What Wakes Us Up

"How could you sleep through that?" is a common question asked of a partner. Well, it could simply be a matter of gender. New research suggests that men and women are sensitive to different things at night.

The research, carried out by MindLab for Lemsip, Found that there are many similarities between the sounds that wake us, for example snoring and sirens. However the top sleep wreckers are completely different.

For women, the noise most likely to wake them up is that of a baby crying, something that isn't even in the male top ten. Second on their list is a dripping tap, which rates number ten with men.

For men the most disturbing sound is a car alarm (number eight for women), followed by a howling wind (number nine for women).

Dr David Lewis of MindLab said:

These differing sensitivities may represent evolutionary differences that make women sensitive to sounds associated with a potential threat to their children while men are more finely tuned to disturbances posing a possible threat to the whole family.

Personally I wonder how much is evolutionary and how much is socially induced.

Weather Waking Woes

It's well known that us Brits are obsessed with the weather during the day. Now it seems that it might hold an equal power over our sleep.

A new survey from the makers of Lemsip says that on average Brits suffer from a disturbed night's sleep three times a week. As expected a large number of people - 47% - are affected by their partner snoring. However even the snorers are less annoying than the great British weather; some 50% of people questioned say that their sleep is interrupted by rain, wind and storms.

No wonder so many people in the UK look tired during the summer.

Fight Wrinkles in Your Sleep

You've probably heard of sleep learning, but how about sleep beautification? That's the idea behind the Beautyzzz pillowcase.

The Beautyzzz pillowcase is made from specially commissioned hypoallergenic silk. This apparently makes "nighttime skincare and haircare routines more effective". Amongst the benefits claimed for the Beautyzzz are:

inhibiting moisture loss and improving moisture retention, promoting cell renewal and maintaining natural pH levels, enhancing absorption of beauty products and preserving the natural contours of the skin and hair

The Beautyzzz pillowcase is available to buy at a variety of US stores or online, price $47.

Shift Work May Be Linked to Cancer

There's been evidence for some time that overnight shift work could be linked to a variety of health problems. Now a sleep expert has said that there appears to be a link between shift work and some types of cancer.

Dr Naomi Rogers, director of the Chronobiology and Sleep Research Group at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Institute, was speaking at the annual conference of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia. Rogers said:

Shift workers seem to have an increased incidence of some types of cancer - breast cancer, prostate, colorectal cancers, and we're not sure why

One possibility is that shiftwork suppresses production of melatonin and thus reduces the body's protection against cancer.

Rogers advises shift workers:

It's one risk factor - and you should look at the other risk factors you have and take a healthy approach, so no smoking and eat well. And then when you're not working, try to get good amounts of sleep,

Lightsleeper Aims To Help Sleep

Do you have trouble getting a good night's sleep? Do you lay awake for ages? Well a new bedroom lighting device created by a British insomniac might be able to help.

The Lightsleeper was invented by Kate Evans to treat her own insomnia. It works by projecting a beam of blue light on the ceiling above your bed. The light then moves around in a circular pattern. You follow this with your eyes and apparently it helps you to relax and fall asleep. According to the manufacturers, following the Lightsleeper pattern with your eyes "mimics the action of reading, but without stimulating the mind".

The Lightsleeper will be available to buy online or from Boots in the UK

The Dangers of Sleep Deprivation

Well all know that sleep deprivation can make it difficult to concentrate. Now researchers have shown that it can also make it difficult to act instinctively - with possibly disastrous consequences.

Professors Todd Maddox and David Schyner of The University of Texas at Austin have found that lack of sleep reduces the ability to make automatic responses accurately. Specifically the research found that:

...moderate sleep deprivation causes some people to shift from a faster and more accurate process of information categorization (information-integration) to a more controlled, explicit process (rule-based), resulting in negative effects on performance.

This means that instead of reacting automatically automatically people have to stop and think. Even a short delay in decision making - or, worse, a wrong decision made quickly - can be devastating in some fields such as fire fighting or police work.

Or driving.