This week in sleep news…
Making up for lack of sleep over the weekend will not undo the harm
Trying to make up sleep over the weekend will not undo the damage of not getting enough sleep during the week. A new study shows that heart rate and blood pressure worsen over the week if you sleep only five hours per night. A study published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine found that blood pressure and heart rate did not return to baseline measures for people who tried to recover after sleeping just five hours a night for five days.
To carry out the study, the researchers analyzed 15 healthy men between the ages of 20 and 35 over the course of 11 days. The first three days the participants slept 10 hours per night, followed by five nights where their sleep was restricted to five hours per night. Then they were given two recovery nights to sleep 10 hours. The researchers measured the participants’ heart rate and blood pressure multiple times a day during the study to determine their cardiovascular health. They found that both heart rate and blood pressure increased with each day that the men did not sleep enough, and it did not return to normal levels by the end of the two recovery nights.
Perception of sleep quality outweighs tracker data
New research from the University of Warwick published in Emotion suggests that your perception of your sleep is more influential on your well-being than data from sleep-tracking technology.
Across a two-week period, more than 100 participants maintained a daily sleep journal. They noted details such as bedtime, the time they prepared to sleep, the duration it took them to drift off, wake-up time, the moment they got up, and their overall satisfaction with their sleep.
Multiple times throughout the following day, participants were asked to rate their positive and negative emotions and how satisfied they were with their life. Participants also wore an actigraph unit, which measures a person’s movement, on their wrist for the duration of the study. Researchers compared the actigraphy data with the participants’ perceptions of their sleep and how they felt throughout the following day. Their results showed that how people felt about their sleep was consistently linked with how they felt about their overall well-being and life satisfaction. Overall, the study suggests that evaluating your sleep positively may contribute to a better mood the next day.
University of Arizona lands $4 million to study firefighters’ sleep
Firefighters, like many emergency workers, work odd hours, involving one or more 24-hour shifts, with mandatory overtime, which isn’t exactly the formula for a healthy sleep pattern. But with new grant money, hopefully we can figure out how to help them get better sleep.
The University of Arizona has received a $4 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to help firefighters get the shut-eye they need.
Many career firefighters report short sleep and poor sleep quality. Additionally, many test positive for sleep apnea, insomnia, or shift work disorder. With this new grant, team members will develop a flexible and realistic sleep plan in conjunction with 20 fire agencies across Arizona. They will also train managers and promote the benefits of sleep and recovery among firefighters.
