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.

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

Napping Linked to Diabetes

New research has shown a link between taking lunchtime or afternoon naps and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The work by researchers from the University of Birmingham was presented at Diabetes UK’s Annual Professional Conference in Glasgow. The researchers studied over 16,000 people and found that those who napped had a 26 per cent greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes compared to those who never napped.

This doesn't necessarily mean that napping causes an increase in diabetes risk. Other factors such as reduced physical activity and short night time sleep duration may be connected with both napping and diabetes.

Dr Iain Frame, Director of Research at Diabetes UK, said:

""We already know that people who are overweight or obese, and therefore more at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, can have problems sleeping. This new research could be another step towards explaining the possible link between disturbed sleep patterns and Type 2 diabetes.

"However, in terms of being major risk factors for developing Type 2 diabetes, disturbed sleep or napping are likely to remain less significant than already established risk factors such as being overweight, being over the age of 40 or having a history of diabetes in the family."

Sleep Walking, Sleep Talking... Sleep Emailing?!?

If you thought sending your boss an email after a couple of beers was a bad idea, how about doing so whilst you're asleep?

Up until now it was thought that the possible range of activities when asleep was limited to fairly crude motor functions such as sleepwalking or mumbling incomprehensibly. Now the New York Times reports on what's believed to be the first documented case of "complex nonviolent cognitive behaviour": sleep emailing.

A woman who was staying at a relative's house managed, whilst asleep, to turn on the computer, log in to the email system and send an email. To be precise she emailed a friend saying "come TOMORROW AND SORT THIS HELL HOLE Out!!!!!!". Ouch.

The case, which is due to be published in the journal Sleep Medicine, is unusual. The woman was already undergoing treatment for severe insomnia and had recently increased her dose of zolpidem (Ambien) above that prescribed by her doctor.

So sending abusive or lustful emails in our sleep is probably not something most of us need worry about too much. But it is possible.

Sleep and Heart Disease

New research suggests that getting a good night's sleep might be connected with a lower risk of heart disease in some people.

The research, Short Sleep Duration and Incident Coronary Artery Calcification, was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers studied 495 healthy subjects aged between 35 and 47 years. They found a strong correlation between increased sleep and lower risk of coronary artery calcification.

It's worth noting that the group studied only slept for an average of 6.1 hours a night, so the findings don't necessarily apply to those who are already getting a good night's sleep.

It's also important to remember that correlation doesn't necessarily mean causality. One of the paper's authors, Professor Diane Lauderdale, said:

It may be that there is some other factor that influences how much people sleep and independently influences calcification

Immune System Stronger During Sleep

We all know that we tend to sleep more when we're sick - having just got over a bad dose of 'flu I can personally confirm that! Now scientists have confirmed what many have long suspected: the immune system is more active during sleep. At least it is in fruit flies, and the scientists seem to think that this suggests the same will be true of humans.

Researchers at Stanford University infected fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) with bacteria at different times of the day. The results, reported to the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), showed that those infected when asleep fought the bacteria better and were more likely to survive.

According to Mimi Shirasu-Hiza of Stanford University:

"These results suggest that immunity is stronger at night, consistent with the hypothesis that circadian proteins upregulate restorative functions such as specific immune responses during sleep, when animals are not engaged in metabolically costly activities"

Er, yes, just what I was about to say...

Night Terrors: Cause Partially Genetic

Night Terrors - also known as sleep terrors can be a dreadful experience for an adult. How much worse they must be for a child. Up to now scientists have been unsure what causes the condition, however new research published in Pediatrics suggests it could be at least partially inherited.

Rsearchers from Montreal's Sacre-Coeur Hospital studied 390 sets of twins and found that identical twins were far more likely to suffer from the terrors than fraternal twins. This suggests a strong genetic element to the condition. According to Bich Hong Nguyen:

"Our results show that there is a substantial effect of genetics factors in sleep terrors"

This research offers hope for a better understanding of night terrors but not necessarily a way to prevent them. However there is some consolation for distressed parents: the study also noted that half the children suffering night terrors at 18 months were free of the condition at 30 months.

Sleep Yourself Thin?

The Journal Pediatrics reports that new research has found a link between childhood sleep patterns and obesity later in life.

The study conducted by the New Zealand Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit followed children born between 1972 and 1973. The Unit compared the subjects' sleep times as children with their adult Body Mass Index (BMI). According to the researchers:

"Shorter childhood sleep times were significantly associated with higher adult BMI values"

The reason for this correlation is unclear. One theory is that sleep deprivation may disrupt hormone regulation and thus affect appetite. Another idea is that children who don't get enough sleep are more tired the next day and hence less physically active.

They report concludes:

"Ensuring that children get adequate sleep may be a useful strategy for stemming the current obesity epidemic"

Note the word "adequate" - which is not the same as "excessive"!

Unfortunately the "sleep yourself thin" idea only applies if you're still a child. If you're already an adult then there's nothing in this new research to suggest that more sleep will help you lose weight.

Jet Noise Could Harm Sleepers

We all know that living near an airport - especially right under the flight path - can keep you awake at night. Now it seems that even when you do get to sleep the noise could be damaging your health.

New research published in the European Heart Journal has shown that jet noise can cause a rise in blood pressure (BP) whilst asleep. The BP of volunteers was measured remotely and showed an average increase of 0.62 mmHg in systolic blood pressure during aircraft noise. The researchers conclude:

"Effects of noise exposure on elevated subsequent BP measurements were clearly shown. The effect size of the noise level appears to be independent of the noise source."

The "independent of source" comment is interesting. The research showed that increased blood pressure was associated not just with aircraft noise but also from traffic noise - and snoring.