Afraid that your naps or sleeping in on the weekend may not be good for you? Well, not only can they help you make up for lost sleep, but research suggests that they may also be beneficial for cognitive function, memory, and (perhaps counterintuitively) help you fall asleep at night. The next time someone comments on your napping habit or forces you up early on a Saturday morning, you’ll be able to back up your extra shut eye with science!

  Sleep is the most active “inactive” part of your life.  Although your muscles are relaxed and still (sleep walkers excluded!), the rest of your body is working hard to rebuild your foundation for the next day. And doing so correctly requires a certain architecture. Sleep architecture refers to the three primary phases of sleep essential for this process; here's how they come together to build you a strong tomorrow.

Sleeping through your alarm. Showing up unprepared to a presentation. Forgetting an important birthday. Getting stressed out just reading? I can relate. But by making my InsideTracker goal ‘Reduce Stress,’ tracking certain biomarkers, and making some lifestyle changes, I’ve been able to find relaxation, mindfulness, and balance in my fast-paced daily life. 

Have you ever wished you could sleep all day without judgement from others, or even worse, yourself? We’ll admit – it’s certainly crossed our minds once or twice. With the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world out there, restful nights can be few and far between.  So to help combat the imbalance between hours spent awake and those spent sleeping, we’ve created our “Sleep Better” goal. No, we didn’t quite figure out how to add hours to the day or turn ourselves into cats. But we did put together a ...

Most of us can recognize the symptoms of an off-kilter digestive system: acid reflux, bloating, stomach pains, discomfort, constipation, excess gas, etc. But once they set in, do you know how to get back to neutral? Two foods that have been getting the limelight lately to help? Kombucha and kimchi. But are these ‘gut healthy’ foods just enjoying their 15 minutes of fame, or are they here to stay?

Did you know that vitamin D, also known as the “sunshine vitamin,” plays a big role in your night, too? If your vitamin D levels are on the lower end, it could actually be affecting your sleep. Worry not, though! Below, we’ll go over the evidence behind the effect vitamin D has on sleep and give you some suggestions for your best night of rest yet.

Here at InsideTracker, we aim to bring you content you can use everyday: in the gym, on the race-course, on the road, at work, and at home. That's why we're excited to welcome a new guest blogger to the platform: Joe DiStefano, better known as“Joe DI”, is Director of Sport at Spartan Race, and he's a longtime friend and user of InsideTracker. Over the next few months, Joe will be sharing some of his incredible training insight on our blog. Be sure to subscribe.   In his guest blog debut, Joe DI ...

The current market interest for sleep tracking devices is exploding, and that bodes well for the wearable manufacturers. Sleep tracking is nothing new, but it is growing because consumers are better educated on the value of sleep to the brain and body. But probably also because we are an affluent, self-centered society. We all want data selfies, not just selfies. And we want to know what we look like when we sleep, even if all we see is a bunch of numbers.