Hi and welcome back to the savvy psychologist podcast. I'm your host

Dr. Ellen Hendrickson and I'll help you meet life's challenges with

evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

This week on the show, we continue our sleep theme and bust five myths about sleep and insomnia.

So it's strange to say, but sleep is trendy these days. In any culture, whatever is scarce or hard to achieve is valued.

So for example, being thin in a land of plenty or girth in a time of deprivation.

So in a culture where folks get rewarded for answering work emails at 3 a.m.

Not to mention the sizable number of folks who work two jobs and go to school while raising

kids, healthy sleep has become a cross between rebellion and a luxury status symbol.

But when I say healthy sleep, what exactly do I mean? So this week will help you make the

most of those precious hours in bed. To that end here are five myths and

facts about healthy sleep. Myth number one is I need eight hours of sleep a

night.

So rather than the one-sized fits all approach of eight hours,

the amount of sleep and individual needs

falls within a range.

For you and your life, it may be anywhere between 5 and 10 hours.

And only you can discover for yourself your magic number.

But some clues are, do you fall asleep while reading or watching TV?

Does running out of coffee qualify as an emergency?

Do you find you have to sleep in or take naps on weekends to catch up?

And if so, your number of hours is probably higher than you've been getting.

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