Insomnia

"Sleep debt” assumes your shut-eye works like a bank account. That lost hours stack up, carry over, and you must eventually repay them in full. Well, you'll be pleased to know that it doesn’t work this way. And chasing “enough sleep” isn't helping.

A lengthy trial robbing adults of 90 minutes of sleep a night has uncovered the effect even this small amount of lost shut-eye has on the waistline after little more than a month. It also increased the risk factors for chronic disease.

Melatonin – a go-to sleep aid for kids and adults alike in many households in the US – continues to create media buzz, with conflicting messages that leave people uncertain about its safety. A pediatrician and sleep medicine doctor weighs in.

A medication commonly given as an off-label treatment for sleep problems may be more risky than thought – and although it's prescribed for obstructive sleep apnea or insomnia, as it often is, we lack the science data needed for safe and informed use.

Sleep loss is one of the most challenging symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s. New research has now likened poor sleep to a canary in a coal mine, an early symptom of neurodegeneration that could serve as a biomarker to identify the disease.

A study of nearly 400,000 people has for the first time found a causal link between gut bacteria and insomnia, confirming that some microbes aid sleep while others disrupt it. Fourteen bacterial taxa were found to contribute to the risk of insomnia.

Not all physical activities are created equal when it comes to a good night's sleep. A new study has uncovered the four practices that can significantly help different aspects of sleep disorders, without medical intervention. And they're all free.

For the first time, a new study demonstrates that insomnia severity directly impacts ADHD traits and quality of life in adults. It calls for more attention to be paid to how treating sleep disorders can greatly improve wellbeing for people with ADHD.

In a study of newlywed couples, researchers found that depression and anxiety can be passed from one spouse to the other via the oral microbiome, which is transferred during close contact, such as kissing.

A sour, tangy cherry most commonly used in baking has a lot of new fans in 2025, celebrating its broad health benefits. We look into its purported ability to relieve pain, gout and gut inflammation, as well as lower blood pressure and promote sleep.

A new study of nearly 15,000 people found that the window of late-night workouts in which sleep is impacted is actually much larger than previously thought, showing that exercising within four hours of bedtime can have a detrimental effect on shut-eye.

Whether it's reading a book or putting on music, many of us have some kind of ritual – small or large – that we do to "wind down" in bed. But it can be hard to gauge how good or bad these activities are. Now for one popular pastime, we know more.