Impacts of a Good Night's Sleep

"There  has been decades of research showing that poor sleep health is a major causal factor for either the onset of or worsening of physical and mental conditions."

Sleep is really a public health matter. It is a health imperative."

"Historically, we have been neglecting our sleep quite seriously and it is clear now that this has massive impacts on a lot of areas in terms of physical health, mental health and general functioning, including productivity in the workplace. There are a lot of different aspects of life that are affected by sleep."

"We know that sleep contributes to either the onset or worsening of physical and mental health conditions and we know that fixing sleep is also improving these health outcomes. Trying to fix sleep is a modifiable factor to improve health."

"For a long time, the sleep community has been pretty vocal about the damage that daylight time is causing. Not only are we artificially shifting the time, we are not just gaining or losing an hour, we are also messing up the internal clock in our brain that keeps time. The whole idea was to save energy during wartime. This is no longer a valid argument."

Dr. Rebecca Robillard, associate professor, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa

Insufficient sleep has been identified as a causative of, or for worsening chronic physical conditions, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes along with mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. It can even lead to obesity. It has links to pregnancy complications and is capable of undermining other practices for good health such as exercise and diet. Dr. Robillard, a scientist in the sleep research unit at the Institute on Mental Health at the Royal and co-chair of the Canadian Sleep Research Consortium, feels not enough attention has been paid to lack of adequate sleep and its consequences.

It is her opinion that there is a long-overdue recognition of insufficient sleep as a public-health issue, which it should be. The Canadian Sleep Research Consortium in March is scheduled to assist in the organizing of Canada's first national Sleep Week in an effort to draw attention to the vital importance of sufficient sleep for people of all age groups. Researchers hope to produce a live map to indicate how people across Canada are faring in their need to have proper sleep patterns nightly, hoping the public will respond by tracking their sleep habits.

Researchers in 2015 estimated that 23.8 percent of Canadian adults reported nighttime insomnia. That number is now closer to 40 percent, a 2021 survey reveals. Reports revealed that 6.4 percent of Canadians in 2015 and 2016 were diagnosed by a health care professional with sleep apnea, along with insomnia, the leading sleep disorder among Canadians. Sleep deprivation has significant widespread health, social and economic consequences on health.

Researchers feel that governments would do well for the health of the general public by cancelling the twice-yearly imposition of daylight-saving time, known to contribute to various health and safety issues that erupt in the immediate days following the universally disliked time change, into longer term health impacts. Sleep researchers would ideally like to see a return to permanent standard time.

Increases in heart attacks, strokes, pregnancy issues, traffic accidents and digestive system impacts among other issues have been demonstrated through data accrued from American studies and elsewhere globally, associated with the time changes. In the same token, researchers are focusing on the collection of Canadian data on the twice-yearly time change impacts "to make the case stronger to abolish the practice."

 

People, Dr. Robillard, cautions, should have realistic expectations about the quality and duration of their nightly sleep. Individuals on average, should sleep between seven to nine hours nightly, varying from person to person. Some people manage well with fewer hours of sleep, while the majority of the public requires an average of eight hours of sleep to optimize health effects and normal daily performances. As well, although sleep patterns resulting in a good night's sleep is important, being overly obsessed with sleep quality can be stressful. It's called Orthosomnia.  

Investing In Sleep

"One  hour can indeed be enough to throw our internal clock out of sync. When we change our sleep schedules by an hour or longer from one day to the next, we are sending signals to the brain that we are attempting to transition to a new time zone, making the next night's sleep challenging."

"We discovered that over the course of the day, the brain produces toxins, the accumulation of which is associated with neuro-cognitive decline such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia."

"When we sleep, not only does the brain stop producing these toxins, but it also produces a cerebral fluid which, in essence, pressure-washes the brain to remove the toxins that have built up." 

Dr.Rebecca Robbins, instructor in medicine, Harvard Medical School; associate scientist, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston

Sleep Health Foundation

Pandemic stress the last two years has impacted on the quality of many peoples' sleep through  the psychological upset and other associated factors, where people are discovering that they are suddenly affected with an inability to sleep as soundly and as long as they've been accustomed to. And many, if not most people are anticipating the annual shift in our daily pattern, affecting sleep with the end of Daylight Saving and the re-entrance of Standard Time.

It has long been proven that one hour back and forth (spring forward, fall backward) has a deleterious effect on most people's circadian rhythm. People feel groggy, discommoded, uncomfortable, finding it difficult to adjust to a misplaced hour in their daily lives. More accidents occur the day after the time change. There is time-confusion in peoples' minds for at least a week following the transition. And sleep patterns become interrupted.

There are ample studies warning of long-term brain health with risks increasing of a future of Alzheimer's for people who suffer from insomnia and are incapable, not of their own thinking volition, of enjoying a sound night's sleep on a nightly basis. Heart problems and life expectancy are also impacted by sleep shortages. New research published in the journal Science shows how it is that adequate sleep helps to protect the brain.

 

HealthPrep

 

 

With the arrival of cold and flu season "How sleep affects our immunity is so relevant right now", advises Dr. Robbins, with research showing the human body produces and releases proteins called cytokines to target infection and inflammation during sleep. "There is one very interesting study that has looked at rhinovirus, a sister pathogen of SARSCoV-2. The researchers found that those who are sleep-deprived have more than a twofold greater risk of colds and flu", explained Dr. Robbins.

 

Having a bath before bed has been found by researchers to help sleep arrive a 10 minute average faster then snuggling directly into bed. What should be a staple condition in finding uninterrupted sleep and achieving a pattern for it consistently is setting a firm bedtime. Setting a firm time to go to bed and faithfully continuing that firm time for bed night after night, to allow for eight and a half hours' sleep.

Screens should be avoided, but a bedtime book can be useful until the urge to sleep overtakes reading. "When it comes to this wake-up (during the night), resist looking at your phone and get out of bed and try sitting in an armchair or in a cross-legged position on the floor and do a meditation or visualization exercise", Dr. Robbins recommends, based on studies that show getting out of bed in the middle of the night can help to fall asleep 15 minutes faster than merely remaining in bed, awaiting sleep to return.

A cool temperature ambiance is also helpful; say, 18C, mattress and bedding of natural fibres to help regulate body temperature further -- a hint from another study reported in the journal Nature and Science of Sleep.

"There is an expectation that sleep should just come easily because it's a natural process. Then when it doesn't, it can feel like something is wrong."

"But the truth is we need to learn how to sleep and how to prioritize it."

"Sleep is an investment, but one that will pay off."

Dr.Rebecca Robbins

Healthline

The Conquest of Dark Night

"The excess light we dump into our environments is endangering ecosystems by harming animals whose life cycles depend on dark."
"We're endangering ourselves by altering the bio-chemical rhythms that normally ebb and flow with natural light levels."
National Geographic

"It is [a problem]. Light and dark are key to our circadian rhythm [body clock]  and therefore our sleep. As the sun sets, we release melatonin and, somewhere between one to three hours after that, is the time we go to sleep, or we would do."
"We are exquisitely sensitive to the dark night cycle. The problem is we now have the ability to have artificial light that can allow us to conquer the night."
"People who are using screens before bedtime will take longer to get to sleep not sleep as well and feel more sleepy the next day."
"The advice for a bedroom is it needs to be dark, and by dark we mean pitch black."
"People say we have a sleepiness epidemic, but we do it to ourselves. We are paying the price."
Dr.Neil Stanley, sleep researcher, sleep consultant, Great Britain

Our collective insomnia is ruining our health  The Telegraph

Earth's artificial outdoor lighted area, including nighttime brightness, expanded by two percent a year between 2012 and 2016, according to a study by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geoscience. This phenomenon and its consequences has not gone unnoticed by scientists and environmentalists, causing even greater concern for the future. At the present time an estimated 80 percent of the world population experiences light-polluted skies.

This is a problem given that melatonin -- the hormone regulating human sleep patterns -- is affected by day-night cycle disruptions caused by light pollution; a worrying change that impacts on sleep, and human health, according to sleep experts. People are impacted out in the open and as well, within homes as street lamps, electric light bulbs, LED displays, television light and melatonin-suppressing blue light emitted by computers and smart phones follow us into our bedrooms at night.

Harvard Health

How serious is this? Given that poor sleep patterns have been linked to lower productivity, days lost to ill health, to obesity, impaired memory and worsening mental health, one would have to conclude, very serious. Dr. Stanley has some useful suggestions such as sticking tape over the light on your television, changing curtains for blackout blinds, wearing eye masks when in bed, and moving away from screens for at least forty minutes before going up to bed.

"At home you could take the evening and the night seriously. You could use the curtains to not be disturbed by the outdoor light. Turn out/down your main light, switch off your screens at least an hour before going to bed. Turn off your phone at night."
"One researcher I have been talking to said, 'Imagine what it would be like if everyone thought a bit more about, and was a bit more conscious of, their exposure to darkness and light. If that were the case, I think we could save a lot of resources and mitigate a lot of suffering."
Sigri Sandberg, author, An Ode to Darkness

Cleveland Clinic: Health Essentials