Sleep Info

Why do humans “waste” a third time of their lives sleeping? Throughout the animal kingdom, sleep is universal and essential to all organisms with a nervous system, including invertebrates such as flies, worms, and even jellyfish. But the evolutionary reason for sleep, which puts an animal at significant risk of predators for part of its…
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Spring, particularly early spring, is such a weird time of year.  It’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re going to get.  In some parts of the country right now, there’s snow on the ground.  In others, the trees are starting to sprout leaves.  In some areas, you can even get…
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A new study has found a link between lack of the sleep and reduced ability to regulate your behavior.  One side-effect of this, researchers found, was a increased tendency to procrastinate. Individuals who have low self-regulation are more prone to procrastination than those with high self-regulation. Now, in a new study published in the journal…
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Researchers have discovered a brain process common to sleep and aging in research that could pave the way for new treatments for insomnia. The scientists from Oxford University report how oxidative stress leads to sleep. Oxidative stress is also believed to be a reason why we age and is also a cause of degenerative diseases.  The…
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Insufficient sleep is a health concern, and its effects reach beyond physical health. According to new research, one side-effect of not getting enough shut-eye is that it makes you less likely to be a good citizen. While a lack of sleep is known to negatively impact some types of behaviors, relatively little has been known…
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You may think that making sure you get plenty of sleep is enough, but new research shows that HOW you sleep is also important.  The study, conducted at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), shows how the depth of sleep can impact our brain’s ability to efficiently wash away waste and toxic proteins. Because…
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A new study has identified 76 new gene regions associated with sleep duration. The study by a team that recently reported finding gene sites associated with insomnia risk and chronotype – the tendency to be an early riser or a ‘night owl.’ The study was conducted by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the University of Exeter Medical…
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It seems that napping may do more than just reboot our energy level and improve our mood. New research found that people who took advantage of a midday snooze were more likely to have a noticeable drop in blood pressure compared with those who didn’t nap. Overall, taking a nap during the day was associated…
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Many people have compared the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, when we “spring forward” to lose an hour, as a national experiment in jet lag or even sleep deprivation.  Whether you like it or not, Daylight Saving Time for 2019 begins in the U.S. and multiple other countries at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10….
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While sleep may seem like a sedentary activity, it isn’t for your brain.  Researchers have found that our brains replay our movement from the day.  The Austrian research team had rats wired to record their neuron activity as they moved about while awake.  While rats (and humans) are asleep, neurons in the hippocampus fire rapidly….
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