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Sleep Scientist (Somnologist)
Studies sleep disorders and the science of sleep — helps people improve rest and health.
Did you know?
Over New Year 1963-64, 17-year-old student Randy Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours (11 days) while Stanford sleep scientist William Dement watched.
How subjects help
- Biology: Study the body clock that tells us when to feel sleepy and when to wake up.
- Psychology: Help people change bedtime habits that keep them lying awake at night.
- Neuroscience: Read brain wave recordings to see which stages of sleep a person reaches.
- Health Sciences: Spot problems like breathing pauses during sleep and link them to heart health.
A famous name
Nathaniel Kleitman: Called the father of modern sleep research; his lab helped discover REM sleep in 1953.
Try it yourself: Keep a sleep diary like a sleep scientist
- Rule a page into columns: bedtime, roughly how long it took to fall asleep, times you woke up, wake-up time, and how you felt in the day.
- Keep the diary by your bed and fill it in within an hour of getting up each morning. A good guess is fine.
- Add a short note about anything unusual, such as a late screen, feeling worried or being ill.
- After a week (two if you can), look for patterns, such as which nights you fell asleep fastest.
Sleep scientists and doctors ask patients to keep a two-week sleep diary before deciding what is causing a sleep problem.
Adapted from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust: Keeping a sleep diary.
Also try: Sort kitchen smells into families.
Known for it in
USA, Australia, UK, Germany, Japan