Waking Up Early Is Making Us Fat - Print View - The Daily Beast

  

by Trevor Butterworth  | May 28, 2012 1:00 AM EDT

Are you socially jet-lagged? If you need an alarm clock to wake up, then you probably are. The term, coined by Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, refers to what happens when your internal body clock wants you to stay asleep but your external social clock wants you to wake up. By getting up with our alarms all week and sleeping late on the weekends, it’s like sending our body clock to the West Coast and dragging it back East Monday morning. The result, says Roenneberg, is that “there are people who, caught in a cycle of sleep loss and oversleeping, hardly ever get a normal night’s sleep at all.”

The problem is that this increasingly describes most of us. If majoritarian rules applied to society, and we weren’t chasing the global economy, most people would happily nod off between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. and wake between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Instead, “85 percent of us need an alarm clock to wake up,” says Roenneberg, with the result that “two thirds of normal people suffer from one hour or more of social jet-lag, 16 percent two hours, and shift workers considerably more.”

Shift work is particularly vicious. Orfeo Buxton, a sleep researcher at Harvard University Medical School, recently led the first study in humans where sleep was disrupted for several weeks to simulate the effects of shift work. The result was metabolic chaos: glucose spiked to levels that could, over time, trigger diabetes, while energy expenditure slumped to the point where subjects would have gained up to 13 pounds in a year.

And the evidence that social jet lag might be a major factor driving obesity keeps mounting: Roenneberg’s team just published an analysis of thousands of sleep records which found a 33 percent increase in obesity for every hour of social jet lag. Sleep loss, says Buxton, triggers a feedback loop that “makes people prefer processed and sugary foods over fruit and vegetables, while leaving them with less energy to exercise.”

Illustration by Taylor Callery

This year will be a landmark year for sleep research, both researchers say, one that frames sleeplessness as a physiological revolution that we must fight to reverse. “We need to get rid of the old rule that the early bird catches the worm,” says Roenneberg. When we are wired to rise late, this is nothing but “pure stupidity.”

“In the developed world,” says Buxton, “we’re subjecting ourselves to a giant unnatural experiment in the presence of excess food." And right now, he says, it looks as if “everyone’s turning into a tub of lard.”

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   Waking Up Early Is Making Us Fat - Print View - The Daily Beast

Top 4 herbal remedies for insomnia - better than drugs!

 

If you suffer from regular insomnia, the world is a different place. For you, an online resource for natural insomnia remedies is likely laughable. These solutions, that include things like warm baths and relaxing music, are nice, but are made for people who have occasional problems with sleeplessness.

While greater relaxation can indeed promote sounder sleep, a warm bath before bed is not likely to put to sleep a chronic insomnia sufferer.

For a chronic insomnia sufferer, a quick solution might seem the best way. However, taking sleeping pills have been proven to have side effects and health complications. Why not try something natural instead?

If you’ve suffered from insomnia for any length of time, you’ve probably tried all of the basic suggestions. Things like getting daily strenuous exercise, establishing a regular bedtime routine, and meditation can all help create a healthy sleep-wake cycle.

When these things don’t work, you have a choice of sticking it out and settling for sleepless nights, discussing the problem with a medical doctor who will prescribe a sedative, or looking at all-natural remedies, many of which have been proven effective.



Here’s a list for those who want to try option number three:

• Valerian Root

Valerian is a perennial plant with small pink and white flowers. But its roots are where you’ll find a possible sleep potion. This herb can be found in many over-the-counter sleep remedies in health-food stores and has been shown, through research, to increase sleep quality and quantity.

According to a double-blind study in the European Journal of Medical Research, a group receiving 600 mg. of valerian extract showed comparable results to a group receiving 10 mg of oxazeoam, a pharmaceutical insomnia drug. Even better, those taking the valerian had far fewer side effects (28.4%) than those on the prescription remedy (36%).

• Melatonin

Melatonin is technically not an herb, but can be found on the shelves of any health food store and naturally in several foods. It is the hormone that helps to naturally regulate the sleep cycle in your body.

Studies on the effectiveness of melatonin in insomnia treatment have had varying findings, though many have shown promising results.

In one case, a study of autistic children found that 60 percent of participants found improved sleep patterns, including increased amount of sleep, following treatment with melatonin.

Another study, from the Journal of Medicinal Food, focused specifically on the consumption of tart cherry juice (rich in melatonin), and found that consuming the juice in the mornings and evenings had a significant impact, dramatically reducing the occurrence of insomnia.

Melatonin production may also be encouraged through the consumption of foods like cherry juice, bananas and barley.

• Chamomile

Numerous studies have found chamomile to have beneficial effects in the treatment of insomnia and even anxiety.

We commonly see chamomile in teas, advertised as encouraging relaxation and sleepiness. But, these are not just fantastic claims by the tea-makers; they are backed with research.

Numerous studies have found chamomile to have beneficial effects in the treatment of insomnia and even anxiety.

One study from Okayama University in Japan, looking at the effectiveness in “sleep-disturbed rats,” found that chamomile had hypnotic effects comparable to benzodiazepines, like Valium. Of course, there is also some research that does not agree with such dramatic findings. But with no reported side effects, and many studies reporting benefits, it would seem to be a useful treatment for at least some of those who suffer from sleepless nights.

• Lavender

Perhaps the most exciting results have been found with the use of lavender. Unlike the other herbal treatments, lavender is not taken orally. Instead, it is used as aromatherapy, circulated around the room with a diffuser.

A Korean study found college students suffering from insomnia and depression had  beneficial results with the use of lavender.

Unlike the other herbal treatments, lavender is not taken orally. Instead, it is used as aromatherapy, circulated around the room with a diffuser. (Shutterstock photos)

In the Replacement of drug treatment for insomnia by ambient odour study, researchers discovered patients using prescription sleep aids could experience the same results from using lavender essential oils in an aromatherapy treatment. Participants were evaluated while on the medications, during a period with no treatment, and again during treatment with lavender essential oils. Their sleep satisfaction was identical during drug treatment and lavender aromatherapy treatment.

Insomnia is frustrating, to say the very least. And not getting adequate sleep can wreak havoc on your body’s general health, compromising your immune system and opening you up to a whole host of health problems.

While many say insomnia is nothing more than a mental block, where the affected person has convinced themselves that sleep is too difficult to attain, those who suffer from it are convinced otherwise after trying many helpful suggestions, including positive thinking and willing themselves to sleep.

While prescription drugs can send you into an overnight coma, there are natural remedies that can gently – and in some cases, dramatically — encourage sleep. In an effort to avoid habit-forming and costly prescription drugs, the presence of truly effective herbal insomnia treatments could be a dream come true for many.

Read more: http://www.voxxi.com/herbal-remedies-insomnia/#ixzz21CVtM4Zx

Source:Top 4 herbal remedies for insomnia - better than drugs!

http://www.voxxi.com/herbal-remedies-insomnia/

Fragmented sleep 'harms memory'

 

Continuous sleep is important for memory formation

 

Broken sleep affects the ability to build memories, a study of mice suggests.

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science findings could help explain memory problems linked to conditions including Alzheimer's and sleep apnoea.

The Stanford University research found disrupting sleep made it harder for the animals to recognise familiar objects.

A UK sleep expert said the brain used deep sleep to evaluate the day's events and decide what to keep.

This study looked at sleep that was fragmented, but not shorter or less intense than normal for the mice.

It used a technique called optogenetics, where specific cells are genetically engineered so they can be controlled by light.

They targeted a type of brain cell that plays a key role in switching between the states of being asleep and being awake.

Mouse memory test The researchers then sent light pulses directly into the brains of mice while they slept.

"There are some things that we need to 'lock down' as a permanent hard memory”

Dr Neil Stanley Sleep expert

 

This meant they could disrupt their sleep without affecting total sleep time or the quality or composition of sleep.

The animals were then placed in a box with two objects, one of which they had encountered before.

Mice would naturally spend more time examining the newer object, and those who had been allowed uninterrupted sleep did just that.

But those whose sleep had been disrupted were equally interested in both objects, suggesting their memories had been affected.

Writing in the journal, the researchers, led by Dr Luis de Lecea, said: "Sleep continuity is one of the main factors affected in various pathological conditions that impact memory, including Alzheimer's and other age-related cognitive deficits."

Broken sleep also affects people addicted to alcohol, and those with sleep apnoea - a condition in which the throat repeatedly narrows or closes during sleep, restricting oxygen and causing the patient to wake up.

The researchers add there is no evidence of a causal link between sleep disruption and any of these conditions.

But they added: "We conclude that regardless of the total amount of sleep or sleep intensity, a minimal unit of uninterrupted sleep is crucial for memory consolidation."

Independent sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley, a former chairman of the British Sleep Society, said: "During the day, we accumulate all these memories.

"At some point we have to sort through what's happened during the day.

"There are some things that we need to 'lock down' as a permanent hard memory.

"That process occurs in deep sleep. So anything that affects sleep will have an effect on that process to a greater or a lesser extent."

Dr Stanley said there was particularly striking evidence that people with sleep apnoea had particular problems "locking down" memories.

And he added that people with Alzheimer's often had trouble sleeping, but said: "There is something there. But whether it's the degeneration of the brain that causes poor sleep, or poor sleep that aids the degeneration of the brain has not been determined."

Miranda Watson, director of communications at the British Lung Foundation, said: "For patients with the dangerous sleep disorder, obstructive sleep apnoea, this study will come as no surprise.

"Patients regularly stop breathing during the night when their airways become blocked depriving them of a full night's rest.

"This interrupted sleep can cause extreme day time tiredness and memory loss."





Source:
BBC News - Fragmented sleep 'harms memory'
 

What Time Is It on Your Circadian Clock? - ScienceNOW

What Time Is It on Your Circadian Clock?

by Dennis Normile on 27 August 2012,

Round the clock. Tracking the levels of 50 hormones and amino acids in blood samples (shown by ribbons) reveals a body's internal time.

Credit: PNAS

Are you a morning lark or a night owl? Scientists use that simplified categorization to explain that different people have different internal body clocks, commonly called circadian clocks.

Sleep-wake cycles, digestive activities, and many other physiological processes are controlled by these clocks. In recent years, researchers have found that internal body clocks can also affect how patients react to drugs. For example, timing a course of chemotherapy to the internal body time of cancer patients can improve treatment efficacy and reduce side effects.

But physicians have not been able to exploit these findings because determining internal body time is, well, time consuming. It's also cumbersome. The most established and reliable method requires taking blood samples from a patient hourly and tracking levels of the hormone melatonin, which previous research has tied closely to internal body time.

Now a Japanese group has come up with an alternative method of determining internal body time by constructing what it calls a molecular timetable based on levels in blood samples of more than 50 metabolites—hormones and amino acids—that result from biological activity.

The researchers established a molecular timetable based on samples from three subjects and validated it using the conventional melatonin measurement. They then used that timetable to determine the internal body times of other subjects by checking the levels of the metabolites in just two blood samples from each subject per day.

Having such a timetable could allow doctors to synchronize drug delivery to internal body time, the team reports online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Usually personalized medicine is focusing on genetic differences, but there are also temporal differences [among patients]. That will be the next step in personalized medicine," says systems biologist Hiroki Ueda of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, who heads the research group.

"In principle, the method holds great promise as a way of replacing the cumbersome melatonin assay," says Steven Brown, a molecular biologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

"The authors show in a small-scale, well-controlled experiment that they are able to predict internal body time within a precision frame of 3 hours," says Urs Albrecht of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

Both researchers say further work will be necessary to make the technique more practical and more widely applicable, and Ueda agrees. The experimental subjects were all young men, and different molecular timetables are likely needed for women and for people of different ages.

He would also like to improve the precision and make it reliable with just one blood sample per day.

What Time Is It on Your Circadian Clock? - ScienceNOW

 Link: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/08/what-time-is-it-on-your-circadia.html?ref=hp