Key sleep vocabulary

 REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep – REM sleep is a period of sleep
that is very deep, during which your eyes and muscles make many small
movements
 to act out one’s dreams – to express what you saw in your dreams in your
actions
 waking hours – the hours one spends awake
 insomnia – habitual sleeplessness; inability to sleep
 sleepiness – the state of being sleepy
 drowsiness [‘drauzɪnəs] – a feeling of being sleepy and lethargic [lə‘θɑːʤɪk];
sleepiness
 to fall asleep – to start to sleep
 sleep-deprived – (of a person) lacking sleep
 to dream in color – to see not black-and-white dreams but color dreams
 to delay sleep – to postpone sleeping
 Collocation Example 1 Example 2

deep sleep The baby is in a deep sleep. I don’t want to wake his from his deep sleep.

I am a light sleeper and the As people age, they spend more time each
light sleep
faintest noise can wake me up. night in light sleep.

Before you drift off to sleep, take Don’t drift off to sleep right before the clock
to drift off to sleep
this pill. strikes 12. You need to see in the New Year!

Sometimes when you are very

to get to sleep tired, you can’t get to sleep I’ve been trying to get to sleep for an hour!
quickly.

When I wake up in the middle of the night, it’s

to go (back) to sleep Now, go back to sleep, honey!
hard for me to go back to sleep.

Do you ever cry yourself to sleep?

to cry/sob oneself to In this hard time of my life I sometimes sob
If so, you must be a very unhappy
sleep myself to sleep.
person.

My days are so hectic that I can I can’t snatch any sleep during the day. I am
to snatch some sleep
hardly snatch some sleep! always busy doing something.

to induce sleep He uses drugs to induce sleep. Soporifics [ˌsɔp(ə)’rɪfɪk] induce sleep.

Before he knew it, the heat and

The swish of the tyres lulled him into a
to lull to sleep hum of the forest had lulled him
light doze (a short light sleep).
to sleep.
 He’d rather lose sleep No one is losing any sleep over what he
to lose sleep
than money. thinks of us (= no one worries about it).

Try to catch up on sleep during I can’t catch up on sleep on the weekend. I’m
to catch up on sleep
the weekend. too busy.

You were talking in your sleep last

in one’s sleep You sometimes giggle in your sleep.
night.

I feigned sleep when the ticket Don’t feign sleep. I know that you’re wide
to feign [feɪn] sleep
inspector came round. awake (fully awake).

Last night I didn’t get a wink of Try not to think about it or you won’t get a
a wink of sleep
sleep. wink of sleep.

You’re nervous from a lack of

a lack of sleep A lack of sleep affected her performance.
sleep.

a good/poor nights Make sure you have plenty of time A poor night’s sleep will affect your capacity
sleep for a good night’s sleep. for work.

Zzz…

Would you like some more? Here you go.

Word / phrase Meaning Example

a person, especially a child, who is tired and Come on, sleepyhead! It’s time
sleepyhead
looks as if they want to sleep to go to bed.

a person who prefers to be awake and active at I’m not much of a night owl. So
night owl /ˌaʊl/
night I usually go to bed at 10 p.m.

My wife and I are early risers,

early riser a person who gets up early in the morning
usually up by 6.00.

to stay asleep in the morning for longer than you Yesterday, few players turned
to sleep in
usually do up because most slept in.

if you are trying to make a decision and you say

that you will sleep on it, you mean that you will I will have to sleep on it and see
to sleep on it
delay making a decision on it until the following where we are.
day, so you have time to think about it

I was afraid you’d be a heavy

a person who sleeps deeply and is difficult to
heavy sleeper sleeper and I’d have to drag
wake up
you outside or something.
 Shall we hit the hay now? We’ll
to hit the hay to go to bed have to get up at 5 a.m.
tomorrow.

Still feeling the impact of my

to turn in (for the
to go to bed in the evening long flight from London, I’d like
night)
to turn in.

I didn’t get a wink of sleep last

to catch some
to get some sleep night, so I’ll go catch some Zs
Zs (American English)
now.

Turning over, she was soon

fast/sound asleep sleeping deeply
sound asleep again.

I’m going to try and get an early

to get en early night to go to bed before the usual time night so I don’t oversleep
tomorrow.

I ate a light breakfast and

nodded off to asleep again,
to nod off to fall asleep, especially briefly or unintentionally
sleepy from the previous
night’s restlessness.

to fall asleep easily, especially without intending Once I had the bed made, I
to drop off
to quickly dropped off to sleep.

As soon as my head hit the

to be out like a light to be asleep
pillow, I was out like a light.

to take/have a to sleep lightly or briefly, especially during the Excuse me, I’ll just take a little
nap/catnap day nap.

to sleep like a dog / I slept like a dog, and made it in

to be dead to the to sleep very soundly (= very well) to the hospital just after 10 this
world morning.

to open the mouth wide and take a lot of air into

I can’t stop yawning! – You
to yawn [jɔːn] the lungs and slowly send it out, usually when
need to take a catnap.
tired or bored

You feel as if you’ve been

to keep moving around in bed not able to sleep tossing and turning all night,
to toss and turn
properly and wake up feeling worn out
(= extremely tired).

I had nightmares after watching

nightmare a frightening or unpleasant dream
the horror movie.