“Sleep is the best meditation.”

Dalai Lama

If the average night’s sleep is 8 hours (i.e. 1/3 of a day), one sleeps for 1/3 of one’s life, and as sleep is such an important part of our life, we just must devote a post to it.

This time let’s start with a video about 25 interesting facts about sleep. Before you watch, look through the list of key words from the video and make sure you know them. For practice, do the exercise at the end of the article.

25 Interesting Facts About Sleep

Key sleep vocabulary

• REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep – REM sleep is a period of sleep that is very deep, during which your eyes and muscles make many small movements
• to act out one’s dreams – to express what you saw in your dreams in your actions
• waking hours – the hours one spends awake
• insomnia – habitual sleeplessness; inability to sleep
• sleepiness – the state of being sleepy
• drowsiness [‘drauzɪnəs] – a feeling of being sleepy and lethargic [lə‘θɑːʤɪk]; sleepiness
• to fall asleep – to start to sleep
• sleep-deprived – (of a person) lacking sleep
• to dream in color – to see not black-and-white dreams but color dreams
• to delay sleep – to postpone sleeping

For more sleep-related vocabulary, see the tables below.

Common Sleep Collocations

Collocation	Example 1	Example 2
deep sleep	The baby is in a deep sleep.	I don’t want to wake his from his deep sleep.
light sleep	I am a light sleeper and the faintest noise can wake me up.	As people age, they spend more time each night in light sleep.
to drift off to sleep	Before you drift off to sleep, take this pill.	Don’t drift off to sleep right before the clock strikes 12. You need to see in the New Year!
to get to sleep	Sometimes when you are very tired, you can’t get to sleep quickly.	I’ve been trying to get to sleep for an hour!
to go (back) to sleep	Now, go back to sleep, honey!	When I wake up in the middle of the night, it’s hard for me to go back to sleep.
to cry/sob oneself to sleep	Do you ever cry yourself to sleep? If so, you must be a very unhappy person.	In this hard time of my life I sometimes sob myself to sleep.
to snatch some sleep	My days are so hectic that I can hardly snatch some sleep!	I can’t snatch any sleep during the day. I am always busy doing something.
to induce sleep	He uses drugs to induce sleep.	Soporifics [ˌsɔp(ə)’rɪfɪk] induce sleep.
to lull to sleep	Before he knew it, the heat and hum of the forest had lulled him to sleep.	The swish of the tyres lulled him into a light doze (a short light sleep).
to lose sleep	He’d rather lose sleep than money.	No one is losing any sleep over what he thinks of us (= no one worries about it).
to catch up on sleep	Try to catch up on sleep during the weekend.	I can’t catch up on sleep on the weekend. I’m too busy.
in one’s sleep	You were talking in your sleep last night.	You sometimes giggle in your sleep.
to feign [feɪn] sleep	I feigned sleep when the ticket inspector came round.	Don’t feign sleep. I know that you’re wide awake (fully awake).
a wink of sleep	Last night I didn’t get a wink of sleep.	Try not to think about it or you won’t get a wink of sleep.
a lack of sleep	You’re nervous from a lack of sleep.	A lack of sleep affected her performance.
a good/poor nights sleep	Make sure you have plenty of time for a good night’s sleep.	A poor night’s sleep will affect your capacity for work.

Would you like some more? Here you go.

Word / phrase	Meaning	Example
sleepyhead	a person, especially a child, who is tired and looks as if they want to sleep	Come on, sleepyhead! It’s time to go to bed.
night owl /ˌaʊl/	a person who prefers to be awake and active at night	I’m not much of a night owl. So I usually go to bed at 10 p.m.
early riser	a person who gets up early in the morning	My wife and I are early risers, usually up by 6.00.
to sleep in	to stay asleep in the morning for longer than you usually do	Yesterday, few players turned up because most slept in.
to sleep on it	if you are trying to make a decision and you say that you will sleep on it, you mean that you will delay making a decision on it until the following day, so you have time to think about it	I will have to sleep on it and see where we are.
heavy sleeper	a person who sleeps deeply and is difficult to wake up	I was afraid you’d be a heavy sleeper and I’d have to drag you outside or something.
to hit the hay	to go to bed	Shall we hit the hay now? We’ll have to get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow.
to turn in (for the night)	to go to bed in the evening	Still feeling the impact of my long flight from London, I’d like to turn in.
to catch some Zs (American English)	to get some sleep	I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, so I’ll go catch some Zs now.
fast/sound asleep	sleeping deeply	Turning over, she was soon sound asleep again.
to get en early night	to go to bed before the usual time	I’m going to try and get an early night so I don’t oversleep tomorrow.
to nod off	to fall asleep, especially briefly or unintentionally	I ate a light breakfast and nodded off to asleep again, sleepy from the previous night’s restlessness.
to drop off	to fall asleep easily, especially without intending to	Once I had the bed made, I quickly dropped off to sleep.
to be out like a light	to be asleep	As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.
to take/have a nap/catnap	to sleep lightly or briefly, especially during the day	Excuse me, I’ll just take a little nap.
to sleep like a dog / to be dead to the world	to sleep very soundly (= very well)	I slept like a dog, and made it in to the hospital just after 10 this morning.
to yawn [jɔːn]	to open the mouth wide and take a lot of air into the lungs and slowly send it out, usually when tired or bored	I can’t stop yawning! – You need to take a catnap.
to toss and turn	to keep moving around in bed not able to sleep properly	You feel as if you’ve been tossing and turning all night, and wake up feeling worn out (= extremely tired).
nightmare	a frightening or unpleasant dream	I had nightmares after watching the horror movie.

Practice

Click the link here and match the parts of the sentences.

Click the link here and choose the right word to complete the sentences.

Do you feel a little sleepy now? That’s OK. Have a nap if you can 😊 and remember to subscribe to our blog for more content like this.

• Blog