Category Archives: Sleep

Extreme night owls: ‘I can’t tell anyone what time I go to bed’

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What happens when your natural sleeping pattern is at odds with the rest of the world?

For as long as she can remember, Jenny Carter has gone to bed late and not woken up until late the following morning, sometimes even the early afternoon. Growing up, she didn’t have a bedtime, and at university she preferred to write her essays between 6pm and 10pm. She loves evenings. They’re when she feels the most creative and can concentrate the best. But that’s not when her employer or society expects her to be productive.

“Going to bed at a ‘normal’ time feels so unnatural to me,” she says. “But society just doesn’t cater for people whose sleep cycle doesn’t fit the generic 9 to 5.” She has got into trouble at work for her timekeeping, which has led to disciplinary action. “I’ve had to write off so many events, meetings and opportunities, because they were in the morning and I just knew I wouldn’t be awake.”

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My life became immeasurably better when I stopped keeping my phone by my bed

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When I couldn’t sleep, I would turn to my mobile for a portal into another world. But there were definite downsides to scanning Instagram in the early hours

When I was a kid, I thought that monsters came out of the dark. Turns out, they actually come out of the light. Like you, I run my life on the supercomputer in my pocket. At night I would place it under the pillow and struggle to put it out of mind, its bright screen a portal to other worlds.

Sure, most of Twitter is bile, but social media suits my exhibitionist spirit; I want to be front and centre of whatever conversations are happening. As a journalist, I am meant to be. When I said I wanted to get my phone out of my bedroom, a colleague half-jokingly asked : “What if something happens?”

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Insomnia sufferers can benefit from therapy, new study shows

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Authors call for cognitive behavioural therapy to be offered through GPs

Forget counting sheep and drinking warm milk, an effective way to tackle chronic insomnia is cognitive behavioural therapy, researchers have confirmed.

The authors of a new study say that although the therapy is effective, it is not being used widely enough, with doctors having limited knowledge about it and patients lacking access.

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Government to issue ‘sleep hygiene’ guidance

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Leaked draft says less than seven hours’ sleep can damage mental and physical health

The government could give people guidance on how much sleep they need each night, according to reports.

A leaked draft of a public health green paper, due to be published by the health secretary, Matt Hancock, says the government will review the evidence on sleep and health. It suggests the minimum amount will vary depending on how old someone is, and the paper will give advice on “sleep hygiene”, according to the Times, which obtained the document.

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Sleep apps backfire by causing anxiety and insomnia, says expert

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Neurologist says ‘metricising our lives’ is counterproductive when it comes to sleep

Smartphone sleep-tracking apps are making people so anxious and obsessed about their sleep that they are developing insomnia, a leading neurologist has said.

Speaking at the Cheltenham science festival, Dr Guy Leschziner, a sleep disorder specialist and consultant at Guy’s hospital in London, said a growing preoccupation with getting enough sleep was backfiring.

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When do the clocks change in 2019 and could this be the last time?

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British Summer Time starts on Sunday as EU moves towards ending mandatory clock changes

It’s that time of year again, the ritual of trying to work out which of your electronic gadgets automatically adjust for clock changes, and which don’t. British Summer Time (BST) officially starts at 1am on Sunday 31 March, when the clocks go forward an hour to 2am.

With Brexit on the horizon, it remains to be seen whether changes to daylight savings time (DST) plans in continental Europe will have any effect on the British clocks in the future. This week MEPs voted to approve plans for European Union member states to abolish clock changes if they want.

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European parliament votes to scrap daylight saving time from 2021

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Directive would apply to UK if it stayed in EU, and also during Brexit transition period

The European parliament has voted to scrap the twice-a-year custom of changing the clocks by an hour in spring and autumn by 2021, leaving only national governments to now give their assent.

The change would apply to the UK if it stays in the EU, and also during an extended transition period that is part of Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

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New parents face up to six years of sleep deprivation, study says

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Data from thousands of men and women shows rest is at its worst three months after birth

Starting a family is a well-known way to make a good night’s sleep a distant dream, but new research suggests the parental yawns might go on for six years.

Researchers tracking the sleep of thousands of men and women as their family size increased have found that shuteye hits a low about three months after birth – with the effect strongest in women.

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Siesta no more? Why Spanish sleeping habits are under strain

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Spaniards eat later and stay up longer than their European neighbours because of the siesta. But now that’s under threat

Midweek in Madrid on a summer’s evening, it’s 25C and at 10pm the bars, cafes and squares are full of Madrileños, chatting and drinking. They’re still there at midnight, only now some are eating too. Not until 2am do the bars start to close as the crowd thins out. Most of these people will have to go to work in the morning, so the question is: when do they sleep?

The answer is, later. According to Eurostat, the average Spaniard’s day starts 90 minutes later than a German’s. When the Spaniard eats lunch the German has been back at work for two hours and when the German knocks off at 4.30pm, the Spaniard is heading back to work for another three hours. And finally, when the German is in bed at 10pm, the Spaniard is having supper before hitting the sack some time between midnight and 1am.

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Latest Media Obsession: Trump’s Health

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Pausing briefly from the press's never-ending Trump-Russia obsession, both Politico Magazine and USA Today decided earlier this week to focus on the state of President Donald Trump's health. The driving force behind issuing "breaking news" alerts used to be - and still should be - the need to communicate some dramatic new event or development.