Question: why is it better to some routines to sleep better. Do dream catchers work how people think that work or is it psychological

Alex Reid answered on 13 Nov 2018: last edited 14 Nov 2018 8:23 am

Hi Charlie, great questions, thank you. Sleep is a biological drive, like hunger, so all humans will need it. However, like food, there is a lot of cross cultural variation in how different cultures sleep. For example in some hot countries people might have a nap during the day when the sun is at it’s peak. Different routines work for different people so I am always wary of making general statements about what might work for individuals. However, the general key to all types of good sleep is routine itself. As long as you are getting an adequate amount of sleep as part of a routine humans are quite flexible in how we get it. In western countries (such as the UK) medical professionals will sometimes suggest something called sleep hygiene to patients that have trouble sleeping, and this includes keeping a consistent sleep/wake time. As you can see this good sleep guide from the NHS includes information about routine! (https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/how-to-get-to-sleep/).
As for your second question, I think dream catchers are very cool. I believe native American’s originally made them after looking at spiders webs. In the same way webs catch flies they believe that these help catch dreams! While I think they are great pieces of cultural art I am not aware of any scientific evidence that they actually help catch dreams. Dreams are a natural function of sleep, and will happen with or without a dream catcher above your bed.