Sleep

Sleep is something every student has strong opinions about, whether it’s pulling all-nighters, struggling with jet lag, or just never getting enough. These questions move from personal habits into bigger conversations about health, culture, and why modern life makes rest so difficult.

Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.

Beginner (A1-A2)

1. How do you sleep: on your back, on your side, or on your stomach? Have you always slept that way?
2. Do you sleep more on weekends than during the week? How many extra hours?
3. Can you fall asleep easily on a plane, train, or bus? Where is the hardest place to sleep?
4. What wakes you up in the middle of the night? How often does it happen?
5. What is the longest you have ever slept? Why were you so tired?
6. How many hours of sleep do you usually get on a weeknight? Is that enough for you?
7. What time do you usually go to bed? What time do you wake up?
8. Do you use an alarm to wake up, or do you wake up on your own? Which do you prefer?
9. What do you like to do to relax before you go to sleep? (Listen to music, read, watch TV, etc.)
10. Do you sleep better in a quiet room or with some background noise? What kind of noise?
11. What is something that is hard for you to sleep without? (A pillow, blanket, certain temperature, etc.)
12. Do you ever talk in your sleep or walk in your sleep? Has anyone ever told you that you do?

Elementary (A2)

1. What is the latest you have ever stayed awake? What were you doing?
2. Are you a morning person or a night person? What do you like about it?
3. Have you ever had a nightmare that stayed with you for days? What was it about?
4. What foods or drinks do you avoid before bed because they keep you awake? Why do you think they affect your sleep?
5. Have you ever slept through an important alarm or event? What happened?
6. What is the worst night of sleep you have ever had? What made it so bad?
7. Have you ever tried any tricks or remedies to help you fall asleep faster? Did anything actually work?
8. Do you sleep better in a cold room or a warm room? Why?
9. Have you ever been so tired that you fell asleep somewhere unusual? What happened?
10. Have you ever slept in a tent or outside? How did it go?
11. Do you like to sleep with the window open or closed? Why?
12. What is the most comfortable place you have ever slept that wasn’t a bed? What made it so comfortable?

Intermediate (B1)

1. What is the strangest dream you have ever had? What do you think it meant?
2. Should people take naps during the work or school day? Why or why not?
3. Some people say that sleeping less is a sign of being hardworking and dedicated. Do you agree? Why or why not?
4. If you could design the perfect sleep schedule for yourself (when you wake up, when you nap, when you go to bed), what would it look like?
5. Do you ever feel tired during the day even after a full night of sleep? What do you think causes that?
6. Is it common in your country to stay up very late on weekends or holidays? Do you think that is a healthy habit?
7. Some parents let young children stay up as late as they want. Do you think children should have a set bedtime? Why or why not?
8. Should schools start later in the morning so students can get more sleep? Why or why not?
9. What is more important for good sleep: a regular schedule or a comfortable bed? What makes you think so?
10. If you could take a pill that meant you never needed to sleep again, would you take it? Why or why not?

Upper-Intermediate (B2)

1. What kinds of jobs or lifestyles make it hardest to get good sleep? What are the downsides of that for the people who do those jobs?
2. How has the rise of smartphones and constant notifications changed the way people sleep? What can be done about it?
3. Some studies suggest that sleeping fewer than seven hours a night is linked to serious health problems. Why do you think so many people still choose to sleep less, even when they know this?
4. In many cultures, people who sleep a lot are seen as lazy, while people who sleep very little are admired. How do you think this attitude developed, and is it changing?
5. How is the sleep of people who work night shifts different from people who work day shifts, not just in timing, but in quality and long-term health? What does that tell us about how sleep is tied to natural rhythms?
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using sleeping pills or other medication to sleep? When do you think they are actually worth it?
7. How does poor sleep affect things beyond just feeling tired, things like decision-making, emotional control, and relationships? Give me some examples.
8. Some companies now allow or even encourage employees to nap at work. What do you think of that idea? What would need to change for it to become common in your country?
9. How are attitudes toward sleep and rest different across generations, for example, between your grandparents’ generation and young people today? What do you think explains those differences?
10. Some experts say we are living in a ‘sleep deprivation epidemic.’ What factors in modern society contribute to this, and who is most affected?
11. Some companies have started tracking their employees’ sleep as part of wellness programs. What are the benefits and risks of employers getting involved in how their workers sleep?
12. Parents are constantly told that their children need a strict bedtime routine, the right amount of sleep, and no screens before bed. How has ‘good sleep’ become another area where parents feel judged, and how much of this pressure is based on real science versus fear?
13. In Japan, falling asleep at work, known as ‘inemuri’, can actually be seen as a sign of hard work, while in most Western countries it would be seen as unprofessional. What do these contrasting attitudes reveal about how different cultures value work, rest, and productivity?
14. Social media and streaming services are designed to keep people scrolling and watching late into the night. How much responsibility do technology companies have for the way their products affect people’s sleep, and where does personal responsibility begin?

Advanced (C1)

1. In many countries, new parents are expected to handle months or even years of severe sleep deprivation with very little support from employers or the government. How does the way a society treats new parents’ sleep reveal its real priorities, beyond what it claims to value about families?
2. Many people know exactly what they should do to sleep better like avoid screens, go to bed at the same time, or cut caffeine but they still don’t do it. Why is the gap between what people know about sleep and what they actually do so persistent, and how is this similar to other areas of life where knowledge alone doesn’t change behavior?
3. Teenagers naturally shift to a later sleep schedule during puberty, yet most school systems still require them to wake up early. When scientific evidence clearly supports a change but institutions resist, what forces are usually behind that resistance, and can you think of other examples where this happens?
4. Sleep science has shown that most people are chronically sleep-deprived, yet society continues to reward those who sleep the least. How do you think this contradiction between what we know and how we live gets maintained, and what would it take to change it?
5. Dreams have been interpreted as divine messages, psychological revelations, random noise, and memory processing, depending on the era and culture. What does the way a society interprets dreams reveal about its deeper values and assumptions?
6. Sleep inequality is a growing area of research: lower-income people, essential workers, and people in certain professions tend to get significantly less, and lower-quality, sleep than wealthier people. What does this tell us about how economic and social structures shape health outcomes, and what are the implications?
7. Some neuroscientists argue that consciousness does not simply turn off during sleep, that the sleeping brain is doing complex, active work. How does this challenge older assumptions about what it means to be ‘awake’ or ‘at rest,’ and what might it mean for how we think about productivity and human potential?
8. Lucid dreaming (becoming aware that you are dreaming and sometimes controlling the dream) blurs the boundary between waking consciousness and sleep. What do you think this phenomenon reveals about the nature of awareness, identity, and what the mind does when external reality is removed?
9. The global wellness industry sells billions of dollars worth of sleep products like apps, supplements, mattresses, white noise machines, and wearables. To what extent do you think this commodification of sleep reflects a genuine need, and to what extent does it create anxiety about sleep that makes the problem worse?
10. Sleep is the one area of life where high achievers and ordinary people are theoretically equal, everyone needs roughly the same amount. Yet the pressure to sacrifice sleep in pursuit of success persists across cultures and generations. What does this tension reveal about how modern societies define value, success, and what it means to be human?

PDF: Download a PDF of all the questions