English Lesson: "I was tossing and turning all night."

“I was tossing and turning all night.”

You and your friend are on vacation together. You're in a hotel room, and the bed was uncomfortable. Your friend asks how you slept, so you answer.

I was tossing and turning all night.

When someone can't sleep well, they turn over in bed a lot to try to find a more comfortable position. This is known as "tossing and turning".

Another way to describe this situatiion is to say that a person's sleep was "restless":

She's always been a restless sleeper. She tosses and turns all night long.

Neither "tossing" nor "turning" by themselves express this meaning of sleeping badly.