Sleep Blogger
Sleep, crying babies and the early bird
Two sleep studies, two conclusions, one myth confirmed, another myth shattered. Let’s take them from the top.
Study No. 1, as reported by Time magazine’s Wellness blog:
It’s no secret that mothers are sensitive to their babies’ cries, even while asleep. Yet a recent sleep study commissioned by Lemsip, the manufacturer of over-the-counter flu and cold remedies sold in the U.K., suggests it’s not just mothers, but all women, who are quickly roused from sleep by the sound of a crying infant. For men, however, a wailing baby is far less likely to penetrate slumber. While car alarms, buzzing flies and strong wind were all able to interrupt men’s sleep, of the broad range of sounds tested during the study, crying babies didn’t even fall in the top 10 noises likely to disturb male slumber.
Men, you’re busted. The best you can do with this information is to point out that at least you’re not faking sleep to avoid crying-infant duty. The study shows that even when the baby isn’t sleeping like a baby, you are.
Study No. 2, as reported by the New York Daily News:
Getting up at 5 a.m. may not be the right path to getting ahead.
…[R]ecent research from the University of Alberta in Canada that found that people fall into two categories: larks, or early risers who function best in the morning and tire through the day, and owls, who feel sharper as the day goes on and reach their optimum level at around 9 p.m.
But unless you can make up for your sleep deficit by going to bed earlier, you may want to think twice about rising while it’s still dark out. Most people need seven to eight hours of sleep, says Dr. Dennis Lin, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. If you’re not getting enough, he says, you’ll experience everything from depression to a lack of concentration to psychomotor retardation (which means when you’re exhausted and try to drive, your reflexes won’t work well.)
Translation: That worm the early bird gets? It may be the night owl’s leftovers.
