April 24th, 2012
Depending on who you listen to, between a quarter and 40 per cent of the UK population regularly snores in their double beds
at night. While the snorer themselves may not see it as a problem, it can be hell for their partners – and snoring is a symptom of sleep apnoea, a potentially dangerous disorder. Speaking to WalesOnline, ear, nose and throat consultant Ian Myles Black recently suggested some of the best ways to cut out the snores:
· Stop smoking
It may sound obvious, but smoking is a huge contributor to snoring due to the breathing problems it causes.
· Shed a few pounds
People who weigh more are more likely to snore – and snore more loudly.
· Don’t drink before bed
Alcohol is a relaxant that can cause your throat muscles to become narrower, restricting your airways.
· Sleep with just one pillow
Elevating your head too much can aggravate snoring.
· Change bedding regularly
Part of the reason we snore is that our nasal passages are creating a barrier against dust while we sleep. Cleaning and dusting your bedroom, as well as changing bedding often, will help prevent this.
· Check for sleep apnoea
Finally, if you’re a persistent snorer, ask your GP to test you for sleep apnoea. This condition can stop you from breathing for minutes at a time while you’re asleep, so it’s worth ruling out!
April 23rd, 2012
A London company has installed pods for its workers to rest in while the Olympic Games are on, it was revealed recently. The cabin beds
will mean the company never sleeps, with workers on site 24 hours a day.
Interxion, a data centre service provider, bought the specially designed pods to eliminate the disruption the Games could have caused to their commuting staff. The company said the decision shows that they put “resilience” and “uptime” before all else.
The move is a step away from the practice of many companies, who will choose to let employees work from home while Olympic-mania takes over the transport routes.
Instead of going home in the evening, Interxion’s workers will be able to stay in the building all night so the company is not plagued by absentees the next morning.
The pods are from London-based company Podtime. In a press release on April 12th Jon Gray, Podtime’s director, explained the circumstances which they hope will lead to an influx of orders for their cabins. He said: “Everyone working in central London will feel the challenging side-effect of the Games, and the organisations they work for will face operational issues with employees being stuck in queues rather than being in the office.”
April 20th, 2012
Your child’s risk of obesity could be cut by over 30 per cent just by spending longer in their children’s beds
at weekends, a new study has revealed.
Experts from Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital in Seoul led a team of researchers who found that children who slept longer at weekends were 33 per cent less likely to be obese, the Daily Mail reported on April 21st.
The study, which has been published in the Journal of Sleep, examined the sleeping habits of 936 school children aged ten and 11 to establish the link between increased weekend sleep and reduced risk of obesity problems.
Catching up on sleep missed during the week resets sleeping patterns. Getting enough sleep reduces calorie intake during the day and balances out metabolism.
In the UK more than one in four children are overweight, a statistic that has raised great concern among experts who fear that an epidemic of heart disease and diabetes could be on the cards.
The study marks the continuation of research into the link between sleep deprivation and weight problems. A report on the findings said: “These results indicate that weekend catch-up sleep is independently associated with decreased risk of being overweight.”
April 19th, 2012
A fox cub tried out the main bedroom of nine-year-old Alexander West’s home before settling into his single bed
on April 16th.
The schoolboy found a female fox cub curled up on his mattress after leaving the back door of his townhouse open.
Alexander was playing outside when the cub crept in to his Hertfordshire home and upstairs to take her pick of the bedrooms, the Daily Mail reported on April 18th.
The fox cub was lucky not to have had a run-in with the family pet, Fifi the cat, in her quest for a comfy place to sleep.
The family could tell from dirty footprints left by the fox that she had tried out the main bedroom before changing her mind and heading to Alexander’s.
Alexander’s mother Dina Luminati-West said she was shocked to see the creature, but Alexander was pleased it had sought refuge in his bedroom. Ms Luminati-West told her son it had chosen his room “because it was so messy.”
Ms Luminati-West knew that foxes lived nearby, but was very surprised that they would dare to enter people’s houses. She called the RSPCA to come and collect the fox cub.
“We’ll be keeping our door firmly shut from now on,” she said.
April 18th, 2012
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.
April 17th, 2012
A report released yesterday (April 16th) explained the circumstances that led to the injury of sixteen people on board an Air Canada flight in January 2011.
According to Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, the flight from Toronto to Zurich on January 13th was disrupted because the pilot was confused due to tiredness. It is unsurprising that in the cabin beds
are not far from pilots’ minds, especially on flights such as the one in question, where the body clock is disrupted by the long periods of darkness that characterise a night-time eastward flight across the Atlantic.
The pilot sent the Boeing 767 into a sharp dive when he mistook the planet Venus for another plane, and then thought an aircraft was descending towards them. He believed his actions would save the passengers and crew from a full-blown impact, but in fact the drop only succeeded in lifting some flyers out of their seats and into a collision with the cabin fixtures, leaving them injured.
The report said that although the pilot got eight hours of sleep the night before, his rest was interrupted by his children. He took a scheduled nap just before the incident, but was still groggy, which caused him to wrongly perceive a threat in the airplane’s flight path.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said: “To counter fatigue, some pilots will try to nap before a night–time leg. While this can be helpful in some cases, it cannot prevent fatigue in all pilots.”
April 16th, 2012
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.”
April 13th, 2012
The Voice coach Jessie J could be jeopardising her health by been losing out on sleep, according to a recent article.
The singer-turned-judge is surviving on just four hours’ sleep a night according to Now Magazine (April 10th). Jessie could benefit more than most from extra time under the covers of a comfy guest bed while away touring, due to a health issue.
At age 11 Jessie discovered she has a potentially life-threatening heart rhythm problem called Wolff-Park
inson-White syndrome, which could leave her at risk of complications if she becomes too stressed. Therefore, taking time out to relax and ensure she is getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night is even more important.
Jessie recently toured Australia and is currently balancing her commitments to BBC1’s The Voice with her own music career.
A source spoke to Now about Jessie’s busy schedule.
“She wants to do the best job she can, but she doesn’t cope well with stress and her life right now is exactly that 24/7,” the source said. “She isn’t sleeping well and is generally worrying way too much about her acts [which she mentors on The Voice].”
The source concluded by expressing a wish for Jessie to relax and take care of herself.
April 12th, 2012
The body struggles to regulate sugar levels if it is deprived of a normal sleeping pattern, according to the results of a new study, meaning night-time sleep in a comfortable king size bed could have even more health benefits than previously thought.
The study, which was published on April 11th in the Science Translational Medicine journal, showed that its participants were so affected by the lack of normal sleep they began to show symptoms of early diabetes.
Participants underwent 21 days of disrupted sleep. Each day was extended to 28 hours long and they were allowed just 6.5 hours’ sleep daily – perhaps a familiar situation for many shift workers. The participants lived in dim light for the duration of the study, mimicking the lives of night workers who sleep through the day.
As a result of these circumstances, researchers noted that after participants ate, their blood sugar levels where significantly higher than they would normally be. In fact, three participants displayed sugar levels that remained so high after eating that they were said to be pre-diabetic.
Study leader Dr Orfeu Buxton said of the findings: “We think these results support the findings from studies showing that, in people with a pre-diabetic condition, shift workers who stay awake at night are much more likely to progress to full-on diabetes than day workers.”
April 11th, 2012
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.
