This week in sleep news:
Your diet is impacting your sleep
Wishing you could wake up more alert (without coffee)? Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered that by paying attention to sleep, exercise, and breakfast, you can control how you feel when you wake up. After a detailed study of 833 people over two weeks, they found that optimal alertness came from a threefold approach involving substantial exercise the previous day, sleeping longer and later into the morning, and eating a breakfast high in complex carbohydrates, with limited sugar. They also found that controlled blood glucose response after eating breakfast is key to waking up more effectively.
Sleep deserves to be more than simply the ticket to productivity
In an opinion piece for the Chicago Tribune, Dr. Jennifer Mundt, director of Northwestern's Behavioral Sleep Medicine Lab, shines a spotlight on the drawback of promoting sleep for productivity. Instead of making sleep another part of hustle culture, Mundt writes, "You can simply sleep because your body needs it, and your life will be better in innumerable ways for it."
Trouble sleeping leads to relationship strains
A new survey released by the Harris Poll shows that people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to argue with their partners. The survey, conducted during late summer this year, targeted more than 1,000 people who report sleep struggles, as well as more than 300 healthcare professionals. The results found that 53% of people with trouble sleeping report that their insomnia “is an added relationship stressor,” and 41% say their trouble sleeping causes them to argue more with their partner, while 35% argue at least once a month, triggered by a lack of sleep. The study shows that the effects of sleep issues can extend beyond just the person experiencing the trouble.
How you help a child go to sleep is related to their behavioral development
The way you put your child to sleep plays a role in their behavior and temperament development, according to a new study published in Frontiers. The study, which examined parental methods to help toddlers sleep across 14 cultures, found that these methods are related to the development of a child’s temperament. In their study, they saw that passive ways of helping a child fall asleep (e.g., cuddling, singing, and reading) showed a calmer child temperament in comparison to active methods (e.g., walking, car rides, and playing).
All about snoozers
Do you get up as soon as your alarm goes off, or do you regularly press snooze? A team of researchers set out to study the effects of hitting snooze. They found that 57% of participants fell into the latter category as snoozers. They also found that there was a higher likelihood of hitting snooze for those who identified as female, were younger, logged fewer steps, had lower conscientiousness, had more disturbed sleep, and identified as a more evening chronotype. Snoozers had elevated resting heart rates and showed lighter sleep before waking. Snoozers did not sleep less than non-snoozers, nor did they feel more sleepiness or nap more often. Snoozing is a common behavior associated with changes in sleep physiology before waking and is influenced by demographic and behavioral traits.
In sleep-centric social media...
TikToker @laxtoluxury took us with her as she took United's inaugural flight from San Francisco to Brisbane, Australia. Featuring seats that pull out to full beds and bedding from Saks Fifth Avenue, this flight seems like a five star experience.
