Wenatex Blog :: Healthy Sleep for a Better Life

Research from the University of Chicago showed that sleep helps the mind learn complicated tasks and helps people recover learning they otherwise thought they had forgotten over the course of a day.

Timothy Brawn, a graduate student in Psychology at the University of Chicago; Kimberly Fenn, now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University; and Daniel Margoliash, Professor in the Departments of Organismal Biology & Anatomy and Psychology at the University of Chicago, very cleverly used video games with over 200 college students, to demonstrate that:

1.- When trained in the morning, subjects showed an 8 percentage point improvement in accuracy immediately after training. However, after 12 waking hours following training, subjects lost half of that improvement, when tested in the evening. When subjects were tested the next morning 24 hours after training, they showed a 10 percentage point improvement over their pre-test performance.

2.- “The students probably tested more poorly in the afternoon because following training, some of their waking experiences interfered with training. Those distractions went away when they slept and the brain was able to do its work”, Nusbaum said.

3.- Among the students who received evening training, scores improved by about 7 percentage points, went to 10 percentage points the next morning, and remained at that level throughout the day.

4.- “In this study, we showed that if after learning, by the end of the day, people ‘forgot’ some of what was learned, a night’s sleep restored this memory loss,” Nusbaum said. “Furthermore, a night’s sleep protected memory against loss over the course of the next day.”

5.- “The latest study has been expanded to show that sleep benefits people learning complicated tasks as well”, Nusbaum said.

Until next time, be wise and have fun.

J. Semo

Source from the University of Chicago

Some days ago I had the opportunity to spend some minutes with an eminence in Ophthalmology in Brisbane, Dr. John Harrison.
During our conversation he mentioned how obstructive sleep apnea  may affect our eyes in different ways.

Doing some reading, I found some comments from Dr Waller an Ophthalmologist of the Mayo Clinic in the US who mentioned the following: “… our understanding of the mechanisms that link these disorders is minimal,”. “However, the recognition of these associations is important for primary care physicians, ophthalmologists, and sleep physicians. For patients with OSA, a routine eye examination to evaluate for early signs of glaucoma, particularly in the setting of visual loss or change, should be recommended. Patients with opthalmologic diseases known to be associated with sleep apnea should be screened clinically for sleep apnea and referred to a sleep center if signs or symptoms are present.”

Here we have it… it seems that we are always coming back to the concept that sleep is our “Master Healer.”

Are you sleeping enough and in the right way? A visit to a Wenatex Sleep Seminar may give you some great tips of how to let yourself nurture by your “Master Healer”.

Two weeks ago I was invited to a Wenatex event on the Sunshine Coast,  that ended with a beautiful slide show, playing a very simple and soulful  version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”… it was just magic…

The main subject of the event was “Turning the Heat Up”. One of the things I learned, is that at one specific stage one degree up,  allows the jump between just quantitative  to qualitative changes…. A little bit too abstract?

OK, yesterday, browsing the very best,  I found a version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” played by the “Maestro of All Maestros” Keith Jarret… I share it with you not only because of its endless beauty but because it gives  us a glimpse of what happens   when passion drives our daily actions… Here Keith is not only a virtuoso playing a great song but he is a man making love to his piano and letting us ride with the rainbow…

Don’t miss it

Until soon

Be wise and have fun

Let me know what you think.

Be wise and have fun

Juan

Women definitely don’t have it easy! PMS, the immense pains associated with child birth, enchanting the days and nights of our families, menopause and the list goes on.

If all this is not enough, menopause may be accompanied by unbearable temperature fluctuations… day and night… Or could it be something else?

In an issue of Harvard Women’s Health Watch, February 2008, it was reported that of 102 women with menopause 56% had hot flashes and 53% also experienced sleep troubles.  Although the study is very small it reiterates the need to understand if sleep difficulties could not be the origin of hot flashes in some women.

Talking from experience, I also know of men battling with sleep disorders also complaining about hot flashes…

This study can only reiterate the importance of ensuring that we all find the best possible sleep available.

So to the question….could a healthier sleep environment help menopausal women to achieve better sleep? The answer can only be yes!

Until next time

Be wise and have fun

J. Semo

PS: The good looking young lady in the picture is NOT the colleague I was referring to… Sorry!

Well, I am always keen to find new and “out of the ordinary” studies, but this one definitely came out of left field. Professor Gerhard Kloesch and his colleagues at the University of Vienna studied eight unmarried, childless couples in their 20s and they came to the conclusion that “When men spend the night with a bed mate, their sleep is disturbed, whether they make love or not, and this impairs their mental ability the next day…”

The interesting thing is that all the males that were tested reported that they felt better sleeping with their partners.  Nevertheless, measurement of their relation to hormones and physical abilities demonstrated that they were better having slept alone.

In relation to the females tested, although they also experienced disturbed sleep when sharing the bed, they apparently managed to sleep more deeply when they did eventually drop off, since they claimed to be more refreshed than their sleep time suggested.

I would like your opinion…. Do you think that  bed sharing really drains your brains?

Be wise and have fun

Juan

�

“I love sleep. My life has a tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?”

Ernest Hemingway. American novelist. Won the Noble Prize for literature in 1954. He died in 1961.

“Did you sleep well?” “No, I made a couple of mistakes”

Stephen Wright, American writer born in 1955.

Source: www.hollywoodflakes.blogspot.com

Today, I received the latest newsletter from one of the most prestigious medical schools in the USA, John Hopkins Medicine, in which they discuss the latest advances in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of depression and anxiety.

The opening article was the following:

If you read carefully, you will see that the first question asked by professionals in relation to mental health is:

“Do you toss and turn at night, or wake up at 3 am unable to get back to sleep?”

This tells us two things:

1.         People who suffer from mental disorders generally suffer from sleep problems.

2.         People who suffer from sleep difficulties have a high probability of suffering from mental problems.

It concludes with:

“When your emotions cloud your outlook, interfere with your relationships, or affect the way you sleep at night and function during the day, you may be suffering from depression or an anxiety disorder.”

A friend of mine went spiralling into clinical depression and I remember that she was sleeping an average of 18 to 21 hours per day. The sad thing is that this continued until she committed suicide.

Do you have stories you would like to share? You can do it anonymously.

Until tomorrow be wise and have fun

Juan

�