Portrait of Judith Hawthorn, JavaSleep contributor
JavaSleep Contributor

Judith Hawthorn

26 pieces published
A close-up macro photograph of a sleek black ring-style pulse oximeter resting on a…
CPAP May 2026 · 4 min

Sleep Apnea Mortality: What 90 Days With a Borrowed Pulse Oximeter Taught Me

A cardiologist friend told me, over coffee, that sleep apnea doesn't really kill people in their sleep — that the famous mortality risk is a slow grind, a heart attack twenty years from now, not a…

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A close-up photorealistic photograph of a home sleep study device kit laid out on…
Diagnostics May 2026 · 5 min

Home Sleep Study vs Lab Polysomnography: What I Recommend, and When I Don't

For a referred patient staring at two quotes — one from a sleep clinic, one from a courier-delivered kit — the question is almost always the same: which study, and is the cheaper one good enough?

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A serene low-angle photograph of a woman lying on her back on a simple…
Sleep May 2026 · 6 min

Yoga for Sleep: What Actually Happens in the Body When You Try It

The number that gets passed around is striking: in a 2013 study from Khalsa's group at Harvard, chronic insomnia patients who did an eight-week yoga practice improved their sleep efficiency by roughly…

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A photorealistic nighttime bedroom scene shot from a low angle at the foot of…
Sleep May 2026 · 4 min

Sleep in Pregnancy: Why the Third Trimester Breaks Your Nights, and What Actually Helps

Here is the counterintuitive part: the broken sleep of late pregnancy is not a malfunction. It is a system working exactly as designed.

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Overhead flat-lay photograph of four sleep tracking devices arranged on crisp white linen bedding…
Wearables May 2026 · 10 min

I Wore Four Sleep Trackers for Six Weeks. The Cheapest One Won.

Sleep trackers are mostly measuring the same two things, and the device that did it best for me cost less than a tank of petrol. That isn't the answer I expected when I started this.

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A photorealistic close-up nighttime photograph of a person's bare lower legs and feet tangled…
RLS May 2026 · 6 min

Restless Legs Syndrome Treatment in 2025: What the Number 13 Actually Means for Gabapentin and Pregabalin

There is a number worth knowing if you have restless legs syndrome, or if you write the prescriptions for people who do. The number is 13.

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A dimly lit bedroom at 3 a.m., photographed from a low angle beside the…
Bedding May 2026 · 8 min

Four Cooling Comforters, One Hot Sleeper, Eight Weeks: A Real Comparison

At 3:14 on a January morning I reached past my sleeping partner, fished a probe thermometer out from under the duvet, and read the number off by phone screen: 27.4°C (81.3°F).

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A photorealistic overhead shot of a dimly lit bedroom at 3 a.m., showing an…
CBT-I May 2026 · 5 min

Sleep Restriction Therapy: The Counterintuitive Insomnia Protocol That Actually Has the Data

There is a sentence almost every chronic insomniac has been told, often by someone well-meaning: if you can't sleep, at least lie there and rest — your body is still recovering. It sounds humane.

By Judith Hawthorn · Read →