Up to 70 million Americans have a sleep disorder.
The best treatment for insomnia does not use drugs and is effective and long-lasting.
Bathing before bed is linked to falling asleep faster, sleeping for longer and sleeping more efficiently, studies show.
The link between poor sleep and nutritional deficiency is particularly strong in women.
A fascinating cure for poor sleep hygiene.
Sleep can help to clear the brain of toxic substances that lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
In this state, people are particularly vulnerable to distractions.
The most popular genre of music for better sleep.
The sleep pattern is linked to eating more healthy foods and having steadier eating patterns.
The sleep pattern is linked to eating more healthy foods and having steadier eating patterns.
Early risers tend to be more healthy in comparison to night owls, new research finds.
People who prefer to rise early and go to bed early eat more healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, and they have steadier eating patterns.
Night owls, though, tend to consume more sugar, alcohol and fast food.
Night owls are more likely to suffer from both heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Dr Suzana Almoosawi, the study’s first author, said:
“We have found that your genes, ethnicity and gender determine the likelihood of you being a morning or evening type.
In adulthood, being an evening chronotype is associated with greater risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and this may be potentially due to the poorer eating behaviour and diet of people with evening chronotype.
Our review also found that people who have a poorer control of their diabetes are more likely to be evening types.”
One way of shifting towards being a morning person is to get outside more.
Daylight exposure is linked to earlier sleep and waking.
Dr Almoosawi said:
“In teenagers, we also find that evening chronotype is related to more erratic eating behaviour and poorer diet.
This could have important implications to health in adulthood as most dietary habits are established in adolescence.”
The conclusions come from a review of many different studies on nutrition and sleep.
Dr Leonidas G Karagounis, study co-author, said:
“…studies suggest that an evening chronotype is associated with lower intake of fruits and vegetables, and higher intake of energy drinks, alcoholic, sugary and caffeinated beverages, as well as higher energy intake from fat.
Further research on the best methods to assess an individual’s chronotype and how this may affect their long-term cardiometabolic health can potentially guide the development of health promotion strategies aimed at preventing and treating chronic diseases based on an individual’s chronotype.”
The study was published in the journal Advances in Nutrition (Almoosawi et al., 2018).
This is how your relationship affects your sleep.
This is how your relationship affects your sleep.
Having a responsive partner is linked to better sleep, research finds.
Responsiveness means more than just listening, it is being tuned in to your partner’s needs and feeling compassion.
The most powerful way of being responsive is firstly, listening to and understanding what they are going through and secondly, responding with sympathy and compassion.
Responsiveness creates a sense of validation and feeling cared for.
Dr Emre Selçuk, the study’s lead author, said:
“Our findings show that individuals with responsive partners experience lower anxiety and arousal, which in turn improves their sleep quality.”
Sleep has the most restorative effect when it is high quality and uninterrupted.
People sleep better when they feel safe and secure, Dr Selçuk said:
“Having responsive partners who would be available to protect and comfort us should things go wrong is the most effective way for us humans to reduce anxiety, tension, and arousal.”
The conclusions come from 698 married and cohabiting couples.
All completed measures of partner responsiveness and any sleep problems.
The results revealed that those who felt the most cared for, validated and understood had the best sleep.
Dr Selçuk said:
“Taken together, the corpus of evidence we obtained in recent years suggests that our best bet for a happier, healthier, and a longer life is having a responsive partner.”
The study was published in the journal Social Personality and Psychological Science (Selcuk et al., 2016).
Join the free PsyBlog mailing list. No spam, ever.
