Wenatex Blog :: Healthy Sleep for a Better Life

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Allergy sufferers often complain of bothersome nasal blockages, but those allergies alone don’t account for increased risk of nighttime breathing problems.

A stuffy nose can lead to trouble sleeping, which in turn can lead to daytime drowsiness. Researchers at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in Kitakyushu, Japan analyzed survey responses from 1,459 Japanese workers about their allergy and nasal obstruction concerns.

Participants were divided into four groups: those with allergies and nasal obstruction, those with nasal obstruction but no allergies, those with allergies but no nasal obstruction and those with neither nasal obstruction or allergies, who served as controls.

Those in both nasal-obstruction groups, with or without allergies, had higher odds of snoring and daytime sleepiness than the control group. However, there was no difference between the allergies-only and control groups.

“The present results strongly suggest that nasal obstruction causes sleep-disordered breathing and, thus, daytime sleepiness in individuals without allergic rhinitis as well as in those with allergic rhinitis,” study authors were quoted as saying.

SOURCE: Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, 2008;134:1254-125

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ScienceDaily (June 18, 2007) — Driving a vehicle requires coordination of horizontal eye movements and steering. Recent research  finds that even a single night of sleep deprivation can impact a person’s ability to coordinate eye movements with steering.
The study, authored by Mark Chattington of Manchester Metropolitan University, focused on six participants, who drove a winding route on a driving simulator. On the first day, they drove for one hour starting at 5 p.m. The subjects were kept awake the following night, and on day two, drove again at 5 p.m. for up to two-and-a-half hours. Their eye movements were monitored using a dashboard mounted eye tracker, and steering wheel movement was monitored through a precision potentiometer attached to the steering column.

The results showed that, in all drivers, sleep deprivation adversely affected their ability to coordinate eye movements when steering. There were instances of both acute and chronic reductions in the degree of coordination and in the time lead of eye movements over steering.

“The analysis of eye-steering coordination may provide a useful method of detecting when a driver is in danger of losing control of a vehicle due to fatigue, before the driver actually falls asleep,” said Chattington.

The amount of sleep a person gets affects his or her physical health, emotional well-being, mental abilities, productivity and performance. Recent studies associate lack of sleep with serious health problems such as an increased risk of depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

An abstract of this research was presented June 11 at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS),

Experts recommend that adults get between seven and eight hours of sleep each night to maintain good health and optimum performance.

Persons who think they might be suffering from a sleep disorder are encouraged to consult with their primary care physician, who will refer them to a sleep specialist

Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2007, June 18). Sleep Deprivation Affects Eye-steering Coordination When Driving. ScienceDaily

If you wish to understand  how to sleep better, visiting a Wenatex Sleep Seminar will help you. Book here:

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Until next time

Be wise and have fun

Juan