The World Sleep Day toolkit provides free resources and guidance for you to help plan your World Sleep Day activities. Download here.
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Submit your activity to make it official on the World Sleep Day website and be included among our worldwide community of sleep health advocates. All activity submissions are also eligible for the Distinguished Activity Awards. Submit your activity information at worldsleepday.org/submit-your-activity
Table of Contents
World Sleep Day 2026
World Sleep Day 2026 is Friday, March 13 and incorporates the theme Sleep Well, Live Better.
The scientific evidence is clear: your sleep is essential to health and wellbeing. Good sleep promotes wellness and resilience while poor sleep negatively impacts almost all aspects of your body and mind. Your sleep is just as important as nutrition and exercise!
It’s time to make your sleep health a priority. Here is how to start:
- Maintain a regular sleep schedule.
- Create a relaxing environment for sleep.
- Reflect during your day: do you feel rested?
Commentary from WSD Co-Chairs
“Waking up feeling fully rested is one of the greatest sensations in the world. Imagine how energizing that feels—your mind refreshed, your body recharged, and your resilience stronger than ever. Prioritizing your sleep health is the key to maintaining that energy and thriving every day!”
– Dr. Lourdes DelRosso
“The scientific evidence is clear that sleep is essential to your health, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to make sleep health a priority. Start to think about sleep as an everyday habit—just like your physical activity and diet. How will you prepare for sleep tonight? How do you feel during the day? Simple everyday reflections like this are the first step to prioritizing your sleep health. Start today!”
–Dr. Fang Han
What is World Sleep Day?
Created and hosted by World Sleep Society, World Sleep Day is an internationally recognized event that builds connections and raises sleep health awareness among researchers, health care workers, patients, and the public. Participants from each of these stakeholder groups organize sleep health awareness activities in their local clinics, institutions, companies, and communities.
Activity organizers submit their activities to the official website of World Sleep Day at worldsleepday.org. Submitting your activity helps to promote it and to save it for the historical record. Submitted activities are automatically considered for the Distinguished Activity Award, an annual award distributed to a short list of activities as determined by the World Sleep Day committee. Browse our list of award-winning activities for inspiration to organize your own!
The World Sleep Day Committee is co-chaired by Dr. Fang Han (China) and Dr. Lourdes DelRosso (United States).
Read the World Sleep Day article: ‘Awakening to Sleep: Sixteen Years of Global Initiatives and Future Directions’
This article, titled “Awakening to Sleep: Sixteen Years of World Sleep Day Global Initiatives and Future Directions”, explores the growth and impact of World Sleep Day (WSD) over its first 16 years. The article examines the expansion of WSD activities worldwide, highlighting regional trends and the increasing involvement of healthcare providers, volunteers, and organizations. It also discusses future strategies to enhance WSD’s reach, particularly in underserved regions like Africa and Oceania.
The article was authored by Lourdes M. DelRosso (University of California San Francisco), Fang Han (Peking University People’s Hospital), Richard P. Allen (Johns Hopkins University), Antonio Culebras (SUNY Upstate Medical University), Christian Guilleminault (Stanford University), Liborio Parrino (University of Parma), Sophia Hendrickson and Tyler Ringstad (World Sleep Society), and Allan O’Bryan (World Sleep Society). The research sheds light on the importance of sleep health and the ongoing global efforts to raise awareness about its significance.
Key Messaging for World Sleep Day
Key Message 1: Sleep is essential to health.
Sleep is a critical pillar of health, like nutrition and physical activity [1, 2].
- Sleep helps support memory and learning [3].
- Sleep helps clear waste from the brain and promote brain health [4].
- Sleep supports brain health, and brain health supports sleep [5].
- Sleep supports immune health, and immune health supports sleep [6].
- Sleep helps the immune system to clear bacteria and viruses [6].
- Sleep helps to recycle old cells and maintain our bodies and energy levels [7].
Poor sleep health can have multiple significant impacts on human health.
- Poor sleep has been linked to obesity [8], diabetes [9], coronary artery disease, and cardiovascular mortality [10].
- Poor sleep can lower immune response, creating greater susceptibility to infections that further reduce sleep quality [4].
- Certain sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder are associated with cognitive impairment [11], dementia [12], risk of seizures [13], and increased risk of stroke [14].
- Poor sleep can result in reduced reaction times, impaired judgment, and cognitive impairment similar in effect to alcohol intoxication [15].
- Drowsiness can impair safe driving even if the driver does not fall asleep [16].
Key Message 2: Sleep health is multidimensional.
“Healthy sleep” means more than simply “enough sleep.” There are six dimensions that affect sleep health and consequently overall health and wellbeing.
Organizing “healthy sleep” into distinct aspects offers sleep health advocates more focused messaging that promotes healthy sleep behaviors.
The six dimensions of sleep health are the following:
- Duration: how much did you sleep over 24 hours?
- Efficiency: how well do you fall asleep and stay asleep?
- Timing: when do you sleep?
- Regularity: do you have consistent sleep and wake times?
- Alertness: do you maintain good focus and attention during waking hours?
- Quality: do you feel satisfied with your sleep?
Key Message 3: Make a plan to prioritize your sleep health.
Each person’s everyday life is unique, so there is no single method to improve your sleep health.
Each person needs to consider their circumstances individually. Consider:
- How can you control your environment for sleep? Your sleep environment is one of the most important factors for good sleep, but it can also be the hardest to control. Control what you can. Minimize light (particularly phone screens); keep the temperature cool; use “white noise” or some other method to control sounds. The most important part is that you are comfortable and
able to relax in your sleep space. - When is your bedtime? Plan to make it consistent each day. Regularity is essential!
- How much sleep do you get per night? Make at least 7 hours per night your goal [18].
- Do you feel satisfied with your sleep? Record your answers to this question as you work on your sleep health. Track your progress.
Start with these questions when you make a plan to prioritize your sleep health. There are countless other questions and details you can consider, but you can’t change everything at once! Your first step is the most important: recognize that sleep is essential to your health, and make it a priority!
Resources on Healthy Sleep
World Sleep Society produces educational content regarding sleep health across multiple programs in addition to World Sleep Day. Find some examples below and incorporate them into your World Sleep Day content and messaging.
Healthier Sleep Magazine – a magazine written and reviewed by sleep experts for the public. Issue topics have included sleep disorders, travel & sleep, pediatric sleep, and more. Find all the Healthier Sleep content and complete issues at healthiersleepmag.com.
Baby Sleep Tips – World Sleep Society experts collected tips for baby sleep. Find tips for baby sleep at worldsleepday.org/baby-sleep-tips
Sleep Expo – public lectures from international sleep experts. The first Sleep Expo was held in Vancouver in 2019. Find video recordings of all the public lectures on YouTube. Below are the topics discussed by experts:
- How to know if you have a sleep disorder
- Why am I sleepy during the day?
- Why do I keep falling asleep?
- Falling asleep at the wheel
- Insomnia treatments and therapies
- Parkinson’s, dementia, and the elderly
- Managing sleep disorders in infants to adolescents
- Women and sleep: pregnancy to menopause
- Sleep apnea diagnosis and treatments
- Restless legs syndrome causes and treatments
- Sleep, insomnia, and depression
- Can my dentist help me sleep?
- How sleep can affect your health
- Sleep walking, night terrors, and nightmares
- Effect of sleep on sports performance and sports injuries
Logo Use
Become a World Sleep Day delegate to receive the logos for World Sleep Day 2025. The official logos are made freely available to all World Sleep Day delegates for their World Sleep Day activities.
Companies and organizations must receive written approval from World Sleep Society before using the logo. A formal agreement may be required for a company to use the World Sleep Day name, logo, or other content in their materials.
All usage of the World Sleep Day logo must conform to the World Sleep Day Brand Guidelines provided with the logos.
Download translated World Sleep Day 2026 logos below:
Media Contact and Expert Availability for Interviews & Commentary
Select members of World Sleep Society may be available to take your request for an interview or commentary. Sleep researchers and clinicians across 80+ countries comprise the World Sleep Society membership. If you would like to connect with a sleep expert for a brief interview or commentary, contact World Sleep Society at [email protected].
In your request for a sleep expert, include:
- Your publication, network, or platform
- Your topic of interest
- Your intended audience for the piece
- Your availability in multiple time slots in the coming weeks
Our members are volunteers who often have busy clinical and research schedules, so scheduling ahead of time helps greatly when securing an interview. World Sleep Society and its representatives do not endorse or recommend any particular services or products.
Speaker Availability for Your Event
World Sleep Society experts can also be available to speak at a public or private event on a topic of sleep health. A formal World Sleep Day agreement between the event organizer and World Sleep Society may be required. For more information, see worldsleepsociety.org/sponsor or contact [email protected].
The History of World Sleep Day
The first World Sleep Day was held on March 14, 2008 under the slogan “Sleep Well, Live Fully Awake.” The annual awareness day is held the Friday before Spring Vernal Equinox.
Previous Slogans
- “Sleep Well, Live Fully Awake” – March 14, 2008
- “Drive Alert, Arrive Safe” – March 20, 2009
- “Sleep Well, Stay Healthy” – March 19, 2010
- “Sleep Well, Grow Healthy” – March 18, 2011
- “Breathe Easily, Sleep Well” – March 16, 2012
- “Good Sleep, Healthy Aging” – March 15, 2013
- “Restful Sleep, Easy Breathing, Healthy Body” – March 14, 2014
- “When Sleep is Sound, Health and Happiness Abound” – March 13, 2015
- “Good Sleep is a Reachable Dream” – March 18, 2016
- “Sleep Soundly, Nurture Life” – March 17, 2017
- “Join the Sleep World, Preserve Your Rhythms to Enjoy Life” – March 16, 2018
- “Healthy Sleep, Healthy Aging”– March 15, 2019
- “Better Sleep, Better Life, Better Planet”– March 13, 2020
- “Regular Sleep, Healthy Future”– March 19, 2021
- “Healthy Sleep, Sound Mind, Happy World” – March 18, 2022
- “Sleep is Essential to Health” – March 17, 2023
- “Sleep Equity for Global Health” – March 15, 2024
- “Make Sleep Health a Priority” – March 14, 2025
References
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