Is it true that sleeping more than eight hours a night hastens your demise? People certainly think so. Several years ago a national TV news reporter asked me if it was true, because after working shifts “I go home and sleep for ten or more hours, will that shorten my life?” A recent article in Journal of […]
Recovering Lost Sleep
The American Sleep Disorders Association recommends American adults get seven or more hours of sleep each night. Many don’t. Between work, children, cellphones, aging parents, more work, illness and overall stress, lots of folks get a whole lot less sleep than they want. They need sleep recovery. So they sleep in over the weekends, or […]
Happy Enemies of Sleep
Cellphones, televisions, pads, monitors, are not generally considered unwitting enemies of sleep, yet often are. We have great fun with electronic lights, but we are not built for light at night. At night we are designed to sleep. A recent study from Kenneth Wright’s group at the University of Colorado highlights for preschoolers what has long been […]
To Do Sleep Faster
Can writing a simple to do list right before bed let you fall asleep faster? Recent research says yes. Which points out that if people do simple cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, they can make their sleep and waking lives a whole lot easier. The Study Young people 18-30 who weren’t having a lot […]
Stress, Overeating, and Sleep
Stress makes you sleepless. Insomnia makes you hungry, especially ravenous for fat and sugar. You eat more, gain weight, get more stressed. Then repeat. When expectations exceed realities stress becomes one’s constant companion. The plane flight to see your ailing mother is delayed, then cancelled. Your kid forgets his homework and you can’t leave work […]