Editorial Policy

Our commitment to accurate, clearly sourced sleep science information — and how we deliver on it.

Our Approach to Content

Sleep Schedule Optimizer was launched in 2025 as a free educational resource. All content is produced by the SSO Editorial Team — a small group of people committed to presenting sleep science accurately and without embellishment.

We do not invent statistics, paraphrase research beyond what the source material supports, or make claims that go beyond what cited studies demonstrate. Our role is to aggregate, explain, and contextualize findings from established sleep science institutions so that readers can understand the research and apply it to their own sleep habits.

When sleep science is uncertain or contested, we say so. We do not present open questions as settled facts.

Source Standards

Every factual claim in our content must be supported by a citation from one of the following source categories:

  • NIH National Institutes of Health — including the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
  • AASM American Academy of Sleep Medicine — the professional organization that publishes clinical practice guidelines for sleep disorders and maintains the ICSD diagnostic classification
  • PubMed National Library of Medicine / PubMed — peer-reviewed journal articles indexed by the NLM, particularly from Sleep, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, and Sleep Medicine Reviews
  • CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — particularly the Division of Population Health sleep surveillance data and public health guidance

A citation must support the specific claim it is attached to. A study about circadian rhythm disruption does not justify a claim about sleep apnea prevalence, even if both topics appear in the same article. We do not use broad topic citations to lend authority to unrelated claims within the same piece.

Content Creation Process

Each piece of content on this site follows a defined five-step process:

1

Research

We identify the topic, then gather primary sources from the institutions named above. We read the source material directly — abstracts only are not sufficient for claims derived from study findings.

2

Writing

Content is drafted with inline references tied to specific claims. Each sentence that makes a factual assertion about sleep science is paired with the source that supports it.

3

Internal Review

Before publication, we verify that each citation links to a real, accessible source and that the source material actually supports the specific claim made. Claims that cannot be verified are removed or rewritten as general statements without source attribution.

4

Publication

Content is published with a date stamp and author attribution to the SSO Editorial Team. The publication date reflects when the content was first made available to readers.

5

Updates

We review existing content when new research from our accepted source list changes what a claim should say. The "Last Updated" date on any article reflects an actual content change — not a cosmetic republish to improve freshness signals.

What We Do Not Do

This site does not provide medical diagnosis, treatment recommendations, or professional medical advice of any kind. The content on Sleep Schedule Optimizer is educational — it explains what sleep research says, not what you should do about a specific health condition.

The SSO Editorial Team does not include or consult sleep physicians, credentialed researchers, or other healthcare providers in the production of site content. We present what published, cited research says; we do not add clinical interpretation on top of it.

If you have symptoms of a sleep disorder — persistent insomnia, suspected sleep apnea, excessive daytime sleepiness, or other sleep-related health concerns — this site is not a substitute for evaluation by a qualified healthcare provider. Please consult a physician or sleep specialist.

Corrections and Contact

If you identify a factual error — a claim not supported by its citation, an outdated statistic, or a broken source link — we want to know. Verified inaccuracies will be corrected promptly and the article's "Last Updated" date will reflect the correction.

To submit a correction or dispute a source citation, use our contact page. Please include the URL of the article, the specific claim in question, and the correction you believe is warranted. We do not promise to respond to every submission, but we review all factual disputes.