This is Episode 11 of PsychCrunch the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Can psychology help us get a better night's sleep? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears how worry about sleep is sometimes more of a problem than lack of sleep itself. She gives us some evidence-backed sleep tips and finds out about "sleep engineering" – deliberately manipulating the sleep process to aid memory and enhance its health benefits.

Our guests are Professor Kenneth Lichstein at the University of Alabama and Professor Penny Lewis at the University of Cardiff.

Background reading for this episode:

• "Insomnia identity" – misbelieving you've got sleep problems can be more harmful than actual lack of sleep
• BBC News: Sleep engineering: Cardiff scientists working on designer rest
• Targeted memory reactivation of newly learned words during sleep triggers REM-mediated integration of new memories and existing knowledge

Also, find many more studies on sleep and dreaming in our archive.

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Ginny Smith. Mixing and editing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.