Some lucky people can get by on only four to six hours of shut-eye a night. We hate to break it to you, but you’re probably not one of them. Here, the truth about how much sleep you really need — and what can happen if you don’t get it.
Thomas Edison thought it was waste of time. Bill Clinton used to brag that he could get by on only five hours of it a night. And Margaret Thatcher once famously ...
Continue Reading →Thinking about bringing naptime back? Read up on the where, when, and how to getting the most out of your midday snooze without feeling groggy.
Ah, naps. Some swear by them, others think they’re overrated. Whichever way you stand, the health benefits of napping are real. Just like toddlers get cranky without a nap, sleep-deprived grown-ups can get irritable, too.
Despite the upsides touted by famous nap-takers (Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, John F. Kennedy, just to name a few) and other devoted ...
Continue Reading →Sleep disturbances, daytime fatigue not a given in later years.
The older you get, the better you sleep, according to new research that challenges conventional wisdom that a good night’s rest is harder to come by with age.
In a survey of 150,000 adults, people in their 70s and 80s had the fewest complaints of sleep disturbance, while those between the ages of 18 and 24 had the most. Except for a bump in complaints in middle age, sleep appears to improve ...
Continue Reading →Researchers warn against chronic use, but one expert said underlying health woes could also be a factor.
Prescription sleeping pills may help you get some much needed rest at night, but using them routinely might also make it more likely that you will die or develop certain types of cancer, research suggests.
A new study suggests that those who take these medications are four times more likely to die than people who don’t take them. What’s more, the research shows that sleeping ...
Continue Reading →Your home state may affect your quality of shut-eye, researchers say.
Where you live in the United States may influence how well you sleep, researchers report.
Southerners report the most sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue, while people in the West have the least, according to a new study that created state-by-state sleep maps for the United States.
University of Pennsylvania researchers created the maps using national data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Sleep disturbance is a major public health ...
Continue Reading →Other research also suggests rapid memory loss may be linked to a fatal brain attack.
Sleep apnea, the disorder marked by abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep, is already known to boost the risk of stroke. Now, a new study links sleep apnea to so-called silent strokes, in which there is tissue death in the brain without symptoms.
In another new study, researchers found that rapid memory loss before a stroke boosts the risk of the stroke being fatal.
Both studies are slated ...
Continue Reading →Not getting enough sleep may lead to weight gain over time, researchers say.
The team at Uppsala University in Sweden used functional MRI to observe the brains of 12 normal weight males while they looked at images of food. This was done on two occasions — after a night of normal sleep and after a night without sleep.
The results showed that a specific brain region that plays a role in appetite shows more activation in response to food images after a ...
Continue Reading →Staying awake after disturbing event weakened emotional response upon recall, study found.
Your emotional response to a disturbing image or traumatic event is weaker if you remain awake afterward, while sleep reinforces unpleasant emotional memories, according to new research.
The experiments involving 68 female and 38 male volunteers aged 18 to 30 also found that people who saw an unsettling image or traumatic event and then went to sleep are as upset as they originally were if they see the picture again ...
Continue Reading →If your partner has restless legs syndrome, you both may have sleepless nights. Try these sleep tips so rest doesn’t become an impossible dream.
If you share a bed with one of the millions of people who have restless legs syndrome (RLS), getting a good night’s sleep may be challenging for both of you. In an attempt to relieve tingling or other discomfort, your partner may be in constant motion, keeping you awake for much of the night, too. What’s worse, ...
Continue Reading →In addition to medication, lifestyle changes and drug-free treatments can provide restless legs relief. Read about home remedies that may surprise (and help) you.
Some call it a creepy-crawly feeling. Others say it’s more of a gnawing or burning sensation in their limbs. But however you describe restless legs syndrome (RLS), it’s important to get this uncomfortable condition properly treated. “RLS is a real disease with real consequences,” says Alon Avidan, MD, MPH, an associate professor of neurology and director of ...
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