Ask Marilyn

When I was a kid, my grandmother told me that every hour of sleep before midnight was worth two hours after midnight. Is there any truth to that statement?

—Bob Maurer, Atwater, Calif. Nope, no truth at all. It was probably intended to make you go to bed early enough to be well rested for school in the morning, but it makes no sense. You could have argued that according to this reasoning, you could go to bed at 9 p.m. (and get the value of six hours sleep before midnight), then get up at 2 a.m. (for two more hours, a total of eight hours) and feel well rested. But no one ever talks to his or her grandmother this way! After all, grandmas are just so precious.