choking, gasping” or “waking yourself up from snoring” — or if someone you share a bed with notices those behaviors — “those are all things that need to be evaluated by a provider, because that can mean there’s an underlying health issue going on.”