Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Dormir bien es importante para la salud. - Sleeping well is important for your health.

Dormir bien = Sleeping well / To sleep well
It’s the subject of the sentence:
Dormir bien (subject) es importante para la salud (predicate).

Duermo bien es importante… would be wrong because duermo is a conjugated verb (I sleep), not a noun-like form. It can’t stand as the subject in this way.

Can I also say Es importante dormir bien para la salud? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Dormir bien es importante para la salud.
Es importante dormir bien para la salud.

Both are correct and mean the same thing.

The difference is just emphasis and structure:

Dormir bien es importante… puts “sleeping well” first, as the theme.
Es importante dormir bien… starts with the impersonal es importante, then adds dormir bien.

In everyday speech, Es importante dormir bien para la salud is very common and natural in Spain.

Why is it bien and not bueno? What’s the difference between bien and bueno here?

Bien = an adverb (modifies verbs, adjectives, other adverbs).
Bueno = an adjective (modifies nouns).

In Dormir bien, bien describes how you sleep (it modifies dormir), so you need an adverb:

Dormir bien = to sleep well (good quality sleeping)

If you said Dormir bueno, that would be incorrect, because bueno can’t modify the verb dormir.

Why is it para la salud and not por la salud?

Para is used for purpose, goal, or benefit. Here, we’re saying for the sake of / for the benefit of health:

Es importante para la salud = It’s important for (in order to maintain) health.

Por la salud would suggest a cause, reason, or motive (because of health / on behalf of health), which isn’t the idea here.

So for “good for your health”, Spanish almost always uses para la salud, not por la salud.

Why is there no article before salud in other phrases, but here it is la salud? Could it also be just para salud?

In this sentence, la salud is used like “(your/the) health” in a general sense.

Es importante para la salud. = It is important for (one’s) health.

Saying para salud (without la) is not natural here.

However, in other common expressions, salud often appears without article because it’s used more like an abstract/uncountable concept:

La salud es importante. (with article)
En materia de salud, … (no article)
Temas de salud. (no article)

In this particular sentence, la salud is the normal, idiomatic choice.

Is Dormir bien more like “sleeping well” or “to sleep well” in English?

Grammatically, dormir is an infinitive, but Spanish infinitives used as subjects often match English -ing forms in feel:

Dormir bien es importante…
→ Sleeping well is important…
→ To sleep well is important…

Both translations are acceptable. In natural English, “Sleeping well is important for your health” sounds most idiomatic.

Can I change the position of bien? For example, Es importante bien dormir?

No, Es importante bien dormir sounds unnatural and is not standard Spanish.

In Spanish, adverbs like bien normally go:

After the verb: Dormir bien
Or between auxiliary and main verb: haber dormido bien, poder dormir bien

So you say:

Dormir bien es importante.
Es importante dormir bien.

But not Es importante bien dormir.

Could I say Dormir bien es bueno para la salud instead of es importante? Is there any difference?

Yes, this is also correct:

Dormir bien es importante para la salud.
Dormir bien es bueno para la salud.

They are very close in meaning:

es importante = is important (stresses necessity/relevance)
es bueno = is good (stresses positive effect/benefit)

Both are natural in Spain. Es bueno para la salud is the typical pattern for “is good for your health”.

What’s the difference between dormir and dormirse? Could I say Dormirse bien es importante…?

Dormir = to sleep (the general action)
Dormirse = to fall asleep (the moment you go from awake to asleep)

So:

Dormir bien = to sleep well (through the night, with good quality sleep)
Dormirse bien would literally be to fall asleep well, which is not what you usually want here.

For this sentence about overall sleep quality, you need dormir, not dormirse:

✅ Dormir bien es importante para la salud.
❌ Dormirse bien es importante para la salud. (sounds wrong/odd)

How would I say “Getting a good night’s sleep is important for your health” in Spanish (Spain), keeping the same idea?

A natural version in Spain would be:

Dormir bien por la noche es importante para la salud.
(Sleeping well at night is important for your health.)

Or a bit more explicit:

Dormir bien toda la noche es importante para la salud.
(Sleeping well all night is important for your health.)