Sleep, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 19, 2018

Why Are You Still Sleeping in Your Contact Lenses?

Many contact lens wearers have a dirty little secret: They sometimes sleep or nap in their lenses. But — as Live Science has reported many times before — this bad habit could raise their risk of serious eye infections and even lead to vision loss. Now, emergency room doctors are...

Jan 17, 2019

Not All Insomnia Is The Same — In Fact, There May Be 5 Types

There's a new way of looking at insomnia. Rather than just considering sleep-related symptoms, a new study from the Netherlands branches out to look at personality traits and emotions, and finds there are five types of insomnia. The findings may pave the way for a better understanding of the causes...

Feb 13, 2019

Here's How Poor Sleep May Hurt Your Heart

Not getting enough sleep is known to raise the risk of heart disease; now, a new study may have uncovered why a poor night's sleep is bad for your heart and blood vessels. The study, conducted in mice, found that fragmented sleep alters the levels of a certain hormone, which...

Feb 15, 2019

Life Really Is Harder for Night Owls. Here's Why.

Night owls — people who naturally stay up late and wake up well past sunrise — have different patterns of brain activity compared with morning larks, a new study finds. And these differences can make life more difficult for night owls, if they're forced to stick to a typical 9-to-5...

Mar 8, 2019

Can You Learn Anything While You Sleep?

There are only 24 hours in a day, and usually about a third of that is spent sleeping. So, the overambitious have always wondered: Is it possible to make use of this time and learn a new skill or even a language? In other words, is sleep learning possible? The...

May 10, 2019

Sleep Paralysis: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

People may wake in the middle of the night and find themselves unable to move or utter a sound. They might see a shadowy figure hovering in the corner, feel a pressure on their chest or sense a hand around their throat. Other times, they feel removed from their frozen...

Jun 11, 2019

Night Owls and Morning Larks, Make Room for 'Afternoon People' and 'Nappers'

If you don't quite fit in among the morning people or night owls, well, you might soon have your own, more relatable, sleep category. Now, researchers propose two more so-called chronotypes: the afternoon person and the napper. A chronotype is defined by the time of day a person is most...

Aug 18, 2019

Does drinking chamomile tea really help people fall asleep?

Peter Rabbit had a rough day in Mr. McGregor's garden. As the bunny tried to fall asleep that night, Mrs. Rabbit, Peter's mom, knew just what he needed. His mother put him to bed and made some c[h]amomile tea, and she gave a dose of it to Peter! 'One table-spoonful...

Oct 23, 2019

Why Do Some People Need Less Sleep Than Others?

We all wish we could get by on less sleep, but one father and son actually can—without suffering any health consequences and while actually performing on memory tests as well as, or better than, most people. To understand this rare ability, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, first...

Oct 30, 2019

Girl with Rare 'Sleeping Beauty' Syndrome Dozes for Months

A 17-year-old girl in Colombia drops into bouts of sleep that can last for days, weeks, or even months. During her extensive slumbers, the girl often loses her memory; after one 48-day episode, she temporarily forgot her own mother's face, according to news reports. The girl, Sharik Tovar, is one...

Nov 13, 2019

Watch Spinal Fluid 'Wash' the Sleeping Brain in Rhythmic, Pulsing Waves

What happens to your brain as you sleep? A new video holds the answer: A juicy mix of blood and cerebrospinal fluid slosh through your smushy noggin in a rhythmic pulsating dance. The movement appears almost tidal in a video released Oct. 31 along with an article in the journal...

Jan 9, 2020

A Fat Tongue May Be Blocking Your Airways While You Sleep

Millions of Americans stop breathing in their sleep, and there may be a strange reason why: Their tongues are too fat. Yes, you read that right: Fatty tongues seem to worsen the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), at least in cases related to obesity, according to a new study...

Feb 16, 2020

Can you 'turn off' a nightmare?

The sheets are damp with sweat. You're cold, but your heart is racing as if an assailant just chased you down a dark street. It was just a nightmare, you tell yourself; there's nothing to be afraid of. But you're still filled with dread. Given how unsettling and haunting nightmares...

Sep 22, 2020

Why do we sleep? The answer may change right before we turn 3.

Humans spend about a third of our lives sleeping, and scientists have long debated why slumber takes up such a huge slice of our time. Now, a new study hints that our main reason for sleeping starts off as one thing, then changes at a surprisingly specific age. Two leading...

Oct 28, 2020

13 disturbing Halloween horrors come to life

Real-life Halloween horrorsHalloween is a ghoulish time of year, when people tell ghost stories about werewolves, black cats, zombies and vampires. Some of these creepy tales have leaped from the realm of the mythical into real life: humans who felt as though they were transforming into wolves, a man who...