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Sheeps Learn
Browse by topic
Every guide, post and short explainer on the site, in 8 topics — from the techniques with evidence behind them to supplements, sleep tech and what the body does at night. Short, sourced, and best read in daylight.
Falling asleep
8 pages
Which techniques have evidence behind them, how long falling asleep should take, and what to do when it doesn’t happen.
- How to fall asleep fast Every popular technique for falling asleep faster, ranked by the evidence behind it: what it asks of you, what was tested, in whom, and who it suits.
- What to do when you can’t sleep A calm, ordered plan for the middle of the night: when to stay put, when to get up, why not to check the time, and what to do the next day.
- How long should it take to fall asleep? Up to half an hour is normal, from infancy to old age. Why dropping off instantly is not the goal, and why the clock is a poor judge of the wait.
- The military sleep method The relax-the-body, still-the-mind routine said to put pilots to sleep in 2 minutes: where it comes from, what is known about it, and how to try it.
- 4-7-8 breathing for sleep Breathe in for 4, hold for 7, out for 8: how to do Andrew Weil’s exercise gently, what has been measured, and what has not.
- Paradoxical intention for sleep The counter-intuitive technique of lying in the dark and gently trying to stay awake: why it works on effort, what the trials found, and how to do it.
- The bed is a cue Whatever mostly happens in a bed is what that bed comes to mean.
- Waking at three is normal The waking is ordinary. The alarm about it is what costs the hour.
A racing mind
4 pages
Why thoughts get louder at bedtime, and what gives them somewhere harmless to go.
- Racing thoughts at night Why a busy mind speeds up at bedtime, why pushing thoughts away backfires, and what to do instead — before bed and in it.
- Tired but can’t sleep: why it happens Sleep pressure and the body clock are separate systems, and the clock’s push to stay awake peaks in the evening. Why you can be exhausted and wide awake at once.
- Does counting sheep work? Why the oldest trick for falling asleep is too orderly to quiet a busy mind, and what works on the same instinct.
- Trying to sleep is what keeps you awake Sleep is one of the few things that effort makes worse.
Cognitive shuffling
9 pages
The technique behind Sheeps: how to do it, the word lists, and what the research shows.
- Cognitive shuffling, explained The technique of thinking deliberately disconnected thoughts to fall asleep: how to do it, why it works, and what the research actually shows.
- What the cognitive shuffling research actually shows The two studies behind every claim about the technique — what each one measured, what it found, and what it cannot tell you.
- Cognitive shuffling word list 280 calm, concrete words in 28 groups — the words Sheeps’ Radio reads — and the one rule that makes a list work.
- Cognitive shuffling, read to you When the do-it-yourself shuffle turns into work: the kinds of audio that supply the words, and how to choose between them.
- Cognitive shuffling if you can’t picture things If you have aphantasia, “picture each word” gets you nothing — but the technique may still help, because only one explanation of it needs images.
- Cognitive shuffling apps, compared Eight iPhone apps side by side — what each reads to you, in which languages, at what price — and how to choose.
- The eight-second gap One word. A long pause. Another word with nothing to do with the first.
- Why we never tell you to picture anything An instruction is a task, and a task is work.
- The stories make no sense on purpose Coherence is the bug, not the feature.
Sleep stories
6 pages
Stories with nothing to follow, the apps that tell them, and falling asleep to the TV.
- Plotless sleep stories Why the best sleep stories go nowhere: no characters with problems, no question to answer, and nothing to stay awake for.
- Sleep story apps for adults, compared Six apps, three podcasts and Sheeps side by side: what the stories are like, what plays when they end, German, and what each costs.
- Falling asleep with the TV on What the light, the changing sound and the next episode do once you have dropped off — and a gentler way to keep the habit.
- How a Sheeps story is made From five settings to up to an hour of audio: what goes in, the rules a story is written to, how it is checked, and how it is read.
- Why the sentences get shorter As we fall asleep, we stop thinking about the future.
- Why it ends in silence No chime, no fade-up, no thanks for listening.
Bedtime routine
7 pages
The evening habits worth keeping — light, caffeine, alcohol, a warm shower — and the rules that matter less.
- A bedtime routine for adults What each step of an evening routine has behind it — the schedule, light, caffeine, a warm shower, screens, the last half hour — and the trap of doing it perfectly.
- Sleep hygiene: what the rules are worth Where the familiar list came from, which of its rules have research behind them, which are thin, and why following it to the letter can backfire.
- A hot shower before bed What the research found about a warm shower or bath before bed, why warming up helps you cool down, when to have it, and who should be careful with hot water.
- Screens before bed E-readers, Night Shift and blue-light glasses, study by study — and why what a screen does to your bedtime may matter more than what its light does to your melatonin.
- Light is the clock Morning light sets it. Evening light only nudges it.
- Caffeine has a very long tail The coffee at two o'clock is still measurably present at midnight.
- Alcohol is a sedative, not a sleep aid Sedation and sleep look similar from outside. They are not the same thing.
Supplements
4 pages
Melatonin, magnesium and the sleepy girl mocktail, held up against the trials.
- Sleep supplements: what the evidence shows Ten popular sleep supplements, each against its trials — who was tested, what was found, and who should ask a doctor first.
- Does melatonin work for sleep? Melatonin is a timing signal more than a sleeping pill: where its evidence is strong, where it is weak, and why the label may be wrong.
- Magnesium for sleep What the magnesium trials actually tested, which forms they used, and why the evidence is still too thin to recommend it.
- The sleepy girl mocktail The viral bedtime drink, ingredient by ingredient: what the cherry and magnesium studies found, and what the drink itself has never been tested for.
The body at night
6 pages
What your heart, your temperature and your brain do on the way into sleep.
- What happens when you fall asleep Not a switch but a descent: what your heart, breath, temperature, muscles and brain waves do in the minutes on the way into sleep.
- Hypnagogia: the way into sleep The drift between waking and sleep: what thought turns into there, why Tetris players see falling blocks, and why it is worth imitating.
- Heart rate when falling asleep Why the heart slows on the way into sleep, what “normal” means at night, what HRV is — and why it sometimes races instead.
- Does a cooling mattress help you sleep? What the studies of cooling mattresses and pads actually found, who paid for them, what Eight Sleep says about its Pod, and the cheaper ways to a cooler bed.
- You have to cool down first Sleep begins on the falling edge of your temperature curve.
- Two processes decide when you are sleepy Pressure builds while you are awake. The clock does not care about pressure.
Sleep tech and trends
5 pages
Trackers, sleepmaxxing, mouth tape and weighted blankets: what holds up.
- Are sleep trackers accurate? What a watch, ring or mattress sensor really measures, what independent studies found, what a sleep score is — and how to use one without letting it run your nights.
- Orthosomnia: when sleep tracking keeps you awake The name for worrying about your sleep data until the worry costs sleep — where it comes from, why it happens, and what to do about it.
- Sleepmaxxing: does it work? The trend of stacking sleep hacks, each one held up to its evidence — and why the stacking itself can keep you awake.
- Mouth taping for sleep What the trend promises, the handful of small studies behind it, who should never try it, and the snoring that needs a doctor rather than tape.
- Do weighted blankets help you sleep? One striking trial, a mixed literature, a weight rule nobody has tested, and the people who should never sleep under one.