Even good sleepers frequently experience insomnia.
How memories and dreams come together to help us solve problems at night.
Negative thoughts about verbal abuse or being judged can disrupt sleep.
People slept better, awakened less in the night and felt better the next day.
People slept better, awakened less in the night and felt better the next day.
Opening the windows or doors before going to bed can improve sleep quality, new research finds.
Both measures help to decrease levels of carbon dioxide and increase air quality.
In fresher air, people sleep better, awaken less in the night and feel better the next day.
The study’s authors summarise their results:
“It has been shown that when bedroom air quality was improved in these experiments:
- Subjects reported that the bedroom air was fresher.
- Sleep quality improved.
- Responses on the Groningen Sleep Quality scale improved.
- Subjects felt better next day, less sleepy, and more able to concentrate.
- Subjects’ performance of a test of logical thinking improved.”
In the studies the fresher air was achieved first by opening the window and secondly by using a special vent.
Of course, opening the window is not always possible because of noise pollution and heat conservation.
When it is possible, though, ventilation can have a dramatic effect on air quality and on sleep, the authors write:
“There is no doubt that both interventions did improve bedroom air quality – the effective outdoor air supply rate was found to be greater by a factor of at least 10 if the window was open and by a factor of at least four if an air supply fan was covertly operated whenever the CO2 concentration was above 900 ppm.”
The study was published in the journal Indoor Air (Strøm-Tejsen et al., 2015).
How sleep helps us adapt our memories for future experiences.
How sleep helps us adapt our memories for future experiences.
Sleep helps to strengthen both old and new versions of an experience, new research shows.
Instead of overwriting old versions of a memory, the brain stores another copy of the same experience.
Sleep keeps both old and new memories alive, which gives memory more flexibility.
Dr Scott Cairney, who led the research said:
“Previous studies have shown sleep’s importance for memory.
Our research takes this a step further by demonstrating that sleep strengthens both old and new versions of an experience, helping us to use our memories adaptively.
In this way, sleep is allowing us to use our memory in the most efficient way possible, enabling us to update our knowledge of the world and to adapt our memories for future experiences.”
For the study people were learning the locations of words on a screen over two learning sessions.
One group slept between learning sessions for 90 minutes, the other did not.
The catch was that some of the words moved between training session.
Those that slept in between had better memory for both the original location and the updated location.
This suggested sleep had had a positive effect on both the new and old version of the memory.
Professor Gareth Gaskell, study co-author, said:
“For the sleep group, we found that sleep strengthened both their memory of the original location as well as the new location.
In this way, we were able to demonstrate that sleep benefits all the multiple representations of the same experience in our brain.”
Curiously, the study may also show how some inaccuracies in memories arise.
After all, if we are carrying around multiple memories of the same thing, then it is easy for us to get confused.
The study was published in the journal Cortex (Cairney et al., 2017).
It almost doubled the amount of times that people awoke during the night.
It almost doubled the amount of times that people awoke during the night.
The blue light emitted by screens damages the length and quality of sleep, new research finds.
Screens that emit redder light, though, do not damage sleep in the same way.
Professor Abraham Haim, one of the study’s authors, said:
“The light emitted by most screens — computers, smartphones, and tablets — is blue light that damages the body’s cycles and our sleep.
The solution must be the use of the existing filters that prevent the emission of this light.”
Screens are particularly damaging to sleep if used at bedtime.
The screens suppress the secretion of melatonin, the hormone that helps control the body’s sleep-wake cycle.
One of the ways blue light damages sleep, the researchers found, was by interrupting how they body regulates its temperature.
Professor Haim said:
“Naturally, when the body moves into sleep it begins to reduce its temperature, reaching the lowest point at around 4:00 a.m.
When the body returns to its normal temperature, we wake up.
After exposure to red light, the body continued to behave naturally, but exposure to blue light led the body to maintain its normal temperature throughout the night — further evidence of damage to our natural biological clock.”
Blue light compared to red light almost doubled the amount of times that people awoke during the night.
Professor Haim said:
“Exposure to screens during the day in general, and at night in particular, is an integral part of our technologically advanced world and will only become more intense in the future.
However, our study shows that it is not the screens themselves that damage our biological clock, and therefore our sleep, but the short-wave blue light that they emit.
Fortunately various applications are available that filter the problematic blue light on the spectrum and replace it with weak red light, thereby reducing the damage to the suppression of melatonin.”
The study was published in the journal Chronobiology International (Green et al., 2017).
Two surveys hint at links between sleep position, personality and the strength of your relationship.
Two surveys hint at links between sleep position, personality and the strength of your relationship.
People who are more creative tend to sleep on their left-hand-side, a survey finds.
The survey also found that people who are more extraverted tend to sleep closer to their partners.
In fact, being in closer contact with your partner during sleep was related to having a better relationship.
12% of couples spend the night less than 1 inch apart.
Among these couples, 86% were happy with their relationship.
On the other hand, 2% slept more than 30 inches apart.
Among these couples the amount happy with their relationship dropped to 66%.
Touching was also an important factor, said Professor Richard Wiseman, who conducted the survey:
“One of the most important differences involved touching, with 94% of couples who spent the night in contact with one another were happy with their relationship, compared to just 68% of those that didn’t touch.”
It did not seem to make much difference in which direction couples were sleeping.
The most popular sleeping positions for couples were:
A previous survey for a budget hotel chain also examined the link between sleep position and personality.
It found that:
Speaking about his survey, Professor Wiseman said:
“This is the first survey to examine couples’ sleeping positions, and the results allow people to gain an insight into someone’s personality and relationship by simply asking them about their favourite sleeping position.”
The surveys were conducted to publicise a book and a budget hotel chain, respectively. In other words: take with a pinch of salt.
Insomnia is the most common complaint people have about their health.
Insomnia is the most common complaint people have about their health.
Insomnia is not just “all in your head”, neuroscientists have found.
For the first time, seven risk genes have been identified for insomnia.
This could be the first step in understanding the biological causes of insomnia.
It helps to show that insomnia is not — as is sometimes claimed — just a psychological condition.
Professor Van Someren, one of the study’s authors, said:
“As compared to the severity, prevalence and risks of insomnia, only few studies targeted its causes.
Insomnia is all too often dismissed as being ‘all in your head’.
Our research brings a new perspective. Insomnia is also in the genes.”
The study of 113,006 people identified seven genes involved in insomnia.
There was also a genetic overlap with two other related disorders: Restless Leg Syndrome and Periodic Limb Movement Disorder.
Genetic overlap was also seen with anxiety disorders, depression and neuroticism.
Dr Anke Hammerschlag, the study’s first author, said:
“This is an interesting finding, because these characteristics tend to go hand in hand with insomnia.
We now know that this is partly due to the shared genetic basis.”
The researchers also looked at the difference between insomnia in men and women.
Professor Danielle Posthuma, another study author, said:
“Part of the genetic variants turned out to be different.
This suggests that, for some part, different biological mechanisms may lead to insomnia in men and women.
We also found a difference between men and women in terms of prevalence: in the sample we studied, including mainly people older than fifty years, 33% of the women reported to suffer from insomnia.
For men this was 24%.”
The study was published in the journal Nature Genetics (Hammerschlag et al., 2017).
People frequently give those with insomnia the worst advice with the best of intentions.
People frequently give those with insomnia the worst advice with the best of intentions.
Many people give incorrect advice about insomnia to their partners with the best of intentions, new research reveals.
Psychologists studied 31 bed partners of people with insomnia.
They wanted to see how they tried to support their insomniac partners.
What they found was worrying…
In fact, treatments for insomnia advise people to keep the same sleep and wake times.
It is critical to get into a regular routine that works.
Going to bed early can make insomnia worse because the insomniac lies in bed longer, thinking about why they can’t get to sleep.
Similarly, getting up late is dangerous it starts shifting the sleep-wake cycle later.
It is better to keep the bed for just sleeping.
The mind needs to learn the association that the bed is just for sleeping (and possibly one other thing!)
If the mind learns it can lie in bed awake watching TV, it is less likely to sleep.
Plus the TV and screens in general should be avoided in the bedroom because they stimulate the brain.
Naps during the day can be dangerous for the insomniac because, again, it breaks the routine of sleeping at night.
Reducing daytime activities may mean the insomniac is more alert when they go to bed — the exact reverse of the situation they want.
Hopefully it is clear why drinking stimulants might have some impact on sleep!
Dr Alix Mellor, who led the research, said:
“It is possible that partners are unwittingly perpetuating insomnia symptoms in the patient with insomnia.
It is therefore important for more data to be collected to determine whether insomnia treatments may better benefit patients and their partners by proactively assessing and addressing bed partner behaviors in treatment programs.”
The study was presented at SLEEP 2017, the 31st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Boston (Mellor et al., 2017).
Send this survey to Human Resources so we can all have afternoon meetings, our faces adorned with sleep creases.
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.
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