Sleep is so important. We need it to live. And when we can’t sleep, we’re desperate for help.

But lately, our fascination with sleep feels as if it’s taken on an urgency. Do a quick internet search for sleep and you’ll find a slew of articles about how to make your sleep perfect. New gadgets, fancy alarm clocks, stay away from blue light. There are lots of services, products and advice columns that tell us we’re sleeping wrong. Not enough, not quality sleep, wrong position. Even worse, you might find scary messaging claiming that if you’re not sleeping right, your life is going to be shorter; you’re going to get all kinds of diseases.

One of the biggest worries we have about our sleep is that we’re not getting enough and that anything less than seven hours a night means that we’re doomed to bad health, everything from high blood pressure to Alzheimer’s disease. 

But there are two flaws with this kind of messaging. The first flaw is that it’s not completely accurate. Seven to eight hours of sleep, while recommended for adults, is just an average. And while messages have to be simplified for health communication to the public, sometimes important nuances get lost. So yes, it’s true that not getting enough sleep in the long term is associated with health problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. But fixating solely on seven to eight hours ignores the fact that there’s a range of sleep that people need. The duration of a good night’s sleep can be different for different people. Some adults need eight, but some are just fine on six.

The second flaw with this kind of doomsday messaging is that it can be counterproductive, especially for people who do have trouble sleeping. For instance, in 2019, it was estimated that 21 percent of adults in the US were wearing sleep tracking devices. And that number is probably growing. And I get it. It’s fascinating to see how much sleep you’ve gotten each night and to know what part of your night was spent in deep sleep or dreaming. But having all of that sleep data is causing some people to become obsessed with it, so much so that it’s leading to a condition some call orthosomnia: a preoccupation with the constant need to achieve perfect sleep. And this condition, ironically, is causing more sleep problems.

Now orthosomnia might be an extreme example, but the anxiety of not getting enough sleep is keeping some of us up at night. So here’s what some experts are saying. Stop fixating on the number because that can lead to unrealistic expectations of sleep. According to Dr. Colleen Carney, a psychologist and the head of the Ryerson University Sleep Lab, the basic questions you should ask yourself are: Do I feel reasonably well-rested during the day? Do I generally sleep through the night without disturbances? Or, if I wake, do I fall back asleep easily? Can I stay awake through the day without involuntarily falling asleep? If your answers are yes to all three, you probably don’t need to worry about your sleep. And if you’re struggling with your sleep, instead of buying expensive blue light filters or fancy sleep trackers, try talking with your doctor to make sure there aren’t any medical conditions that need to be explored first. Then try evidence-based recommendations laid out by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. What’s really cool is that there’s a highly effective therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I. It doesn’t have any medications involved. And it has a really low failure rate.

1. desperate for sth. / to do sth.: needing or wanting sth. very much 非常需要；极想；渴望。例如：He was so desperate for a job he would have done anything. 他当时太想找份工作了，什么事都愿意干。

2. slew of sth: (informal, especially North American English) a large number or amount of sth. 大量；许多

3. scary adj. (informal) frightening 恐怖的；吓人的。例如：It was a really scary moment. 那一刻真是吓人。

4. nuance n. （声音、感受、外貌或意义的）细微差别

5. cardiovascular adj. connected with the heart and the blood vessels (= the tubes that carry blood around the body) 心血管的

6. diabetes n. a medical condition caused by a lack of insulin, which makes the patient produce a lot of urine and feel very thirsty 糖尿病；多尿症

7. fixate v. 视线移向; 注视

8. doomsday n. the last day of the world when Christians believe that everyone will be judged by God 最后审判日，世界末日（基督教认为在这一天世人都将接受上帝的审判）

9. counterproductive adj. having the opposite effect to the one which was intended 产生相反效果；事与愿违；适得其反

10. insomnia n. the condition of being unable to sleep 失眠（症）。例如：to suffer from insomnia失眠

1. The scary messaging claims that if you’re not sleeping right, your life is going to be shorter; you’re going to get all kinds of diseases.

2. One of the biggest sleeping worries is that we’re not getting enough and that anything less than eight hours a night means that we’re doomed to bad health.

3. Seven to eight hours of sleep for adults is just an average. 

4. It’s true that not getting enough sleep in the long term is associated with health problems.

5. Fixating on six to eight hours ignores the fact that there’s a range of sleep that people need. 

6. The duration of a good night’s sleep can be different for different people.

7. In 2019, it was estimated that 21% of adults in the UK were wearing sleep-tracking devices. 

8. To keep fixating on the number can lead to unrealistic expectations of sleep. 

9. Dr. Colleen Carney is a psychologist and the head of the Ryerson University Sleep Lab.

10. CBT-I stands for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, which has some medications involved. 

(T) 1. The scary messaging claims that if you’re not sleeping right, your life is going to be shorter; you’re going to get all kinds of diseases.

(F) 2. One of the biggest sleeping worries is that we’re not getting enough and that anything less than eight hours a night means that we’re doomed to bad health.（正确表达）One of the biggest sleeping worries is that we’re not getting enough and that anything less than seven hours a night means that we’re doomed to bad health.

(T) 3. Seven to eight hours of sleep for adults is just an average. 

(T) 4. It’s true that not getting enough sleep in the long term is associated with health problems.

(F) 5. Fixating on six to eight hours ignores the fact that there’s a range of sleep that people need. （正确表达）Fixating on seven to eight hours ignores the fact that there’s a range of sleep that people need. 

(T) 6. The duration of a good night’s sleep can be different for different people.

(F) 7. In 2019, it was estimated that 21% of adults in the UK were wearing sleep-tracking devices.（正确表达）In 2019, it was estimated that 21% of adults in the US were wearing sleep-tracking devices. 

(F) 8. To keep fixating on the number can lead to unrealistic expectations of sleep.（正确表达）To stop fixating on the number can lead to unrealistic expectations of sleep. 

(T) 9. Dr. Colleen Carney is a psychologist and the head of the Ryerson University Sleep Lab.

(F) 10. CBT-I stands for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, which has some medications involved. （正确表达）CBT-I stands for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, which doesn’t have any medications involved.