Between Wakefulness and Sleep

Winding Down in the Biology and Psychology of Sleep

Abstract

Have you ever observed an animal preparing to rest? A dog circling its bed, arranging and rearranging until everything feels just right for sleep? Before sleep occurs, there is almost always a period of preparation. In animals it is clearly visible; in humans it is often more subtle but just as present. Recent research highlights that this winding-down process may be one of the keys to understanding both healthy sleep and sleep difficulties.

The phenomenon of winding down has long lacked a clear theoretical place in sleep research. A new scientific article (Meneo & Baglioni, 2025) now presents this process as an active and central component of human sleep regulation and opens up new ways of understanding both everyday habits and clinical sleep problems.