{"id":756816,"date":"2026-06-23T23:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/756816\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T23:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:04:16","slug":"how-quickly-you-fall-asleep-can-give-vital-clues-to-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/756816\/","title":{"rendered":"How quickly you fall asleep can give vital clues to your health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most Americans say they have trouble falling asleep at night<\/a>, while many of us conk out within a couple of minutes.<\/p>\n

How fast you fall asleep<\/a> can tell a lot about your health<\/a>, according to experts. So, what timeframe is considered just right?<\/p>\n

Well, people should generally fall asleep within 10-20 minutes, Michelle Drerup, a behavioral sleep medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, said in a statement<\/a> Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Although that varies from person to person, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaster isn\u2019t necessarily better, because if you\u2019re falling asleep within a minute, it may suggest sleep deprivation<\/a> or an underlying sleep issue,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

How fast you can fall asleep can tell you about your health, experts say. Faster isn\u2019t necessarily better (Getty Images\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Falling asleep too fast could be a sign that you\u2019re not getting enough and the body is fatigued.<\/p>\n

Most Americans aren\u2019t getting the recommended seven to nine hours a night for optimal health.<\/p>\n

Some ways to tell are if you\u2019re drowsy during the day, lack focus, have slow physical responses and suffer frequent mood swings, the clinic<\/a> notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the long term, chronic sleep deprivation may lead to a host of health problems including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even early mortality,\u201d Harvard Medical School<\/a> cautions.<\/p>\n

But falling asleep slowly can also be a bad sign for your overall health.<\/p>\n

That can mean you\u2019re one of 25 to 30 million Americans experts say have insomnia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Insomnia is a sleep disorder that\u2019s usually caused by stress, but chronic insomnia can be related to chronic health conditions, such as breathing, gastrointestinal or neurological disorders, UCLA Health<\/a> says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople may have restless leg syndrome<\/a> at night that may contribute to insomnia. They may have sleep apnea<\/a> that can contribute to insomnia. They may have a nightmare disorder. They may have anxiety or depression,\u201d Dr. Khaled Almadhoun, a sleep medicine physician at Henry Ford Health, told the American Medical Association<\/a>, noting that \u201cpeople who do have depression typically have about a two to three times more likelihood of insomnia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Older people, who are more likely to have chronic health problems, have more sleep problems. So do women, thanks to their hormones, according to Michigan Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over time, insomnia can raise the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Over<\/p>\n

Over time, the sleep disorder insomnia can raise the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

There are steps people can take to improve their sleep quality \u2013 but they may not be a quick fix.<\/p>\n

Avoiding screen time at least 30 minutes before bed can help the brain relax, keep the room cool and dark can also limit sleep-robbing distractions and maintaining a sleep schedule can tell your body it\u2019s time for shut-eye, the Clinic says.<\/p>\n

If you have trouble falling asleep for at least three nights a week for three months, you may have chronic insomnia.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, it\u2019s best to talk to a doctor to figure out why it\u2019s happening,\u201d said Drerup.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at sleep as an investment,\u201d she added. \u201cIt makes such a big difference in your daily life and overall health. You really can\u2019t afford to skimp on sleep or ignore signs that you\u2019re not getting enough of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most Americans say they have trouble falling asleep at night, while many of us conk out within a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84,55328,30013,61848,87348,192164],"class_list":["post-756816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-health-problems","tag-insomnia","tag-sleep-deprivation","tag-sleep-disorder","tag-sleep-medicine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}