This week in sleep news:
Exposure to daylight predicts when you'll fall asleep
Trouble falling asleep? More time in the daylight may be your solution. According to a new study from the University of Washington in Seattle, there’s a relationship between the seasons and shifts in sleeping patterns. Researchers found that the number of hours of sleep across summer, fall, winter, and spring were similar, but in the winter months, participants went to sleep later in the evening and woke up later in the morning. The study also found that light exposure (even artificial light) during the day and night has an effect on circadian rhythm.
“What this study shows is that we need to get out — even for a little while, especially in the morning — to get that natural light exposure. In the evening, minimize screen time and artificial lighting to help us fall asleep,” biologist Horacio de la Iglesia told Science Alert.
Implementation of behavioral interventions for infant sleep problems
A study of more than 2,000 U.S. parents of babies, aged 3 to 18 months, highlights the benefits and safety of behavioral sleep interventions (BSIs). The study found that 64% of parents implemented one of three BSIs, “parental presence,” “controlled crying,” or “cry it out” at an average age of 5.3 months old. The methods of controlled crying and crying it out were found to be more difficult to implement than parental presence, but overall, were more helpful, as well as more expedient in showing improvements. Infant nighttime sleep was longer and more consolidated in the controlled crying and crying it out groups compared with the parental presence and no-BSI groups.
“Our study provides further evidence for the safety of these interventions by demonstrating that parents who had and had not used them did not differ in measures of parent-infant bonding, parent depression, or parent sleep,” clinical psychology researcher and international infant sleep expert Dr. Michal Kahn told Flinders University.
Transgender youth more likely to have sleep disorders
Teens and young adults who are transgender are four times more likely to have a sleep disorder compared to cisgender youth, a University of Michigan study has found. Researchers analyzed data from more than 1.2 million young people, aged 12 to 25, of which 2,603 identified as transgender or gender-nonconforming. Researchers found that transgender youth were 5.4 times more likely to deal with insomnia, and three times more likely to have other sleep disorders.
Of transgender youth in the study, over half received gender-affirming therapy. This group was half as likely to have any sleep disorder as transgender individuals who did not pursue the therapy. Scientists hope these findings will spur more research into this under-studied topic, and encourage doctors to screen this population for these disorders.
New iPhone update introduces sleep widget
Apple has begun rolling out IOS 16.2, and with it, the introduction of the sleep widget to the lock screen. While Apple has provided users with sleep data for a while through its Health app, this widget aims to provide users a quick way to access information on how much time you spend in bed, and the quality of your sleep.
In sleep-centric social media...
Looking to fall asleep faster? Check out these tips from Dr. Mike on YouTube (and you just might see us make an appearance).
