Depressed mothers are disturbing their babies’ sleep, not the other way round, a new study has revealed.

The journal Child Development published research by Pennsylvania State University which examined 45 mothers and their babies for a week. Results showed that children with the most disturbed sleep had mothers with more symptoms of depression.

This link was caused by depressed mothers going to their children’s beds and picking up, feeding and cuddling their babies when the intervention didn’t appear to be needed.

The study suggests that mothers were disturbing their baby’s sleep in search of emotional comfort for themselves, not because the baby needed it. These findings draw attention to the need for support for parents who are feeling depressed.

Are you far from 007-quality in the morning? A short walk and a spot of code-breaking should do the trick…

An inventor has created an alarm clock that could leave every single bed empty as soon as it goes off, according to recent reports. The Ramos clock will have you jumping out of bed and rushing out of the room straight into your morning routine, with just one quick stop: to the defuse panel you’ve positioned in another room of your house.

Unlike other alarm clocks, when you set the Ramos you have no option to snooze or even to turn it off completely and revisit the land of nod. With a long-life battery to stop it going off if unplugged, this invention requires you to go to a panel and enter a code; only then will the alarm stop.

The idea is that by the time you have forced yourself into a mentally alert state in order to key in the 4 digit number – which could be the day’s date or a code flashed up on the clock-  you will be out of the foggy haze that would normally see you turn over and go back to sleep. If you hang the panel in the bathroom or kitchen, the theory goes, you will get on with your morning routine, no ‘snooze’ required.

New-Jersey based inventor Paul Sammut wrote on his website: “I made [the Ramos clock] after I got tired of constantly oversleeping. I needed something that would force me out of bed.”

A study has recently been brought into the public eye which suggests vitamin B6 – found in bananas – could make dreams stranger and easier to recall. A bed with TV may not be the only thing providing entertainment the next morning…

A report in the Daily Mail (April 8th) focused on a study carried out back in 2002, which indicated that the ingestion of 250mg of vitamin B6 gave participants much more vivid, bizarre and emotional dreams than a placebo.

The study was carried out by Matthew Ebben, Anthony Lequerica and Arthur Spielman at the City College of New York, where 12 students took part. The vitamin was previously believed to affect the vividness of dreams, but the link had not been examined under test conditions before the 2002 study. The study resulted in a hypothesis that vitamin B6 may stimulate the brain, ‘awakening’ it while the sleeper is in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Eating bananas, certain meats, vegetables, whole grains and nuts will up your vitamin B6 levels. However, the Daily Mail warned its readers not to consume too much of the vitamin as this could result in insomnia or even high blood pressure and panic attacks.

One Direction’s Niall loves nothing better than a good sleep but the others aren’t getting enough, according to reports.

The Mirror revealed that the 18-year-old singer spends all his time on tour catching up on his Zs, while the Daily Mail showed pictures of his band mates looking shattered.

One Direction’s Liam told the Mirror that if a spy was put on the tour bus “[they] wouldn’t see much, just Niall sleeping.”

If the pictures published by the Daily Mail on April 5th are anything to go by, the others haven’t shared in Niall’s sleepathon.

It seems the sleeping quarters on the tour bus and airplanes aren’t quite as comfy as the boys are used to; maybe French antique beds would be more suited to the successful singers!

After flying into JFK airport, One Direction were snapped looking exhausted. The boys still made time to meet their fans, however, and smiled for the many cameras.

Prince Harry said “I do” earlier this week, according to Cheryl Cole’s dreams.

The Girls Aloud star told Marie Claire that she’d married His Royal Highness in a dream, fulfilling every girl’s wish of becoming a princess, if only until she got out of her double bed.

In the interview, published April 3rd, the singer rhapsodised over the prince whose father, Prince Charles, is her partner at the Prince’s Trust charity. She said: “I love Prince Harry. Actually, I had a dream last night that I married him and was a real-life princess. And Charles was my father-in-law instead of my charity partner.”

Her confession may seem forward, however it appears the Geordie star’s admiration may not be one-sided.

According to a report in The Sun on April 3rd, Prince Harry revealed his crush on Cheryl back in 2009, telling Popstar to Operastar winner Joe McElderry that he was jealous of the time Joe got to spend with Cheryl.

According to dreammoods.com’s dream dictionary, Cheryl’s slumber-land nuptials could represent “the unification of formerly separate or opposite aspects of [her] self”, specifically “the union of masculine or feminine aspects of [her] self”.

The singer was featured in May’s issue of Marie Claire to promote her new Spring/Summer 2012 shoe collection for StylistPick.

Keeping up with the Kardashians star Khloe Kardashian has been sharing her sleep-starved frustrations with Twitter fans recently.

The TV personality revealed today (March 30th) that while her basketball player husband Lamar Odom has been benefitting from early nights, he is the only restful one in the double bed as she has been struggling to fall asleep.

Khloe reported feeling like a “zombie” due to restless nights. She tweeted: “I have to let [Lamar] rest they have a crazy season… I’m just happy he’s asleep LOL I’m like a zombie.”

The star has been resorting to desperate – and unusual- methods to get some sleep. “I’ll try counting unicorns….” she tweeted.

Perhaps Khloe should try some different techniques to help her sleep. Lavender is renowned as a soothing oil and can be used in the bath or on a tissue under the pillow to aid relaxation. Maybe the recent drama over her sister Kim Kardashian’s flour-bombing is keeping Khloe awake – if so, she may benefit from some mind-clearing meditation techniques. Also, the importance of a comfortable bed cannot be overlooked when it comes to getting the perfect night’s sleep.