Here’s the sleep news for this week:
Daylight saving time ends Sunday
This Sunday, while you’ll lose an extra hour of sunlight in the afternoon, you’ll gain an extra hour of sleep, thanks to falling back. We’ve got you covered with tips on how to ease this daylight saving transition for you, your children, and your pets.
And take a moment to appreciate that morning sun: Dr. Chris Winter, neurologist, Sleep.com sleep advisor, and author of “The Sleep Solution” and “The Rested Child,” said to us in regards to the Senate’s daylight saving time bill, “There are psychological and circadian benefits for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and overall health to getting that morning light [which comes with standard time].” He shares that the morning light helps us set a more natural circadian rhythm, which improves overnight sleep and minimizes SAD.
Working out after sleep loss
Having a bad night’s sleep not only makes you feel dazed, but it can also put a damper on your plans for the day. Especially if you have a workout planned. In a recent paper published in Sports Medicine researchers investigated the relationship between sleep loss and athletes. What they found is that sleep loss vastly impacts next-day exercise results, particularly if you plan to work out in the afternoon. The study also found that the magnitude and significance of the sleep loss are dependent on the sleep-loss protocol preceding exercise, with sleep deprivation and earlier-than-normal waking protocols demonstrating a consistent negative influence.
Good sleep helps women succeed
Quality sleep boosted women’s moods, which then made them more intent on work achievements, a new study from Washington State University has found. Researchers asked 135 women and men at noon daily about the previous night’s sleep and their current mood. In the evenings, the investigators asked participants about their intentions to pursue more responsibility, status, and influence at work.
The study found that while both men and women had good and bad quality of sleep over the two weeks, women had lowered intentions about their work status after a poor night’s sleep. Men’s work intentions weren’t impacted by sleep quality. Researchers think this may have to do with the difference in emotional regulation between men and women as well as societal expectations.
Sleep problems linked to glaucoma
According to a decade-long study published in BMJ Open on Thursday, sleep problems such as sleeping too little or too much, snoring, insomnia, and daytime drowsiness may increase the risk of glaucoma (an eye condition that can lead to blindness). The study suggests that people who have unhealthy sleep patterns have an increased risk of developing glaucoma. This can lead to loss of vision if not diagnosed and treated early.
Researchers hope the study emphasizes the importance of adopting and maintaining healthy sleep patterns and behaviors. The findings also emphasize the need for sleep therapy in people at high risk of glaucoma as well as eye checks among those with chronic sleep disorders to check for early signs of the condition.
In sleep-centric social media ...
Does anything beat the feeling of getting into bed? We certainly don’t think so, and this post agrees.
