The department of

Sleep

Sleep is the nightly repair cycle that shapes mood, memory, and metabolism — find essays on insomnia, sleep hygiene, REM cycles, and honest mattress notes.

Pieces 6
Overhead close-up photograph of a steaming bowl of tonkotsu ramen on a dark wooden…
Sleep May 2026 · 6 min

Foods to Avoid Before Bed: What Sleep Hygiene Actually Asks of Your Dinner

At 10:47 p.m. on a Tuesday, I ate a bowl of tonkotsu ramen — the kind with a film of pork fat on top thick enough to hold a chopstick at a slight angle. I was hungry.

By Marcus Webb · Read →
Overhead flat-lay photograph of a rustic wooden nightstand at dusk, arranged with sleep-associated foods…
Sleep May 2026 · 5 min

Sleep-Promoting Foods: What the Evidence Actually Says About Natural Sleep Aids on Your Plate

There is a glass of tart cherry juice in roughly half the sleep articles on the internet, and it is usually doing more work than the underlying study can support.

By James Hartley · Read →
A dimly lit modern bedroom at night, soft blue glow from a VR headset…
Sleep May 2026 · 5 min

One Night in a Headset: What Artificial Intelligence Did to My Sleep Onset After Coffee

The experiment Tuesday, 4:30pm: a double espresso, 18g in, 36g out, roughly 180mg of caffeine on my usual scale. I know what this does to me.

By Natalie Forsythe · Read →
A softly lit child's bedroom at dusk photographed from a low angle, an unmade…
Sleep May 2026 · 5 min

Sleep Aids for Children: What I Actually Tried, and What the Evidence Says

A pediatrician I trust said something last winter that I've been turning over since: "The melatonin gummy is doing less than the bedtime story, and the bedtime story is free." I had asked her…

By Claire Munroe · Read →
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…

By Judith Hawthorn · Read →
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.

By Judith Hawthorn · Read →