Sleep Myths You Can Ignore

"In most cases, insomniacs get enough sleep at night to prevent them from dozing off during the day," says Clete A. Kushida, MD, PhD, medical director of Stanford Sleep Medicine Center. The sleep isn't very restful, though. And a nap isn't usually an option, because Kushida says insomniacs don't just have trouble sleeping at night; they have trouble sleeping, period. The same racing mind and internal mechanisms that keep them up at 3 a.m. will trouble them at 3 p.m.—even if they find a dark, quiet room and a soft place to curl up. This is why it's so important for them to seek help through their primary-care physician or sleep specialist when they first start noticing the problem, instead of letting it become chronic.