Sleep is a naturally recurring state of reduced consciousness and responsiveness, essential for physical and mental health. While you’re sleeping each night, you might experience cycles of light and deep sleep, with dreams occurring primarily during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage. Consistent, quality sleep supports cognitive function, emotional regulation, and overall health, reducing the risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Lifestyle factors, such as maintaining a regular sleep schedule and creating a conducive sleep environment, can help you achieve optimal sleep.
FAQ
How much sleep do adults need every night?
Sleep needs can vary from person to person, but generally, adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
Can your diet affect sleep?
Certain foods and beverages can disrupt sleep, including caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods, and foods high in sugar and saturated fat; large meals can also affect sleep. Conversely, eating a well-balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins can promote better sleep.
How do I improve sleep quality?
Steps you can take to improve sleep quality include maintaining a regular sleep schedule, creating a relaxing environment before bedtime, reducing light exposure in the evening, and shutting down all electronic devices an hour before bed.
What are common sleep disorders?
Common sleep disorders include insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, night terrors, sleep paralysis, and sleepwalking.
Everyday Health’s team of board-certified physicians and health professionals contribute to the creation and review of content, ensuring that the information is useful, up to date, and accurate.
Abhinav Singh, MD
Medical Reviewer
Abhinav Singh, MD, is a board-certified sleep medicine specialist and the medical director of the Indiana Sleep Center. He is also an associate clinical professor at Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Indianapolis, where he developed and teaches a sleep medicine rotation.
Dr. Singh’s research and clinical practice focus on sleep disorders, including excessive daytime sleepiness, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, insomnia, and sleep education.
Singh is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Sleep Health (from the National Sleep Foundation) and the Journal of Sleep Disorders: Treatment and Care, and is coauthor of the book Sleep to Heal: 7 Simple Steps to Better Sleep. He has received several Top Doctor recognitions and is the sleep specialist for the Indiana Pacers NBA team.
He lives in the Indianapolis area and enjoys music production and racquet sports.
Justin Laube, MD, is a board-certified integrative and internal medicine physician, a teacher, and a consultant with extensive expertise in integrative health, medical education, and trauma healing.
He graduated with a bachelor's in biology from the University of Wisconsin and a medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. During medical school, he completed a graduate certificate in integrative therapies and healing practices through the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. He completed his three-year residency training in internal medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles on the primary care track and a two-year fellowship in integrative East-West primary care at the UCLA Health Center for East-West Medicine.
He is currently taking a multiyear personal and professional sabbatical to explore the relationship between childhood trauma, disease, and the processes of healing. He is developing a clinical practice for patients with complex trauma, as well as for others going through significant life transitions. He is working on a book distilling the insights from his sabbatical, teaching, and leading retreats on trauma, integrative health, mindfulness, and well-being for health professionals, students, and the community.
Previously, Dr. Laube was an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA Health Center for East-West Medicine and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he provided primary care and integrative East-West medical consultations. As part of the faculty, he completed a medical education fellowship and received a certificate in innovation in curriculum design and evaluation. He was the fellowship director at the Center for East-West Medicine and led courses for physician fellows, residents, and medical students.
Kacy Church, MD, practices as a clinical endocrinologist with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Burlingame, California. She balances both outpatient and inpatient responsibilities, seeing a variety of patients with diabetes, as well as thyroid and pituitary disorders.
Dr. Church always knew that she wanted to pursue endocrinology because the specialty allows for healthy change through patient empowerment. She completed her fellowship in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism in 2017 at Stanford University in California.
She loves running, dancing, and watching her sons play sports.
Simran Malhotra, MD, DipABLM, CHWC, is a triple board-certified physician in internal medicine, hospice and palliative care, and lifestyle medicine, as well as a certified health and wellness coach. She is currently practicing part time as an inpatient palliative care physician at Medstar Health after serving as the palliative care medical director at Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore for a little over four years.
Dr. Malhotra completed her internal medicine residency at Medstar Franklin Square Medical Center, where she also served as chief resident in 2015. She completed her fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2016. She was named Top Doc in Palliative Medicine in 2019 and 2020 by Baltimore Magazine.
On a personal note, she is a BRCA1 previvor with a strong family history of breast and female reproductive cancers, and underwent a risk-reducing bilateral mastectomy and total hysterectomy in 2020 at 32 years old. After learning about her own genetic risk of cancer, and grounded in her professional experiences in palliative care, she founded Wellness By LifestyleMD, a platform where she works with and educates women at high risk for cancer with or without genetic mutations on the powerful impact that positive lifestyle changes can have on their quality of life and even longevity.
In addition to being a diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, she completed the T. Colin Campbell plant-based nutrition certification in 2019, the CHEF culinary coaching certification in 2020, and the WellCoaches health and wellness coaching certification in 2022. She is a member of the ACLM women’s health member interest group and serves as the co-chair of the breast cancer subcommittee.
Malhotra has been featured on several blogs and podcasts, where she has shared her unique perspectives and experiences from palliative care as well as from being a genetic mutation carrier who is passionate about using lifestyle as medicine.
Jason Chua, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and Division of Movement Disorders at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He received his training at the University of Michigan, where he obtained medical and graduate degrees, then completed a residency in neurology and a combined clinical/research fellowship in movement disorders and neurodegeneration.
Dr. Chua’s primary research interests are in neurodegenerative disease, with a special focus on the cellular housekeeping pathway of autophagy and its impact on disease development in diseases such as Parkinson disease. His work has been supported by multiple research training and career development grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the American Academy of Neurology. He is the primary or coauthor of 14 peer-reviewed scientific publications and two peer-reviewed online learning modules from the American Academy of Neurology. He is also a contributing author to The Little Black Book of Neurology by Osama Zaldat, MD and Alan Lerner, MD, and has peer reviewed for the scientific journals Autophagy, eLife, and Neurobiology of Disease.
Alex Dimitriu, MD, is dual board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine. He helps his patients optimize peak performance by day and peak restorative sleep by night, and he brings a deep respect for science and spirituality into his work.
Dr. Dimitriu has been recognized by The New York Times, Discover magazine, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan, and NBC News, among other media outlets. He is a medical reviewer for Business Insider and the Sleep Foundation, and is a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of Sleep Medicine.
Chester Wu, MD, is double board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine. He cares for patients through his private practice in Houston, where he provides evaluations, medication management, and therapy for psychiatric and sleep medicine conditions.
After training at the Baylor College of Medicine and Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Wu established the first sleep medicine program within a psychiatric system in the United States while at the Menninger Clinic in Houston.
Kara Smythe, MD, has been working in sexual and reproductive health for over 10 years. Dr. Smythe is a board-certified fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and her interests include improving maternal health, ensuring access to contraception, and promoting sexual health.
She graduated magna cum laude from Florida International University with a bachelor's degree in biology and earned her medical degree from St. George’s University in Grenada. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. She worked in Maine for six years, where she had the privilege of caring for an underserved population.
Smythe is also passionate about the ways that public health policies shape individual health outcomes. She has a master’s degree in population health from University College London and recently completed a social science research methods master's degree at Cardiff University. She is currently working on her PhD in medical sociology. Her research examines people's experiences of accessing, using, and discontinuing long-acting reversible contraception.
When she’s not working, Smythe enjoys dancing, photography, and spending time with her family and her cat, Finnegan.
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
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