The Journal.
Every essay, review, field note, and interview we've published. New pieces arrive on Tuesdays; full issues close every three months.
When a Nap Helps and When It Hides Something: Napping With Sleep Disorders
A nap, the headlines like to say, can cut your risk of dying from heart disease by almost a third. There is a real number behind that, and it is more interesting — and more slippery — than the…
What Your Oxygen Levels Do at Night: Sleep Apnea, Hypoxia, and the Real Reason It Matters
The most dangerous moment of sleep apnea is not when you stop breathing. It's the moment you start again. That sounds backwards, so let me earn it.
I Tried the Lifestyle-First Sleep Apnea Treatment Before CPAP. Here's What Held Up.
Three months ago a home sleep test handed me an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 18 — squarely in moderate territory — and a referral for a CPAP machine.
Sleep Apnea Classification: What "Moderate" Actually Means When You're Stuck Between Mild and Severe
You've read the article about mild sleep apnea, the one that said you'd probably be fine with some weight loss and a different pillow.
Sleep Apnea Classification: What "Mild," "Moderate," and "Severe" Actually Measure
A sleep-study report lands in your inbox with a single number doing most of the work: AHI 11. Somewhere on the page, a clinician has written "mild obstructive sleep apnea." Had the number been 15…
CPAP Air Travel Is Allowed — Here's How That Rule Actually Got Written
There is a specific dread that attaches to the security line when you travel with a breathing machine.
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.