“Researchers have discovered a single treatment that
improves memory, increases people's ability to concentrate, strengthens the
immune system and decreases people's risk of being killed in accidents. Sound
too be good to be true? It gets even better. The treatment is completely free
and has no side effects. Finally, most people consider the treatment highly
enjoyable. Would you try it?”
So begins an APA
(American Psychological Association) “Research in Action” article that encourages each of us to get 8 or more
hours of sleep each night. With longer daylight and possibly more summer play
time, this month’s wellness email gives a gentle encouragement to still also make
sleep a priority.
"A
well-spent day brings happy sleep." -Leonardo da Vinci
Maybe try this --
Sleep an extra hour
“An extra hour of sleep can do more for a person’s daily happiness
than a 200% increase in household income (Science).”
That rather remarkable statement is made in a Mindful article, and though they reference the journal Science
I’m not finding the research, so can’t substantiate the claim.
Still consider also these substantiated detriments of an hour less of sleep per night:
- From a University of Surrey sleep study reported on here: “What they discovered is that when the volunteers cut back from
seven-and-a-half to six-and-a-half hours' sleep a night, genes that are
associated with processes like inflammation, immune response and response
to stress became more active. The team also saw increases in the
activity of genes associated with diabetes and risk of cancer. The reverse
happened when the volunteers added an hour of sleep."
"It
is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the
morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." -John Steinbeck
- In a 2012 article published in the American Journal of Human Biology, UC biomedical
anthropologist Kristen Knutson, PhD, reviewed research on sleep and
cardiometabolic health and concluded that sleep restriction leads to
"substantial and clinically significant changes in appetite regulation, hunger, food
intake, glucose metabolism and blood pressure control."
"O
bed! O bed! delicious bed! That heaven upon earth to the weary head."
-Thomas
Hood, Miss Kilmansegg - Her Dream
- In a 2012 study published in the Annals
of Internal Medicine, a team of UC researchers uncovered a molecular
clue to how lack of sleep might promote diabetes: Fat cells in people who
don't get enough sleep have a 30 percent reduced ability to respond
to insulin.
“Of all the things a man may do, sleep
probably contributes most to keeping him sane. It puts brackets about each day.
If you do something foolish or painful today, you get irritated if somebody
mentions it, today. If it happened yesterday, though, you can nod or chuckle,
as the case may be. You've crossed through nothingness or dream to another
island in Time.”
Yes I’ve talked
about sleep before. Yes, I’m here again lauding the benefits of sleep. Maybe
it’s because it seems like a rather easy and attainable to-do for feeling well
and bettering overall health, and we can all use a reminder?
Many of us need an extra 60-90 minutes sleep
per night. PLUS more sleep would decrease some of our home stress moments. For
fun I’m throwing in this rather interesting bit of research – about more stress
at home than at work, and about levels of happiness (different for men and
women: can you guess whether it’s men or women who are happier at home?) – you
can make of it what you will.
"I
love sleep. My life has a tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you
know?"
-Ernest
Hemingway
[Research offers information rather than determination: let's do recall that we can find
good in all our moments, at home or work or anywhere, and that
happiness can, in large measure, be chosen.]
Before reading on,
I’ll close with a wish for you to make the most of the day, and to sleep long
and well at night. May wellness and goodness always be with you,
Dee
"And
if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created." -D.H. Lawrence
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created." -D.H. Lawrence
“I lie
down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.”
– Psalm 3:5
Be aware of stress/happiness
levels at work or home
"Researchers from Pennsylvania State University tested the
cortisol levels of 122 workers during the workday and on weekends. Using saliva
samples, they found that levels of cortisol – which is a
biological marker for stress – were on the whole much lower when the person was at
work than when he or she went home.
The researchers also asked men and women about their levels
of happiness at work and at home. While men over all reported being happier at
home than at work, women were happier at work than at home. Women also reported
higher levels of happiness at work than did the men in the study, which will be
published soon in the journal Social Science & Medicine. The study was
released in May 2014 by the Council on
Contemporary Families, a nonprofit group that focuses on work and family
issues.
Sarah Damaske, an assistant professor of labor and
employment relations at Penn State and the study’s lead author, speculates, “I
think it suggests that there is something about work that is good for you.
Being in the moment, focusing on a task, completing that task, socializing with
your co-workers — all of these are beneficial and that’s part of what’s
lowering your stress level.’’
"Sleep
that knits up the ravelled sleave of care
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast."
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast."
-William
Shakespeare, Macbeth
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