This week in sleep news…
This Mother’s Day, help moms rest
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Mattress Firm released its latest Sleep Uncovered report, examining just how parenting affects sleep. Backed by research and analysis from SleepScore Labs, the report contains insights about burnout and exhaustion, with tips on how parents can improve their sleep.
Sleep phase can reduce anxiety in people with PTSD
A new study published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging shows that sleep spindles, which are brief bursts of brain activity occurring during the stage 2 of sleep (light sleep), may regulate anxiety in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study confirms the spindles’ established role in the transfer of new information to longer-term memory storage. These new findings also challenge recent work by other researchers that has indicated spindles may heighten intrusive and violent thoughts in people with PTSD.
Exercise may help counteract the toll of poor sleep
A new study published in late March in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology suggests that exercise could potentially help counteract the health consequences of not getting a proper amount of sleep. The new findings build upon previous research that focused on how critical sleep and exercise are to overall health. Researchers examined data from over 92,000 adults between the ages of 40 and 73. Participants spent a week between 2013 and 2015 wearing a wristband that measured how much they exercised and slept.
They then tracked the health results of the participants years later. Those who slept too much and hardly exercised were generally more likely to die during that period, including from issues such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, people who exercised a lot did not have an increased risk of death, even when they only slept less than six hours each night.
The study suggests that completing 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity every week might negate some of the health consequences associated with sleeping too much or too little. This study was observational and is not yet enough proof to definitively say exercise counteracts the toll of unhealthy sleep.
Sleep apnea raises risk of long COVID
Adults who have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have up to a 75% increased risk, on average, of developing long COVID after an infection compared with people without sleep apnea, a new study published in Sleep found. Researchers found that women with OSA had up to an 89% increased risk, while men had a 59% higher risk, according to an analysis of data from about 1.8 million people. Across many different studies results showed consistently that patients with OSA may be at elevated risk for long COVID after an infection and should be monitored more closely.
In sleep-centric social media...
The right side of bed may take on new meaning to younger generations. A cartoon in The New Yorker depicts the newest plights of sharing a bed on vacation: having the side with the outlet or having the side without an outlet.
