Question

1.​Your friend confides in you that she usually can't get to sleep before 2 AM, so she is only getting about three hours of sleep each night. She keeps herself awake during the day by drinking coffee. According to sleep research, what advice should you give your friend about the dangers of her sleep habits, and what she can do to change them?

Answer 1

I would tell her that not having enough sleep (sleeping only three hours is not nearly enough, because we usually need between 6 to 8 hours of sleep, depending on the person) is very bad for health in the long run. It has bad consequences for mental and physical health and is not advised. I would first tell her to stop drinking coffee and adding a regular physical activity in her schedule. Then we would see if this would work and help her go to bed earlier (between 11:00pm until 12:00pm) and wake up at 7:00 or 8:00 am, in order to get the required amount of sleep.