The Journal.
Every essay, review, field note, and interview we've published. New pieces arrive on Tuesdays; full issues close every three months.
The Quiet Engineering Problem Behind CPAP Masks
Ask someone who gave up on their CPAP machine why they quit, and a surprising number will say the same thing: it was too loud.
Three Months on a CPAP, Three Ways of Measuring Whether Sleep Apnea Treatment Is Working
Ninety nights ago a sleep tech handed me a small humming box and a nasal mask and told me to "give it a few weeks." That instruction is the most honest and least useful thing anyone said to me during…
I Spent Two Weeks Trying to Out-Sleep My Snoring — Here's What the Sleep Apnea Test Actually Found
There is a myth that sounds like good sense, which is what makes it sticky: that snoring is a lifestyle problem you can manage your way out of. Sleep on your side. Drop ten pounds.
Why Does CPAP Therapy Feel Worse Before It Feels Better? The Ramp Question, Honestly Answered
There is a moment, somewhere in the first week of CPAP therapy, that almost everyone remembers. You lie down, settle the mask, press the button. The machine hums.
CPAP Rainout: The Physics of Water in Your Tube, and How to Stop It
At 3:14 a.m. I was awake, holding a kitchen thermometer against the outside of my CPAP hose. The room read 64°F.
The AHI of 47: What One Number on My Sleep Study Actually Measured
My home sleep test came back with an AHI of 47. That number sat at the top of a one-page PDF, above a graph of my oxygen saturation that looked like the readout from a failing engine.
Sleep Apnea Treatment: What the First Month Actually Asks of You
You have probably already heard the discouraging version. Sleep apnea means a machine strapped to your face for the rest of your life, and most people give up on it inside a year anyway.
Starting CPAP for Sleep Apnea: What the "Just Wear the Mask" Advice Gets Right and Wrong
The advice arrives almost as a reflex. You leave the sleep clinic with a diagnosis, a prescription, and a sentence everyone seems to repeat: just wear the mask, you'll get used to it.
Starting CPAP Therapy: What the 4-Hour Number Actually Means
There is a number that will follow you for the next ninety days, whether anyone tells you or not: four hours a night, on 70 percent of nights.
Sleep Nutrition: What the Food-and-Sleep Evidence Actually Supports
A glass of warm milk before bed is supposed to work because milk contains tryptophan, the amino acid your body turns into the sleep hormone melatonin.