Sleep, Interrupted!

It’s something we do every day, and in fact, spend roughly a third of our lives doing. We rarely think much about it, even though it affects our ability to function and perform our daily life tasks and responsibilities, and impacts our physical and mental health and well-being.

Sleep is something we postpone and often take for granted. The reality is that the more aware we are and the more we know about how to create healthy routines around our sleep habits, the better able we will be to make the most of the time—awake and asleep.

The importance of quality sleep

Sleep—that is to say, a solid, regular, uninterrupted seven-to-eight hours nightly sleep for adults—is a big deal. Not only does it help us restore our energy and repair our bodies from the wear and tear of the day, but it also impacts our ability to function effectively and safely, including in the workplace. Sleep is when our brains organize and store our memories. The quality of our sleep impacts our physical and mental health, and, according to a 2024 study, our longevity.

During an ideal, uninterrupted nightly sleep, we essentially repeat a four-phase sleep cycle, moving several times through light 1 and 2 non-REM (NREM) stages, into 3 NREM, the deepest of the three lighter sleep stages, and deep REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep.

Concerning trends

According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2025 Annual Poll, 6 out of every 10 adults don’t get enough sleep, close to 4 in 10 adults have trouble falling asleep three or more nights per week, and almost one-half of adults have trouble staying asleep three or more nights per week. Moreover, 53 percent of participants in the study reported dissatisfaction with their sleep.

New research highlights the troubling impacts of sleep disruption

A recent study of over 45,000 Norwegian university students concluded that bedtime screen usage led to a 59 percent increased risk of insomnia. A study of the impacts of interrupted sleep in older adults identified that interrupted sleep negatively affected processing speed, working memory, and visual memory binding. A study out of Canada’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences determined that sleep disruption causes damage to the brain at a cellular level, suggesting a link between sleep disruption and blood flow to the brain, according to the principal investigator of the study, sleep neurologist Dr. Andrew Lim.

Finally, a 2025 umbrella review of sleep research published between 2008 and 2024 identified severe negative impacts of sleep deprivation, including “cardiovascular disease (including hypertension, stroke, and coronary heart disease), mental disorders (anxiety, emotional dysregulation), and metabolic syndrome (diabetes mellitus and obesity.”

Setting the stage for healthy sleep habits and routines

Sleep, it turns out, is a very big deal. In today’s fast-paced, hyper-connected, and wired world, creating consistent sleep habits, integrating good sleep hygiene, and prioritizing uninterrupted, regular sleep are key to health and longevity.

6 steps to help manage sleep disruption, deficit, and deprivation

1. Take stock of your sleep habits, perceptions, and routines. Do you regularly sacrifice sleep to meet work deadlines, study, socialize, scroll social media, or engage in other online activities? Do you often find yourself struggling to stay awake or concentrate throughout the day due to drowsiness? Do you tend to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, or do you fall asleep at random times, whenever and wherever you run out of steam?

2. Examine the quality of your sleep environment: Is it calm, quiet, and comfortable? Are you able to effectively shut out external disruptors, like excessive light and noise? Does your sleep environment feature one or more electronic devices, like a TV, smart speaker, a laptop, or smartphone?

3. Reflect on your pre-sleep habits and routines: Do you tend to eat heavy meals or exercise close to bedtime? Do you often consume alcohol or recreational drugs just before bedtime? Do you spend the hours before bedtime doomscrolling, engaging in social media, online gaming, or shopping, or binge-watching TV, regularly or occasionally, and then fall asleep while a TV or device plays on?

4. Commit to creating a calm, cool, dark, and quiet sleep environment: An ideal sleep environment is quiet, calm, and comfortable, and devoid of sleep-disrupting distractions, including TVs, laptops, smartphones, and other electronic devices. If possible, leave your smartphone in another room, out of reach. Set your thermostat to a cool temperature. Use thick, light- and sound-absorbing drapes to manage external sleep disruptors.

5. Retool pre-sleep routines and habits: Make time to wind down in the hours leading up to bedtime. Minimize your exposure to electronic devices and screens in the hours before bedtime. Refrain from eating rich foods, consuming alcohol, recreational drugs, or over-the-counter sleep aids. (Consult your physician if you have trouble falling asleep and wish to explore the use of medications.) Refrain from strenuous exercise before bedtime. Focus on winding down. Meditate, take a long, relaxing bath, or listen to your favorite music.

6. Prioritize sleep: Make a solid plan that supports a solid seven to nine hours of sleep, with regular sleep and wake times.