A lot of doctors say that for a healthy lifestyle, you should sleep for eight hours a night. Before you go to bed, you shouldn’t eat too much or drink alcohol. In addition, you shouldn’t use a computer or electronic device at least one hour before going to bed. Try to make your bedroom a peaceful place, with no TV’s, computers, or bright lights. Doing this may help you to fall asleep easier and sleep more deeply. You’ll wake up full of energy and get out of bed feeling refreshed. For today’s English vocabulary lesson, I’m going to show you some of the words and phrases we use when talking about sleeping and waking. Go to bed is an action and means to enter the bed. Last night I went to bed and read my book for a little while. I usually go to bed at 11:00pm. Go to sleep or fall asleep means the process of closing your eyes and going from “awake” to “asleep.” Last night I went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I am so tired I could fall asleep right now. Note that a lot of native English speakers use go …
One-Point English Idiom Lesson – Sleep On It
Do you need to sleep on it? When you need some time to make a decision, you can say, “…sleep on it.” A trip to the Bahamas sounds interesting, but let me sleep on it. When you talk to someone who needs time to make a decision, you can also use “…sleep on it.” You don’t need to tell me now. Why do you sleep on it and then let me know. Before buying that expensive car you should sleep on it. When you are the person who is directly saying you need more time, you can also use, I need to sleep on “that.” Bob: Jane, have you decided about the skiing trip? Jane: Not yet, let me sleep on that. But be careful! If you are not the person making the decision, you cannot say “sleep on that.” You need to use “sleep on it” Before buying that expensive car you should sleep on it. (not, “you should sleep on that”) I need more coffee this morning, and I don’t need to sleep on it!
One-Point English Idiom Lesson: Hit the Hay
English Idiom – “Hit the hay.” Hay is the kind of dry grass that horses like to eat. In olden days, beds were stuffed with hay, so when we say “hit the hay,” it means “go to sleep.” It’s 1:00am! Time to hit the hay. I need to hit the hay early tonight because I have to leave the house early in the morning. This idiom has the same meaning as “hit the sack.” “Hit the sack” also means “go to sleep.” A sack is a kind of bag and many many years ago it was used to hold rice or beans. So pillows in those days were basically those sacks filled with something soft. So “hit the sack” means, “hit the pillow,” or more simply, “hit the sack” means “go to sleep.”