PARIS, France (AFP) — Sleeping six hours or less per night in your 50s and 60s is associated with an increased risk of dementia, according to a new study of nearly 8,000 British adults followed for more than 25 years. Scientists said that while the research, which was based on data from a long-running survey, could not prove cause and effect, it did draw a link between sleep and dementia as people age. The study, […]
Tag: sleep
Under-fives’ daily screen time should be kept to 60 minutes only, warns WHO
Toddlers should spend no more than 60 minutes passively watching a screen every day, while babies under 12 months should have none, to ensure that they grow up fit and well, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, as part of a campaign to tackle the global obesity crisis. In recommendations specifically aimed at under-fives for the first time, the UN health agency said that some than 40 million children around the globe – […]
Sleep shown to be linked to externalizing behavioral difficulties in children: a study review
By David Oria There exist a large body of research in the area of childhood psychology that has examined the effects of sleep on behavioral issues in adolescents. In many of these studies, the behavioral problems explored were categorized into two: internalizing difficulties or externalizing difficulties. In the world of psychology, internalizing difficulties are behaviors that result from difficulty coping with negative emotions or stressful situations, so they directed inward (eg. withdrawal, loneliness, fearfulness, […]
Tick tock: Study links body clock to mood disorders
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse Messing with the natural rhythm of one’s internal clock may boost the risk of developing mood problems ranging from garden-variety loneliness to severe depression and bipolar disorder, researchers said Wednesday. The largest study of its kind, involving more than 91,000 people, also linked interference with the body’s “circadian rhythm” to a decline in cognitive functions such as memory and attention span. The brain’s hard-wired circadian timekeeper governs day-night cycles, influencing […]
Night owls risk dying younger, should sleep in: study
PARIS, France (AFP) — People who stay up late and have to drag themselves out of bed are likelier to die younger than those who rise and set with the Sun, researchers said Thursday. A survey of more than 430,000 people in Britain found that the night owl had a 10-percent higher risk of dying in the 6.5-year study period than “larks.” “This is a public health issue that can no longer be ignored,” said […]
Deep sleep: Even jellyfish need their slumber
CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — A brainless, spineless, pulsating organism has a key behavior in common with humans: sleep. While sleep has been confirmed in other invertebrates such as worms and fruit flies, the jellyfish is the most evolutionarily ancient animal that has been shown to slumber. Jellyfish have thrived in the seas for at least 600 million years, longer than nearly any other animal. By comparison, dinosaurs appeared roughly 230 million years ago […]
Want to learn something? Sleep on it, but not too deeply: study
PARIS, France (AFP) — Scientists fascinated by the idea that humans might be able to learn while asleep — a new language, say, or a piece of music — have long been coming up with clashing experimental results. On Tuesday, a team said it has finally unravelled why. The human brain can learn only in certain phases of shut-eye. Participants in a study were able to memorise sound patterns played to them during two phases […]





