sleep

17Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

With Back To School Comes Back To Sleep

(BPT) - The start of the new school year is the perfect time to renew habits that keep students happy and healthy — including sleep. Unfortunately, many children and teens don't get the amount of sleep they need to thrive at school. One culprit robbing many of their much-needed sleep is right on their phones — a recent survey from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) found that 93% of Gen Z said they've lost sleep because they stayed up “past their bedtime” to view or participate in social media. “Sufficient, healthy sleep is critical for students to excel in schoolwork, sports and extracurricular activities,” said AASM President Jennifer Martin, a licensed clinical psychologist. “When students get proper sleep, they are more optimistic, feel their best, and are better able to co...

Pay College Students To Go To Bed – One Way To Help Students Get Enough Sleep

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

Pay College Students To Go To Bed – One Way To Help Students Get Enough Sleep

Small financial incentives can get college students to go to bed earlier and sleep significantly longer. That’s what my colleagues and I found through an experiment that involved 508 students at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Oxford. When the students were offered US$7.50 per night Monday through Thursday – a total of $30 per week – to sleep longer, they were 13% more likely than those who were not offered the incentive to sleep seven to nine hours. They were also 16% less likely to sleep fewer than six hours. We collected data from wearable activity trackers, surveys and time-use diaries. The people to whom the incentives were offered were chosen randomly from the group of people who agreed to be part of the study. The incentives were offered for three weeks, but th...

8May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

Am I Daydreaming?

What is daydreaming? Parts of the brain show sleep-like activity when your mind wanders. Our attention is a powerful lens, allowing our brains to pick out the relevant details out of the overwhelming flow of information reaching us every second. However, scientists estimate we spend up to half our waking lives thinking about something other than the task at hand: our minds are wandering. This is striking considering the potential negative consequences, from decreased school or work performance to tragic traffic accidents. We also know that mind-wandering and lapses of attention are more common when we are sleep-deprived, which suggests they may happen when the neurons in our brain start behaving in a way that resembles sleep. We tested the relationship between sleep and lapses of attenti...

Daylight Saving Time Starts – 11 Things You Can Do To Adjust To Losing That Hour Of Sleep

14Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Daylight Saving Time Starts – 11 Things You Can Do To Adjust To Losing That Hour Of Sleep

As clocks march ahead and daylight saving time begins, there can be anxiety around losing an hour of sleep and how to adjust to this change. Usually an hour seems like an insignificant amount of time, but even this minimal loss can cause problems. There can be significant health repercussions of this forcible shift in the body clock. Springing forward is usually harder that falling backward. Why? The natural internal body clock rhythm in people tends to be slightly longer than 24 hours, which means that every day we tend to delay our sleep schedules. Thus, “springing forward” goes against the body’s natural rhythm. It is similar to a mild case of jet lag caused by traveling east – in which you lose time and have trouble falling asleep at an earlier hour that night. Even though it’s tec...

10May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Sleep, How Much Do You Really Need?

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why do I need to sleep for a long time at night? – Sly M., 6, Cambridge, Massachusetts Just like eating, drinking or breathing, sleep is an essential part of life. In fact, all animals do it – with some interesting variations. A dolphin, for example, sleeps with one eye open and only half of its brain snoozing at a time. This is likely because dolphins need to be partly conscious to breathe while in the water. Zebras sometimes sleep standing up in case they need to wake up and quickly escape a predator. Bats sleep upside down. When someone’s asleep, it can look like they are turned “off” and not doing anything at all. But, t...

11Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

COVID-19 Sleep Loss – Daylight Saving Time Could Be Especially Hard This Weekend

The clock springs forward one hour on Sunday morning, March 14 for most people in the U.S. That is not an appealing thought for those who have suffered sleep problems because of the pandemic. Sleep this past year has been affected by a variety of factors, including anxiety, inconsistent schedules and increased screen time. This affects our health, as getting adequate sleep is important to assure our immune system can fend off and fight infections. Even before the pandemic, about 40% of adults – 50 to 70 million Americans – got less than the recommended minimum seven hours per night. And, many researchers were already concerned about how the twice-a-year switch affects our body’s physiology. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the largest scientific organization that studies sleep, i...

It’s Time To Ditch Daylight Saving Time According To Sleep Experts

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

It’s Time To Ditch Daylight Saving Time According To Sleep Experts

For most of the U.S., the clock goes back one hour on Sunday morning, Nov. 1, the “fall back” for daylight saving time. Many of us appreciate the extra hour of sleep. But for millions, that gain won’t counter the inadequate sleep they get the rest of the year. About 40% of adults – 50 to 70 million Americans – get less than the recommended minimum seven hours per night. Some researchers are concerned about how the twice-a-year switch impacts our body’s physiology. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the largest scientific organization that studies sleep, now wants to replace daylight saving time with a move to a year-round fixed time. That way, our internal circadian clocks would not be misaligned for half the year. And it would eliminate the safety risk from sleep loss when transiti...

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Can’t sleep? Here’s what to do

There are ways to minimize agitated nights of tossing and turning. For many individuals, anxious nights are commonplace. Often, life’s pressures mount mentally when physical bodies are at rest. There are ways to minimize agitated nights of tossing and turning. Psychologytoday.com’s strategies include: ‒ Write it down. A to-do list, whether necessary for work or personal life, when written down wreaks less havoc on the mind. Plus, anxiety can be heightened by simply trying to remember all that needs to be accomplished. Writing items on a piece of paper or making a list on a smartphone alleviates some mental pressure. ‒ Focus on something positive or inspirational that can be taken care of the next day or in the future; write that down as well. ‒ Pray, meditate, count blessings, reminisce....

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Can’t sleep? You probably need to make these changes.

Brain research has shown how relevant sleep is to health, so it’s more important than ever to get a good night’s sleep. In the bedroom, that means not just decorating in calming colors but also minimizing stressors and optimizing conditions for a restful night. We asked some experts for advice and products to achieve that. Minimize noise A key obstacle to uninterrupted sleep is noise. To reduce it, Brooklyn-based architect and designer Adam Meshberg, founder of Meshberg Group, recommends soundproofing the walls — building an additional thin wall in front of the original, adding a layer of QuietRock sheetrock, or sealing any cracks or gaps within the walls. To a lesser extent, wallcoverings can also absorb sound, he says, though a padded wallcovering will do more than a simple wallpaper. C...