insane that we aren't taught about sleep in school. like 75% of people in my country report poor sleep and we don't spend one biology class learning about it? here's what I've learnt from a variety of sleep courses:
your body does pretty much all it's physical rest and repair processes ('stage 4') in the first 4 hours of sleep, so if you've slept for four hours, congratulations the essentials of your physical health are taken care of
the part of the sleep cycle that takes care of your brain and mental health (REM) happens later in the night, hence why waking up too early makes you brain foggy, and why it's so helpful to train yourself to wake up about the same time every morning
we are evolved to wake up several times in the night; we don't usually remember it, but worry and fixation can make us more likely to remember these
sleep under the influence of alcohol is chemically altered and not effective no matter if it helps you sleep - it's fine to have a drunken night of course but don't use alcohol as a sleep aid to 'knock yourself out', being drunk unconscious is not sleep
the best thing you can do for your sleep is follow a routine; go to bed and wake up at the same time most days, and have a 'wind down' routine, preferably including writing down whatever's on your mind to clear it before sleep
for long-term sleep improvement, it's better to wake up at your planned time regardless of sleep quality than to get a full nights' sleep
missing a night of sleep is NOT the disaster certain scaremonger-y sleep 'experts' will tell you - 'slept debt' does NOT exist and you will recover from a missed night of sleep within a few days of normal sleep
meditation is the best alternative to sleep if you're either unable to sleep or feeling the urge to nap (napping is bad for sleep!) - guided ones can help you not to fall asleep, but literally just lying there with your eyes closed and thinking about something neutral is good
acceptance is the best way to alleviate insomnia; do something else, use meditation to supplement that rest, and accept that you aren't sleeping (often, ironically, this will cause you to fall asleep)
TL;DR: DON'T LISTEN TO THE FEARMONGERS! poor sleep isn't killing you it's okay to miss some sleep! just make sure you're resting when tired and trying to stick to a routine of night time rest
