# nitez

> Why we can’t sleep, and what helps. Lying awake, wondering why sleep won’t come? Sleep research has answers, from waking at 3am to what a drink, a nap or a sleeping pill does to a night.

## Trouble sleeping

- [How do I get through the day after a bad night?](https://nitez.com/after-a-bad-night): Barely slept? How one short night really affects your day, what helps you get through it, and why tonight's sleep will probably be deeper.
- [How do I stop my mind racing at night?](https://nitez.com/busy-mind-at-night): Why your mind races when you lie down, why trying to stop the thoughts keeps them going, and what can help a busy mind tonight.
- [How do I wind down when I’m tired but wired?](https://nitez.com/winding-down): Tired but wired in the evening and can’t switch off? Why the day keeps running after you stop, and how to let it wear off without a routine to get right.
- [What can I do when I dread going to bed?](https://nitez.com/dreading-bedtime): Bad nights can leave you dreading bed, and the dread keeps sleep away. Why it happens, why tonight matters less than it feels, and what to try this evening.
- [What can I do when worry keeps me awake?](https://nitez.com/worry-at-night): When a real worry about money, health, work or someone you love keeps you awake: why it seems bigger at night, and how to leave it until morning.
- [Why am I still tired after a full night’s sleep?](https://nitez.com/tired-after-sleeping): Slept seven or eight hours and still woke up exhausted? Why mornings feel so slow, from sleep inertia to body-clock timing, and when it's worth a doctor.
- [Why am I wide awake at bedtime?](https://nitez.com/awake-at-bedtime): Wide awake at bedtime after a long day? Why the body clock pushes alertness in the evening, how naps and caffeine add to it, and what helps tonight.
- [Why can’t I fall asleep?](https://nitez.com/cant-fall-asleep): Lying in bed tired but unable to drop off? Why trying harder keeps you awake, why the wait can feel longer than it was, and what to try tonight.
- [Why do I keep waking up at 3am?](https://nitez.com/waking-at-3am): Waking at 3am and can't get back to sleep? Why it happens in the second half of the night, why it feels so bleak, and one small thing to try now.
- [Why do I stay up late when I'm tired?](https://nitez.com/staying-up-late): Tired but still up at midnight, scrolling or watching one more episode? Why we put off going to bed, and how to keep your evening without losing your sleep.
- [Why do I wake up too early and can't get back to sleep?](https://nitez.com/waking-too-early): Waking an hour or two before your alarm and lying there until it goes? Why it happens, from an early body clock to low mood, and what helps you sleep later.

## How sleep works

- [How much sleep do I really need?](https://nitez.com/how-much-sleep): How many hours of sleep adults need, why it's a range rather than one number, and how to tell from your days whether you're getting enough.
- [What happens while we sleep?](https://nitez.com/stages-of-sleep): What happens while you sleep: light, deep and REM sleep, how the cycles repeat through the night, and why brief wakings are a normal part of it.
- [What is deep sleep, and am I getting enough?](https://nitez.com/deep-sleep): What deep sleep is, why it comes early in the night and thins with age, and why a tracker's deep sleep number is only a rough guess.
- [What is REM sleep?](https://nitez.com/rem-sleep): What REM sleep is, why your body can’t move while your brain is nearly awake, why it gathers toward morning, and what it may do for memory.
- [What is the body clock, and how does it decide when I'm sleepy?](https://nitez.com/body-clock): How your body clock works: a clock in nearly every cell, reset each morning by light, and why some people are simply built to sleep later.
- [What makes us feel sleepy?](https://nitez.com/sleep-pressure): Why sleepiness builds the longer you're awake, how the body clock puts it off, and why caffeine, naps and sleeping in work the way they do.
- [Why are some nights better than others?](https://nitez.com/good-nights): Why you sleep well one night and badly the next: how your day, wake time, light and hours awake shape tonight's sleep, and why some variation is normal.
- [Why do we dream?](https://nitez.com/why-we-dream): Why we dream, why dreams are so strange and borrow from yesterday, and what the main scientific theories say dreams are for.

## What helps

- [Are naps good for you?](https://nitez.com/are-naps-good-for-you): Are naps good or bad for you? How long and when to nap, why a long nap can leave you groggy, and how a nap changes the night ahead.
- [How do I get over jet lag faster?](https://nitez.com/jet-lag): Why you’re wide awake at 3am after a long flight, why flying east is harder, and how to time light and dark so your body clock catches up sooner.
- [How do I sleep well on night shifts?](https://nitez.com/night-shifts): Why sleep after a night shift is short and light, and what helps: when to sleep, a nap before work, light and darkness, and guarding day sleep at home.
- [How does light affect my sleep?](https://nitez.com/light-and-sleep): How morning daylight, evening lamps and your phone set your body clock, what’s worth changing and how to use light if you sleep by day after night shifts.
- [Should I get up if I can’t sleep?](https://nitez.com/getting-up-at-night): Lying awake and wondering whether to get up or stay put? Why leaving bed for a while can help, what to do while you’re up, and when to go back.
- [What is CBT for insomnia, and what would it ask of me?](https://nitez.com/cbt-for-insomnia): What CBT for insomnia asks of you, why it starts with less time in bed, how long it takes and how to find it or try it on your own.
- [What makes a bedroom good for sleep?](https://nitez.com/the-bedroom): What makes a bedroom good for sleep: why cool, dark and steady sound matter, what's mostly marketing and what helps if you share a bed or sleep by day.

## Remedies and substances

- [Are sleeping pills safe to take?](https://nitez.com/sleeping-pills): Are sleeping pills safe? What prescription pills and PM sleep aids do, the risks of one hard night versus every night, and how people come off them.
- [Do herbal sleep remedies like valerian or chamomile work?](https://nitez.com/herbal-remedies): Do valerian, chamomile, lavender or magnesium help you sleep? What trials show for each, how much products vary, and what not to mix them with.
- [Does alcohol help you sleep?](https://nitez.com/alcohol-and-sleep): Alcohol can help you fall asleep, but what happens later in the night? How drinking changes sleep, and what to do if you've had a few tonight.
- [How long does caffeine stay in your system?](https://nitez.com/caffeine-and-sleep): How long caffeine stays in your body, why an afternoon coffee keeps some people up, and how it can thin deep sleep even if you fall asleep fine.
- [Is it okay to take melatonin every night?](https://nitez.com/melatonin): Is melatonin safe to take every night? How the body's nighttime signal works, what it helps and which dose and timing make sense, with a word on children.

## Conditions

- [Do I have insomnia?](https://nitez.com/insomnia): Weeks of bad sleep: is it insomnia or a rough patch? What counts, why it outlasts the stress that started it, and what helps.
- [Do I have sleep apnea?](https://nitez.com/sleep-apnea): Loud snoring, pauses in breathing, tired however long you sleep? The signs of sleep apnea, why you may not know, and what a test and treatment involve.
- [Should I worry about my partner’s snoring?](https://nitez.com/snoring-partner): When a partner snores every night: how to tell ordinary snoring from signs of sleep apnea, how to bring it up, and how to get some sleep yourself.
- [What are night terrors, and what should I do when my child has one?](https://nitez.com/night-terrors): Your child is screaming but doesn't seem to see you. What night terrors are, how they differ from nightmares, what to do and when to see a doctor.
- [What is narcolepsy, and could I have it?](https://nitez.com/narcolepsy): Sleepy all the time, or woke unable to move? What narcolepsy is, how it differs from ordinary tiredness, its signs and how it's diagnosed.
- [Why do I keep having nightmares?](https://nitez.com/nightmares): Why nightmares keep coming back, what makes them more likely, and how rewriting a bad dream while you're awake can ease them, with when to talk to someone.
- [Why do my legs feel restless at night?](https://nitez.com/restless-legs): Restless legs at night: what the creeping urge to move is, why it comes in the evening, how iron and some medicines feed it and what helps.
- [Why do people sleepwalk, and should I wake them?](https://nitez.com/sleepwalking): Why sleepwalking happens, why it's so common in children, whether it's safe to wake a sleepwalker and how to lead them back to bed.

## Through life

- [How can I help my child sleep?](https://nitez.com/children-and-sleep): Why children wake in the night and call for you, how much sleep school-age kids need, and ways to ease bedtime battles, fears and night wakings.
- [How much should my newborn sleep, and how do I keep them safe?](https://nitez.com/newborn-sleep): How much newborns sleep, why they wake every few hours and mix up day and night, when nights lengthen and how to put your baby down safely.
- [Why can’t my teenager fall asleep before midnight?](https://nitez.com/teenagers-and-sleep): Teenagers’ body clocks really do shift later. Why your teen isn’t sleepy at 10pm, what school start times do, and how to help without a nightly fight.
- [Why does my sleep change as I get older?](https://nitez.com/sleep-in-later-life): Why sleep gets earlier, lighter and more broken as you get older, which changes come with age itself and which come from something else, and what still helps.
- [Why is it so hard to sleep while pregnant?](https://nitez.com/pregnancy-and-sleep): Why sleep gets hard in each trimester, from nausea and heartburn to needing to pee, what the side-sleeping advice really says, and what helps.
- [Why is my sleep so bad during menopause?](https://nitez.com/menopause-and-sleep): Night sweats, waking at 3am, lying awake for an hour: why sleep changes in menopause, and what helps, from CBT for insomnia to hormone therapy.

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