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).

People in the study slept better and their memory was boosted.

Special sounds during sleep can improve sleep and boost memory, new research finds.

The gentle sounds were timed to coincide with natural ‘brain waves’: the waves of electrical activity in the brain.

People in the study were able to recall 26% more words they had learned after being exposed to the sounds during sleep.

Dr Phyllis Zee, a study author, said:

“This is an innovative, simple and safe non-medication approach that may help improve brain health.

This is a potential tool for enhancing memory in older populations and attenuating normal age-related memory decline.”

Deep sleep is known to be critical for memory consolidation: the process by which memories are laid down for the long-term.

However, in older adults the amount of time spent in deep sleep typically reduces.

The study compared the acoustic simulation with sham treatments, which acted as a placebo.

Older individuals — who were targeted for the study — showed better sleep and enhanced memory only after the real acoustic stimulation.

The study’s authors explain their conclusions:

“Acoustic simulation that was phase-locked to sleep slow waves in older adults had systematic effects on sleep indices and performance on a declarative memory test.

These results provide the first demonstration that acoustic stimulation alters SWA [slow wave activity or, colloquially, deep sleep] and can enhance word pair recall in older adults.

These results converge with other findings in young adults indicating that acoustic stimulation during sleep is a promising tool for altering SWA and enhancing sleep-dependent memory consolidation.”

The sound waves in the study were timed to coincide with people’s brain waves.

Their brain waves were read in real time and the sounds timed to help synchronise activity across the neurons.

Dr Nelly Papalambros, the study’s first author, said:

“The idea is to be able to offer this for people to use at home.

We want to move this to long-term, at-home studies.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Papalambros et al., 2017).

Supplement found to buffer the body against stress and improve sleep.

For a long time probiotics — the so-called ‘good bacteria’ in fermented foods and elsewhere — have been linked to all sorts of physical and psychological benefits.

Now the lesser-known prebiotics are getting in on the act.

Prebiotics are dietary fibres found in foods such as:

• Onions,
• leeks,
• artichokes,
• and chicory.

Prebiotic fibre — also available as dietary supplements — can improve the health of your gut by helping beneficial bacteria to multiply.

New research has found that prebiotics can help improve sleep and protect the body against stress.

Dr Agnieszka Mika, one of the study’s authors, explained:

“Acute stress can disrupt the gut microbiome, and we wanted to test if a diet rich in prebiotics would increase beneficial bacteria as well as protect gut microbes from stress-induced disruptions.

We also wanted to look at the effects of prebiotics on the recovery of normal sleep patterns, since they tend to be disrupted after stressful events.”

The study, carried out on rats, found that prebiotics increased both major types of sleep (REM and NREM).

The study’s authors write:

“Given that sufficient NREM sleep and proper nutrition can impact brain development and function and that sleep problems are common in early life, it is possible that a diet rich in prebiotics started in early life could help improve sleep, support the gut microbiota and promote optimal brain/psychological health.”

Dr Robert S. Thompson, the lead author of the research, explained that the rats were also stressed:

“The stressor the rats received was the equivalent of a single intense acute stressful episode for humans, such as a car accident or the death of a loved one.

A next set of studies will be looking exactly at that question – can prebiotics help humans to protect and restore their gut microflora and recover normal sleep patterns after a traumatic event?”

Professor Monika Fleshner, another study author, thinks it is too early to recommend prebiotic supplements for sleep problems.

However, Dr Mika said:

“So far no adverse effects from prebiotics have been reported, and they are found widely in many plants, even present in breast milk, and are already commercially available.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (Thompson 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

The best treatment for insomnia, according to the American College of Physicians.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is the best treatment for people suffering from chronic insomnia, advises the American College of Physicians (ACP).

The ACP has published new practise guidelines on insomnia.

As many as 1 in 10 people experience chronic insomnia.

Chronic insomnia is usually defined as having disturbed sleep on at least three nights per week over three months.

Women are more likely to suffer than men and it can lead to all sorts of debilitating effects including difficulties with mood, memory, attention and risky behaviours (read on: Lack of Sleep: The 10 Most Profound Psychological Effects).

Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT-I. involves learning the correct sleep habits as well as addressing thoughts about sleep.

Here is one of the techniques that is taught:

https://www.spring.org.uk/2011/05/6-easy-steps-to-falling-asleep-fast.php

Dr Wayne J. Riley, ACP President, said.

“Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is an effective treatment and can be initiated in a primary care setting.

Although we have insufficient evidence to directly compare CBT-I and drug treatment, CBT-I is likely to have fewer harms.

Sleep medications can be associated with serious adverse effects.”

People can receive CBT-I face-to-face, in group, over the phone or even online.

If CBT-I doesn’t work then it may be appropriate to add drugs.

Dr Riley said:

“Medications should ideally be used for no longer than four to five weeks while the skills learned in CBT-I can manage insomnia over the longer term.

Before continuing drug therapy, doctors should consider treatable secondary causes of insomnia such as depression, pain, enlarged prostate, substance abuse disorders, and other sleep disorders like sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome.”

One study has even found that insomnia can be cured in a single one-hour session:

https://www.spring.org.uk/2015/06/1-hour-of-this-therapy-cured-73-of-insomniacs-new-study-finds.php

The new guidelines were published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine (Qaseem et al., 2016).

Insomnia 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