For parents of young children, nap time can be the best time of the day: The house is quiet, the kids are sleeping and there's finally an hour or two of personal time. But those daytime naps could make young children less likely to sleep as well at night, at...

Even with holiday travel approaching, it's important to get enough sleep before getting behind the wheel: Missing 1 or 2 hours of sleep nearly doubles a person's risk for a car crash, a new report finds. And missing 2 to 3 hours of sleep more than quadruples the risk for...

There's a long night coming, literally — the winter solstice comes on Wednesday (Dec. 21), making it the shortest day and longest night of the year. But will that extra time of darkness help you sleep better? Experts say that in general, people do tend to sleep a little longer...

Just 6 percent of adults in the U.S. have adopted all five key health habits that are linked with better health or longer life, according to a new report. But adults in some states are far healthier than others: The states with the highest percentages of people who engage in...

Introduction (Image credit: Ditty_about_summer | Shutterstock.com)No one knows exactly why we sleep, but researchers continue to uncover important discoveries about the mysterious phenomenon, including some that seem counterintuitive. Here are five surprising findings about human sleep: Interrupted sleep is worse than staying awake (Image credit: Photographee.eu | Shutterstock.com)Not getting enough...

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Sleeping in over the weekend is one of life’s great pleasures. Yet some of us are much better at it than others. A teenager is much more likely to...

Knowing how sleep affects the brain is the key to getting a great night’s rest, but we are often our own worst enemies when it comes to getting the sleep we need. However, by understanding the biology of sleep and what our brain needs to do to properly recuperate, we...

We all need a little help getting to sleep from time to time, and increasing numbers of people are turning to supplements to help them wind down in the evening. One of the most popular sleep aids is melatonin. But does melatonin work? We asked Michael J. Breus, clinical psychologist...

People whose brains respond strongly to rewards may be less prone to some of the negative effects of sleep deprivation, a new study finds. One of those negative effects is depression, according to the study. Poor sleep has been linked to depression, both as a risk factor for the mental...

The quality of your sleep could play a role in how your brain responds to fear, which, in turn, could determine how likely you are to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a small, new study suggests. People in the study who got more rapid eye movement (REM) sleep had less...

Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, Nov. 5, which means most people in the U.S. will turn their clocks back an hour — but a new study finds that this extra bit of shut-eye may not be as beneficial as some may think. In the study, researchers found that assault...

After a sleepless night, you likely feel sluggish the next morning, and a small new study suggests why: Your brain cells feel sluggish, too. And when those brain cells are tired, you may be more likely to be forgetful and get distracted more easily, the research found. In the study,...

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Getting too much sleep may increase the risk for heart disease in older women, early research suggests. In a new study, researchers analyzed information from more than 3,000 older women in the United States who wore a fitness tracker-like device called an ActiGraphic, which measures activity as...

The phenomenon is so named in reference to the hypnagogic state — the transitional period between wakefulness and sleep. Hypnagogic jerks, are also commonly known as hypnic jerks or sleep starts. The muscle spasms may occur spontaneously or may be induced by sound, light or other external stimuli. Some people...

Have you ever dozed off for a 30-minute nap and woken up with a demon perched on your chest, pinning you to your bed? English folklore once dubbed such nocturnal visitations as simply nightmares. Today, however, the phenomenon is called sleep paralysis — or being mentally aware while falling asleep...