Category: Sleep

Send this survey to Human Resources so we can all have afternoon meetings, our faces adorned with sleep creases.

People who take short naps are happier than those who take long naps or no naps, a new survey finds.

The conclusion comes from a survey of over 1,000 people’s napping habits and their happiness.

66% of people who took naps under 30 minutes reported being happy.

This compared with 56% who took naps over 30 minutes and 60% who did not take naps.

Professor Richard Wiseman, who led the research, said:

“Previous research has shown that naps of under 30 minutes make you more focused, productive and creative, and these new findings suggest the tantalising possibility that you can also become happier by just taking a short nap.

Similarly longer napping is associated with several health risks and again, this is in line with our results.”

Professor Wiseman continued:

“A large body of research shows that short naps boosts performance.

Many highly successful companies, such as Ben & Jerry’s and Google, have installed dedicated nap spaces, and employees need to wake up to the upside of napping at work.”

The research also found that ‘only’ 11% were allowed to take naps at work.

The reason I scare-quote ‘only’ is that I’m surprised anyone is allowed to take a nap at work.

While companies may pay lip service to the nap, many prefer workers to stay at their desks all day and all night.

Whatever.

I suggest sending this research straight to Human Resources.

Every office in the country should shut down between 2 and 3pm so we can all get a little nap.

Then we could all have our 3pm meetings in pyjamas and dressing gowns with sleep creases across our faces.

Wouldn’t that be a great world to live in?

The study was presented at the 2017 Edinburgh International Science Festival by Professor Richard Wiseman.

The herb is central to the traditional home medicine of India called Ayurveda.

Ashwagandha is a herb central to the traditional home medicine of India called Ayurveda.

Its Latin name is W. somnifera, meaning sleep-inducing, and it has been used for that purpose for centuries.

It is sometimes known as “Indian ginseng”.

Modern scientific studies have shown that crude powder of Ashwagandha helps to promote sleep.

Now, new research has revealed the active ingredient.

The Ashwagandha leaf is rich in triethylene glycol (TEG), which scientists have now found helps improve deep sleep.

Although this study was carried out on mice, no side-effects are generally found for humans.

The researchers hope that investigating TEG will revolutionise the treatment of insomnia.

Around 10-15% of the general population suffer from insomnia, rising to 30-60% in the elderly.

Insomnia is linked to many other problems, such as depression, obesity and cardiovascular disease, to name a few.

The active component of Ashwagandha, triethylene glycol (TEG), is commercially available and was found in the study to have the same effect as the crude powder.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE (Kaushik et al., 2017).

Organic Ashwagandha image from Shutterstock

A survey of 30,500 people in the UK across 4 years reveals dramatic mental and physical benefits.

Improving sleep quality leads to dramatic mental and physical health benefits, new research finds.

The boost from better sleep is equivalent to winning $250,000 on the lottery or taking an 8-week course in meditation.

Quality of sleep is more important than quantity, the researchers also found.

The conclusions come from a survey of 30,500 people in the UK across 4 years.

The researchers also found that lack of sleep led to greater use of sleep medications and worse emotional and physical states.

Dr Nicole Tang, the study’s first author, said:

“We are far from demonstrating a causal relationship, but the current findings suggest that a positive change in sleep is linked to better physical and mental wellbeing further down the line.

It is refreshing to see the healing potential of sleep outside of clinical trial settings, as this goes to show that the benefits of better sleep are accessible to everyone and not reserved for those with extremely bad sleep requiring intensive treatments.

An important next step is to look at the differences between those who demonstrate a positive and negative change in sleep over time, and identify what lifestyle factors and day-to-day activities are conducive to promoting sleep. Further research in this area can inform the design of public health initiatives.”

The study was published in the journal SLEEP (Tang et al., 2017).

Sleep has important effects on memory.

Going to bed angry really does make it worse, new research finds.

Sleeping after making a fresh bad memory, can give that memory more strength.

Yunzhe Liu, the study’s first author, said:

“This study suggests that there is certain merit in this age-old advice: ‘Do not go to bed angry’.

We would suggest to first resolve (the) argument before… bed.”

In the study 73 students were purposefully given negative memories.

The results showed that it was much more difficult to suppress these negative memories after sleep.

The study may help in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The study’s authors write:

“For example, sleep deprivation immediately after traumatic experiences may prevent traumatic memories from being consolidated… and thus provide the opportunity to block the formation of traumatic memories.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications (Liu et al., 2016).

Sleep image from Shutterstock

Smartphones and tablets can disturb sleep, but there is a quick fix.

Using smartphones and tablets during the evening is thought to disturb sleep and even damage general health.

But now researchers have found that adequate light during the day can counter the effect.

Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden found that evening readers of an illuminated ebook device (like the iPad) slept just as well as long as they were exposed to bright light during the day.

Ms Frida Rångtell, the study’s first author, said:

“Our main finding was that following daytime bright light exposure, evening use of a self-luminous tablet for two hours did not affect sleep in young healthy students.”

It is the blue light from e-readers, tablets and smartphones that is thought to cause sleep problems.

Previous research has found that using these devices close to bedtime disturbs sleep:

“When people read the iPad [before bed] they felt less sleepy in the evening, spent less time in rejuvenating REM sleep and their bodies produced less of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.

After eight hours sleep, the iPad readers were less alert and felt sleepier.”

The devices seem to disrupt the body’s natural circadian rhythms.

For the new research 14 people either read an iPad or paper book between 9pm and 11pm.

Dr Christian Benedict, study co-author, said:

“Our results could suggest that light exposure during the day, e.g. by means of outdoor activities or light interventions in offices, may help combat sleep disturbances associated with evening blue light stimulation.

Even if not examined in our study, it must however be kept in mind that utilizing electronic devices for the sake of checking your work e-mails or social network accounts before snoozing may lead to sleep disturbances as a result of emotional arousal.”

The other option, of course, is simply to read a real paper-and-ink book in the evening and avoid the luminous electronic devices.

The study was published in the journal Sleep Medicine (Rångtell et al., 2016).

Sleep image from Shutterstock

Study helps explain the ‘first night effect’.

It can be hard to sleep on the first night in a new place: such as on holiday or when visiting friends.

Dr Yuka Sasaki, author of a new study, said:

“In Japan they say, ‘if you change your pillow, you can’t sleep.

You don’t sleep very well in a new place.

We all know about it.”

The reason could be down to the fact that one of the brain’s hemispheres stays more awake: alert for trouble.

For the research, scientists measured people’s brain activity on the first night in the sleep lab.

They focused on the part of the sleep cycle in which deep sleep occurs — sometimes called slow-wave sleep.

The sleepers were played irregular beeping sounds while they were asleep to examine the brain’s alertness.

The study’s authors conclude:

“The present study has demonstrated that when we are in a novel environment, inter-hemispheric asymmetry occurs in regional slow-wave activity, vigilance and responsiveness, as a night watch to protect ourselves.”

The study was published in the journal Current Biology (Tamaki et al., 2016).

Image credit: Alex

Protein intake can affect how you sleep at night, research finds.

A high-protein diet helps people sleep better at night as well as lose weight, a new study finds.

The research compared people who were either on a high-protein diet with those eating normal levels of protein.

Professor Wayne Campbell, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Most research looks at the effects of sleep on diet and weight control, and our research flipped that question to ask what are the effects of weight loss and diet — specifically the amount of protein – on sleep.

We found that while consuming a lower calorie diet with a higher amount of protein, sleep quality improves for middle-age adults.

This sleep quality is better compared to those who lost the same amount of weight while consuming a normal amount of protein.”

Some of the high-protein foods that can be rotated into and out of the diet include:

1. low-fat dairy,
2. lean meats,
3. seafood,
4. beans,
5. soy,
6. eggs,
7. seeds,
8. beef,
9. pork,
10. soy legumes,
11. milk protein,
12. and nuts.

Professor Campbell said:

“This research adds sleep quality to the growing list of positive outcomes of higher-protein intake while losing weight, and those other outcomes include promoting body fat loss, retention of lean body mass and improvements in blood pressure.

Sleep is recognized as a very important modifier of a person’s health, and our research is the first to address the question of how a sustained dietary pattern influences sleep.

We’ve showed an improvement in subjective sleep quality after higher dietary protein intake during weight loss, which is intriguing and also emphasizes the need for more research with objective measurements of sleep to confirm our results.”

Jing Zhou, the study’s first author, said:

“Short sleep duration and compromised sleep quality frequently lead to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and premature death.

Given the high prevalence of sleep problems it’s important to know how changes to diet and lifestyle can help improve sleep.”

The study was published in the The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Zhou et al., 2016).

Nutrients image from Shutterstock

Rule 1: Do not take the phone to bed with you!

During sleep our brains clear out waste toxic chemicals, consolidate memories, process emotional events and much more.

No one needs reminding of the importance of sleep, but many can do with a few tips to actually achieve it.

Here are a few recommendations by the National Institute of Health (with a few thrown in from me):

1. Go to bed at the same time.
2. Use the hour before bedtime as quiet time.
3. Avoid alcohol before bedtime.
4. Take a hot bath before bedtime (or any other relaxing ritual that works for you).
5. Do some exercise during the day — any physical activity is preferable to none.
6. Your sleep schedule should be the same at the weekend as it is during the week.
7. Keep the bedroom cool, quiet and dark.
8. Avoid large meals within a couple of hours of bedtime.
9. Get outside every day.
10. Avoid staring at your phone, tablet or computer screen in the hour before bedtime.

Dr Jeffrey P. Barasch, Medical Director of The Valley Hospital Center for Sleep Medicine in Ridgewood, NJ, said:

“Unfortunately, as you well know, sometimes life can prevent us from going to bed when we want to and many of us have experienced the frustration of not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep once we are in bed.

Luckily, our bodies can adjust to occasional instances when we do not get enough sleep.”

Depending on our phase of life, we require different amounts of sleep:

• Newborns — 16 to 18 hours a day
• Preschool-aged children — 11 to 12 hours a day
• School-aged children — at least 10 hours a day
• Teens — 9 to 10 hours a day
• Adults (age 20-64) — 7 to 9 hours a day
• Elderly (age 65 and over) — 7 to 8 hours a day

Image credits: iamtheo