Sleep Studies

Though there is a substantial body of evidence supporting the idea that getting adequate sleep will boost the body’s ability to heal, and particularly to fight cancer, a new study published in the journal Nature Communications has introduced a variable that makes sleep into less of a hero and more of a villain in the fight against cancer. According to research conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, cancer may grow more rapidly while we are sleeping then while we are awake. Continue reading →

You know that phrase, “sleeping like a baby”? Babies may sleep a lot, but ask a sleep-deprived new parent and they’ll be quick to tell you that getting them from crying to fast asleep is not necessarily an easy task. One of the most tried and true ways of getting a fussy baby to sleep is by rocking them, either in your arms, in a rocking chair or in an old-fashioned cradle. Interestingly, recent research is demonstrating that rocking is also the solution for cranky grownups struggling to get some sleep. Turns out that using a hammock is one of the fastest and most sure-fire ways to send yourself off to sleep, as well as to ensure that the sleep you get will be deep and of high quality. Continue reading →

Though it has been well-established that alcohol consumed too close to bedtime will have a disruptive effect on sleep quality, little research has been done into exactly what the mechanism is that causes this disruption. But now a team of researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia has determined that drinking alcohol creates a specific and unusual pattern of brain wave activity, and it is to this that the disruption can be attributed. Continue reading →

An alarming new study based on information collected in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health has discovered a link between being sleep-deprived as a teen and the potential for developing drinking problems later in life. The study compiled data collected from over 6,000 teens between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, and found that those who reported having difficulty in either falling asleep or staying asleep were fifty percent more likely to binge drink, while fourteen percent were more likely to drive while under the influence. The study was reported in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Continue reading →

It’s a frightening scientific fact that people who are truly sleep deprived are largely unaware of their precarious condition. It is this lack of ability to assess the degree to which their alertness is compromised that has led to the increase in serious accidents attributed to drowsy driving. But somewhere under the level of exhaustion seen in these tragic incidents is where the majority of us fall – in need of more sleep and aware of it, but not sure how to go about getting it. Sleep experts have indicated that there are three basic tenets of sleep, and that making changes to any or all of the three will make a dramatic difference in the way that you perform and feel. These three areas are: Continue reading →

Seems as though sleeping should be a pretty easy thing to do. It’s one of those things we’ve been doing since we were born, yet there are an astonishing number of things that you can find out you’ve been doing wrong. One of those things may be the position you’ve been sleeping in. Though that may seem as if it is something that is out of your control, and that your body chooses for itself, the truth is that you can train yourself out of bad sleeping habits and into healthier ones. Let’s look at the different sleep positions to see the advantages and disadvantages that each offers. Continue reading →