The Woolcock Institute of Medical Research

When we think about getting better sleep, we often focus on habits like going to bed earlier, avoiding screens or cutting back on caffeine. But for many people, the biggest barrier to good sleep isn’t their bedroom or their bedtime routine – it’s what’s happening in their mind.

That’s where sleep psychology comes in.

The Woolcock Institute of Medical Research is home to one of Australia’s largest and most experienced teams of sleep psychologists. Our team of seven psychologists works with people experiencing a wide range of sleep difficulties, helping them understand the thoughts, behaviours and habits that can affect sleep and providing evidence-based strategies to improve it.

Alongside individual treatment, we offer practical resources to help people sleep better, including information on common sleep myths, relaxation techniques, healthy sleep habits and expert advice on some of the most frequently asked questions about sleep.

One topic that’s becoming increasingly common in consultations is sleep debt.

Many wearable devices and sleep trackers now display a running “sleep debt” score, showing how much sleep you’ve supposedly missed over days or weeks. While these tools can encourage people to pay more attention to their sleep, they can also create unnecessary anxiety or lead people to misunderstand what the numbers really mean.

The reality is that sleep is more complex than a simple bank account. While consistently missing out on sleep can affect your health, mood and performance, the idea that you can simply “pay back” every lost hour isn’t quite how sleep works. Equally, seeing a large sleep debt on your tracker doesn’t necessarily mean you’re destined to feel exhausted until you’ve erased it.

Understanding what sleep debt really is — and what it isn’t — can help you make better decisions about your sleep without becoming overly focused on your wearable’s data.

Woolcock Clinic sleep psychologist Dr Amelia Scott recently explained the science behind sleep debt, including what it means, whether you can catch up on lost sleep, and how to think about the information provided by sleep trackers, in an article for The Conversation.

Read Dr Amelia Scott’s article, “What’s a sleep debt? Can I ever pay it back? An expert explains,” to learn more.

Find out more

• The Conversation: What's a Sleep Debt?
• Our Sleep Psychologists
• Relaxation Strategies for Insomnia
• Learning Better Sleep
• Sleep Myths and Expectations