Job fears keeping Obama and the NHS awake at night

July 18th, 2010 | No Comments

President Obama kept awake by job fearsWe all have worries and problems that keep us awake at night.  For the President of the US and managers at the NHS, it’s fears about people’s jobs…

President Barack Obama said at a press conference last week that one of his biggest worries is his country’s unemployment situation and the number of jobs that have been lost since he became President:

“The main thing that keeps me up at night right now is we lost 8 million jobs. The month I was sworn in, we lost 750,000 jobs. …Nobody in the White House is satisfied with where we are right now.”

Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, NHS managers are having sleep problems because of worries about staff morale in today’s tough economic climate:

“Almost a quarter (24%) of senior NHS managers are being kept awake at night by the thought of maintaining staff morale during challenging times.”

While these issues are definitely cause for concern for the US Goverment and the NHS, it’s not healthy for anyone’s sleep to be affected by stress and anxiety.

Sleepio’s top tip is to write down any important thoughts and ideas earlier in the evening then do something relaxing before bedtime.  This should help keep your mind off your stresses and ensure you get a good night’s sleep, so you can tackle your country’s unemployment rate (or whatever your problem may be) with energy and a fresh perspective in the morning!

Read more – Cause for insomnia: Failure to produce jobs is keeping the President up nights

Read more – Senior NHS managers losing sleep over people issues

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Drink cherry juice to improve your sleep

July 16th, 2010 | No Comments

Cherry juice can help with sleep problemsAn interesting study has been published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, proving that a particular brand of ‘tart cherry juice’ can improve the sleep of  older adults with insomnia.

Based on anecdotal evidence that this drink worked well as a sleep aid and was often used by professional athletes, the researchers studied the effects of the juice on over 65s suffering chronic insomnia.

“The findings from this preliminary study suggest that a [tart cherry juice] can modestly improve sleep in older adults with insomnia.  [The juice] was associated with significant improvements on each of the sleep continuity variables.”

Overall, there is some statistical evidence of sleep improvement but no real clinical benefit was identified from the study:

“Further, the magnitude of the improvementsat the group mean level was such that participants continued to have a significant amount of sleep disturbance.  In fact, using clinical benchmarks, the sample,as a whole, continued to evidence insomnia.”

Sleepio’s Professor Colin Espie commented that the study only focused on one particular brand of juice, so not all cherry juice would have the same result.

“It can’t hurt to give it a try but the effect on sleep problems will probably be minor for chronic insomnia sufferers,” he said.

“Now compare this with almost any fragment of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and you would have all your cherries lined up in a row – jackpot!”

And a word of warning – if you drink too much of the juice, you’ll be up all night in the bathroom anyway!

Source – “Effects of a Tart Cherry Juice Beverage on the Sleep of Older Adults with Insomnia: A Pilot Study”, Wilfred R. Pigeon,Michelle Carr, Colin Gorman, and Michael L. Perlis, Journal of Medicinal Food, 2010.

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Add exercise to your day and sleep better

July 14th, 2010 | No Comments

Aerobic exercise can help with sleep problems, insomnia

According to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, people that exercise have fewer sleep problems.

The study involved participants trying different types and intensities of exercise to determine what effect this had on sleep problems. The results showed that people with sleep problems (particularly difficulty in falling asleep) would find it easier to sleep after participating in moderate aerobic exercise:

“Indeed,by analyzing the effect of different exercise modalities, we observedthat moderate-intensity aerobic exercise significantly reduced anxiety state and improved sleep variables.”

The total sleep time for participants was significantly increased:

“…in our population of insomnia patients, the mean increase observed was approximately 1 hour.”

Sleepio’s sleep expert Professor Colin Espie commented that this is very valuable research, but noted that the timing of the exercise is also crucial:

“Exercising too close to bedtime makes us too aroused to sleep and can increase insomnia problems, so it’s much better to get exercise into your daily routine.”

Professor Espie also noted that most people would prefer a non-drug solution for their sleep problems. He suggests that daytime exercise might work very effectively alongside cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)  for treating insomnia

So if you want to sleep well tonight (and every night), set aside some time every day for exercise that gets your heart pumping.  It will help your mood and overall health as well.

Source – Effect of Acute Physical Exercise on Patients with Chronic Primary Insomnia by Giselle S. Passos, M.Sc.; Dalva Poyares, M.D., Ph.D.; Marcos G. Santana, M.Sc.; Silvério A. Garbuio;Sergio Tufik, M.D., Ph.D.; Marco Túlio Mello, Ph.D., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2010

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Would you like to be serenaded to sleep by your pyjamas?

July 14th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Well probably not, because that would be a bit odd.  But how about if your pyjamas could play soothing, slumber-inducing music to help you drift off to sleep?

Scientists at MIT in the US have discovered a way of making acoustic fibers that can record and transmit sound.  The team behind this development have some serious applications in mind, such as:

“…clothes that are themselves sensitive microphones, for capturing speech or monitoring bodily functions, and tiny filaments that could measure blood flow in capillaries or pressure in the brain.”

The potential of this technology is huge and we’re sure it will revolutionise everything from headphones to medicine…but how soon can we pre-order our musical pyjamas?

Read more – MIT’s New Threads Could Sing You to Sleep

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Later Classes = Happier Students

July 8th, 2010 | No Comments

sleep problems, falling asleep in class, insomniaAsk any teenager and they will tell you they hate getting up early to go to school.  They would much rather hit the snooze button and put off homework, textbooks and teachers for another half an hour.  Well according to a new study, they should – and it would actually help them perform better in class!

Researchers in the US studied kids at a boarding school where classes started at 8am and then later changed to 8:30am:

“Of course, the switch to a later start time made students feel less sleepy. More specifically, the percentage of students who got less than seven hours of sleep per night fell from 34% before to 7% after, while the percentage of students who got at least eight hours of sleep jumped from 16% to 55%.”

Interestingly, the later starts saw many students actually getting to sleep earlier as well – they liked the feeling of extra sleep so much they made an effort to go to bed earlier than usual.  Extra sleep also helped minimise (some of) their teenage angst:

“When school began at 8 a.m., 66% of students reported feeling “somewhat unhappy or depressed.” After delaying the first bell until 8:30, that figure fell to 45%. Likewise, the percentage of students who said they felt “irritated or annoyed” fell from 84% to 63%.”

As well as improving the overall mood and attention span of the kids, the extra half an hour sleep had some positive impact on their marks.  The study suggested that an even later start would have a more significant effect on student performance. And surprisingly, teachers at the school were behind the move, with one teacher telling researchers:

“On a more personal note, I have found the 8:30 start to be the single most positive impact to my general quality of life at [the school] since I started 12 years ago.”

Sleepio thinks starting school later is a great idea – anything to prevent moody teenagers!

Read more – “School day starts too early for sleepy students (and teachers), researchers say“

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Worried about your weight? You need a good night’s sleep.

July 6th, 2010 | No Comments

Girl sleeping, insomnia, sleep problems, sleep and weight gain

We all know a balanced diet and exercise are essential in maintaining a healthy weight, but now women need to add plenty of sleep to that list as well.

New research published in the International Journal of Obesity shows females that don’t sleep well are more likely to gain weight than those with no sleep problems.

The Finnish study of more than 7000 people over a 7 year period showed that one third of women that had difficulty falling or staying asleep experienced major weight gain of more than 11 pounds.  Of the women that reported no sleep problems, only one fifth gained more than 11 pounds.

The study also noted that sleep issues didn’t affect the weight of males, with those that reported sleep problems no more likely to gain weight than their non sleep-challenged counterparts.

This study is a big breakthrough in the sleep world because it proves the relationship between sleep problems and weight gain.  These results should definitely impact on the way both sleep and weight problems are tackled.

So what does this mean for you?  Well, maybe you can have that piece of chocolate cake…just make sure you get to bed early tonight!

Read more here – ‘Sleep problems linked to weight gain in middle-age’

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‘Sleep sex’ surprisingly common

June 14th, 2010 | No Comments

US News reports on research presented at SLEEP 2010, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in San Antonio, Texas. It shows that ’sexsomnia’ – having sex whilst asleep – is a surprisingly common complaint of patients seeking help for sleep disorders:

Nearly 8 percent of patients referred to a sleep disorders clinic reported they had initiated or taken part in sexual behavior while sleeping. Men accounted for three-quarters of the self-reported sexsomniacs.

“We were surprised at how common it was,” said study author Sharon A. Chung, a staff scientist in the Sleep Research Laboratory at the University Health Network in Toronto. “We thought we’d get just a handful of people, yet it was almost one in twelve.”

The research was to be presented Monday at SLEEP 2010, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in San Antonio.

In the study, researchers asked 832 patients about sexual behavior while sleeping, which can range from masturbation to intercourse. About 11 percent of men and 4 percent of women said they had engaged in “sleep sex.”

Researchers said the prevalence is probably lower in the general population.

Sexsomnia is a form of a sleep disorder called parasomnia, or unwanted behavior that occurs during sleep. “An act of parasomnia can be as small as opening your eyes while fast asleep or grinding your teeth, to getting up and vacuuming, speaking, eating or having sex,” Chung said.

Generally, people have no awareness of what they are doing and no recollection of it, Chung said.

Sexsomnia is more than a medical curiosity. It has been used as a criminal defense in sexual assault cases. In 2008, a Toronto man was found not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman after the court heard evidence that the man had engaged in “sleep sex” with several former girlfriends, according to news reports.

Read more here: ‘Sleep sex’ might be nightmare for some

Posted in Insomnia Information, Interesting..., Science, Sleep in Culture

When I die .. I want insomnia on my death certificate .. that’s the root of my problems

May 20th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Seems a bit extreme or so you might think, but this is the statement of a patient who took part in a study just published in the British Journal of General Practice.

This in-depth research, conducted by researchers in Lincoln and Nottingham, reports in detail on the experiences of 30 patients with insomnia, and of 15  GPs who struggle daily to deal with this all too common problem. 

It comes as a plea from the heart, someone crying out for recognition that insomnia is such a big deal, only wishing that it could be taken more seriously. Indeed, this was a common theme that came up from the focus group discussions, with patients feeling they had to convince their GPs that their sleep difficulties were serious.

GPs recognised that insomnia was related to physical and mental health complaints, but it seems they often believe that the insomnia just a symptom caused by such problems. This contrasts with the patient’s view e.g. “I think a lot of it is because I’m so tired, that is what causes my depression”.

Actually the patients are right in the sense that many research studies conducted worldwide shows that persistent insomnia is a risk factor for developing depression in the first place. Maybe the NHS needs to listen to the patients more often!

This paper is great to have in a major scientific journal. Even better, BJGP invite folks to contribute comments on the article at a Discussion Forum  http://www.rcgp.org.uk/bjgp-discuss.   Get writing!

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No sleep for London City traders on election night

May 7th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Trading desks opened at 1am this morning to allow London City traders to ‘bet on the closest U.K. election in three decades’. Money doesn’t sleep!

via Business Week. Read more here.

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Lack of sleep ‘linked to early death’

May 7th, 2010 | No Comments

The BBC reports that getting less than six hours sleep a night can lead to an early grave.

People regularly having such little sleep were 12% more likely to die over a 25-year period than those who got an “ideal” six to eight hours.

They also found an association between sleeping for more than nine hours and early death, although that much sleep may merely be a marker of ill health.

Sleep journal reports the findings, based on 1.5m people in 16 studies.

Read more here.

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