6 Sleep Concerning Habits you may want to adopt based on the Health Research of May & June 2018

1. Make up for lost sleep on the weekend for a longer life

The results of a May study published in the Journal of Sleep Research indicate that shorter weekday sleep may not be a risk factor for mortality if it is combined with extra sleep at the weekend. This study indicates that it may be possible to catch up on short-term sleep debt if you do it within a few days.

2. Become an earlier bird to be happier

A May study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research found that women who woke up earlier had a 12 to 27 per cent less risk to develop depression later on, than women who stayed up late and slept in. Do your best to go to bed earlier & to wake up earlier. Aim to improve your sleep quality and quantity, spend time outdoors, exercise optimally, dim the lights at night, and try to get as much light by day as possible.

3. Don’t consume more than 3 drinks for quality sleep

Health research has again and again linked binge drinking to sleep disruption. However, the results from the University of Missouri School of Medicine published in May 2018 has been the first study to demonstrate how a single episode of binge drinking can affect the gene that regulates sleep, leading to sleep disruption in mice. Mice exposed to binge drinking experienced a significant increase in non-rapid eye movement sleep four hours after, followed by increased wakefulness and reduced sleep during subsequent sleep periods. What’s more, the binge drinking mice did not experience the usual increase in sleep pressure during sleep deprivation or increase in sleep-promoting chemical, adenosine, in the brain. The main finding of the research though was that binge alcohol consumption negatively affects the gene that regulates sleep, resulting in sleep disturbance.

4. Are you a female with sleep apnea? Wear your breathing mask in bed for a better sex life

A May study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery has found that patients who stuck with CPAP treatment( mask device that supports breathing) saw more dramatic improvements in their sex life than those who gave up on the treatment.

5. For higher productivity, get enough sleep each night

Results of a study that was presented at Sleep 2018 this month found that those with moderate-severe insomnia experienced more than double the productivity loss compared to someone without insomnia. If maximizing daily productivity is important to you, it would be advisable to prioritize getting enough sleep at night and to avoid the compensating at weekend approach.

6. For ultimate productivity, make sure that you drink your coffee at the right times

Finally, according to a new report published by the Journal of Sleep Research, scientists have succeeded in developing an algorithm which can help to maximize alertness after sleep loss by advising when and how much coffee a person should consume. The algorithm is not available to the public just yet. What this will mean for sleep-deprived people, is that they can use this intelligence to more effectively manage their energy-levels and productivity during the day.

In the mean-time, we can do our best to stick to the best times to drink coffee:
• First one, 2-3 hours after you wake up
• Second one, somewhere in the early afternoon
• Last one well before time of 6 hours before going to bed

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