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Sleeping Vocabulary #2
Sleeping Vocabulary #2
By Alena Lien,
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30 March 2021
Here are 52 more words and phrases related to sleeping.
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Click below to expand each section.
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Describing sleep
"Light sleep" (term) - asleep but can be easily woken.
"Light sleeper" (noun) - someone who is easily woken up by noise, etc.
"Deep sleep" (term) - asleep and not easily woken.
"Heavy sleeper" (noun) - someone who is not easily woken up by noise, etc.
In conversational English, "light sleep" is not as common as the others.
"Shh! She's a light sleeper so you have to be quiet."
"She fell into a deep sleep and started dreaming about visiting Disneyland."
You can use a variety of different adjectives and adverbs to describe the quality of your sleep. There are plenty of words you can use, these are just some common ones.
"Good" (adjective) - satisfactory or pleasant.
"Great" (informal adjective) - very good.
"Awesome" (informal adjective) - extremely good.
"Did you have a good sleep last night?"
"How was your sleep?"
"It was really good!"
If you want to say that you had bad sleep for one night, we would typically use positive adjectives but in negative sentences.
"How was your sleep?"
"It wasn't great. I think I had too much coffee yesterday."
"Bad" (adjective) - not good, disappointing or unpleasant.
"Poor" (adjective) - not good, being of a very low quality or standard.
"Disturbed" (adjective) - where the normal pattern or functioning is disrupted or interrupted.
"Interrupted" (adjective) - broken, discontinued or hindered.
When it comes to using negative adjectives to describe quality of sleep, these are usually used when describing ongoing problems with sleep as possible health concerns. For this reason, it is more common to see these adjectives used in more formal, health-related articles.
"Poor sleep quality may negatively affect your performance levels at work or at school."
"A common cause of disturbed sleep is stress related to work or finances."
"Well" (adverb) in a good way, to a high or satisfactory standard.
"Did you sleep well?"
No, I didn't sleep very well actually.
"Peacefully" (adverb) - in a quiet and calm way.
"Soundly" (adverb) - deeply.
"I've always slept soundly, even if the bed is not that comfortable."
"After a feed, the baby finally slept peacefully through the night."
"Badly" (adverb) - in a way that is unacceptable or not of good quality.
"Hardly" (adverb) - only just or almost not.
"I always sleep badly because I'm such a light sleeper."
"We've hardly slept since the birth of our baby."
"Sleep like a log/baby" (informal expression) - to sleep very well.
"My husband sleeps like a log. It's great because I can watch TV in bed and he won't be bothered by it."
Sleep science and health
"Sleep medicine" (noun) - a medical specialty that focuses on sleep problems and sleep disorder.
"Sleep doctor," "sleep specialist," or a "somnologist" (nouns) - a doctor that specialises in sleep medicine.
"Sleep disorder" (noun) - medical conditions that prevent people sleeping in a normal way and can negatively affect their health.
"My GP referred me to a sleep specialist when I told him about my sleeping problems."
"Approximately 60% of Australians have reported symptoms of sleep disorders."
"Sleep study" (noun) - an overnight diagnostic test that allows doctors to monitor you while you sleep - to see what is happening in your brain and body and diagnose sleep disorders.
"Sleep clinic" (noun) - a laboratory where sleep studies are conducted.
"My doctor booked me in to spend a night at the sleep clinic for a sleep study."
"Circadian rhythm" (term) - a 24-hour cycle that is part of the body's natural and internal processes that regulates sleep and wakefulness with day and night.
"Sleep cycle" (noun) - a regularly occurring pattern of brain waves which occur while we sleep that typically lasts around ninety minutes to two hours.
"REM" (noun) - abbreviation of "rapid eye movement." During REM sleep, the eyes move around rapidly in a range of directions and dreams typically occur during this time.
"Non-REM" (noun) - rapid eye moment does not occur during this period.
"A sleep cycle starts with non-REM sleep first before reaching REM sleep, and then the cycle starts all over again."
"Sleep debt/deficit" (term) - the cumulative effect of not getting enough sleep, which may lead to mental or physical fatigue.
"Sleep deprivation" (term) - a state caused by consistent inadequate quantity or quality of sleep.
"Sleeplessness" (noun) - the condition of not being able to sleep.
"Catching up on sleep on the weekends unfortunately doesn't eliminate sleep debt."
"Possible side effects of this medication are sleeplessness and restlessness."
Common sleep disorders include:
"Sleep apnoea" (noun) - a medical condition where someone stops breathing for a short time while sleeping. ["Apnea" is the American spelling.]
"Home remedies for sleep apnoea include weight loss, yoga, sleeping on your side, cutting back on alcohol, and using a humidifier."
"Insomnia" (noun) - the condition of not being able to sleep over a period of time.
An "insomniac" (noun) - someone who often finds it different to sleep.
"I've been suffering from insomnia since I moved away from home."
"Narcolepsy" (noun) - a medical condition that makes you fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly.
"Did you know that horses can have narcolepsy?"
"Sleepwalk" (noun) - to get out of bed and walk around while still sleeping.
"Sleepwalker" (noun) - someone who sleepwalks.
"I heard you're not supposed to wake people when they're sleepwalking."
"Night/sleep terrors" (noun) - episodes of screaming, intense fear and flailing while still asleep.
"He used to have night terrors when he was a child."
Other vocabulary related to sleeping
"Hibernate" (verb) - to spend the winter sleeping or in a dormant state.
"Hibernation" (noun).
This is usually applied to animals but is occasionally applied to humans for academic and research purposes.
"Researchers have been studying how to induce hibernation in humans for deep space travel."
"Lie in" (British phrasal verb) - to stay in bed later than usual in the morning.
"Sleep in" (informal phrasal verb) - to stay in bed later than usual in the morning.
To me, "sleep in" is more common.
"I always look forward to sleeping in on the weekends."
"Oversleep" (verb) - to sleep longer or later than intended.
"He would set three alarms so that he wouldn't oversleep. It hasn't always worked though."
"Put somebody down" (phrasal verb) has a few different definitions but it can mean to lay a baby down to sleep.
"Give me a minute. I'm going to put the baby down."
"Tuck somebody in" (phrasal verb) - to make someone comfortable in bed, especially a child, by arranging the covers around them.
"It's your turn to tuck her in tonight."
"Sleep over" (verb) - to sleep in someone else's home for the night.
"Sleepover" (noun) has the same meaning but can also mean a party where children or young people spend night at a friend's house.
"My nephew sleeps over when his father has a late shift."
"My neighbours are organising a sleepover for Wally's birthday and invited our son."
"Sleep through something" (phrasal verb) - to sleep without being awakened, usually by loud noise or activity.
"She slept through the thunderstorm last night."
"Sleepy" (adjective) - tired and wanting to sleep.
"Sleepyhead" (informal noun) - term to call a person, usually a child, who is tired and looks like they want to sleep.
"Come on sleepyhead. Let's tuck you into bed."
"Sleep something off" (phrasal verb) - to recover from something by going to sleep.
"If the headache is not too bad, you should sleep it off instead of taking an aspirin."
"Sleep tight" (interjection) - said to someone who is going to bed. It means that you hope they sleep well.