So far, 2013 has brought several interesting sleep discoveries and research studies and we think they deserve a review to remind us just how important this vital function proves to health and happiness. The field of sleep science has been receiving increasing scrutiny as researchers have began to uncover just how crucial this function is to overall health and well-being. Just this year, researchers have uncovered links that may one day lead to breakthroughs in a variety of diseases including obesity and Alzheimer’s. The effect that sleep deprivation plays in physical ailments such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as its importance in reducing accidents has also been on the forefront of recent publish health campaigns. As we continue to unravel the mysteries of rest and dreams, the most interesting sleep discoveries of 2013 may help improve our lives indefinitely, and offer interesting prospects of what the years ahead will reveal.
Top 10 Most Interesting Sleep Discoveries of 2013
Take a look back and get inspired to kick the new year off with better rest by checking out a few of this year’s most interesting studies and discoveries from the sleep research field.
Your Brain Cleans House While You Sleep
Led by Dr. Maiken Nedergaard at the University of Rochester, this research offers hope for improving methods of delaying or minimizing onset of brain degenerative diseases. Much like biological dishwasher, spinal fluid in mice was shown to clear away waste from the brain during sleep. The study showed that as the mice slept, the size of their brain cells shrunk to create nearly 60% more space between them, allowing spinal fluid to efficiently flush through the area and clear out amyloid-beta proteins build-up, or plaques, which over time may build up and contribute to brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. While researchers note that further research is needed to draw definitive conclusions, the links are quite interesting and sure to inspire useful research in coming years.
Beauty Sleep May Indeed Be Fact
A study conducted by the University of Ohio and sponsored by the Estee Lauder company demonstrated the physical effects of sleep quality and skin aging, showing that the concept of beauty rest may indeed be based in reality. Researchers looked at two groups of women with mean age ranges in the late-thirties, group by those who had healthy sleep habits and those who had poor habits. The poor sleepers had higher BMIs and also had a more negative self-perception of their own attractiveness. Researchers stress that rest is important for cell repair and renewal as other studies have also found, and their findings claim that chronic short sleep or poor quality sleep can accelerate internal skin aging and that poor sleepers’ skin is less able to recover from external stressors like UV exposure.
The Full Moon Can Affect Sleep
One of the more obscure sleep studies of 2013 found that an association between the full moon and some people’s ability to sleep may actually exist. Researchers at the Psychiatric Hospital at the University of Basel in Switzerland discovered a decrease in melatonin accompanied by an average 20 minute loss of sleep duration, 30% less deep-sleep brain activity, and delayed slumber during full moons. The study examined 33 people in laboratory conditions over four years, where they were not directly exposed to the moon. Researchers attribute this to possible lunar effects on human reproduction cycles and circadian rhythms, but admit that the study was fairly small and will require additional research and replication for definitive proof.
Your Brain Repairs While You Rest
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin looked at how sleep affects oligodendrocytes, a type of support cell in the brain. These cells are responsible for the production of myelin, a substance which shields nerve cells and facilitates communications between brain cells. Myelin is essential for efficient information transmission and is significant for research because it can deteriorate with diseases like multiple sclerosis, and impairment of myelin can affect IQ. This study looked at mice grouped in three different sleep patterns. They found that the production of oligodendrocyte cells doubled while mice slept, especially during periods of REM sleep. These findings indicate the importance of getting a full night’s rest, especially for children, and may offer insight for future studies of both genetics and myelin production.
Sleep Deprivation Changes Genes
Another study from the University of Surrey in the UK discovered that sleep actually affects genes and gene expression. This study examined blood samples of 26 participants after a week of normal rest and then after a week of sleep deprivation, during which participants slept less than six hours per night. After the sleep deprived period, researchers found over 700 changes to genes that may affect inflammation, immunity and stress response and the body’s ability to repair and renew cells. This study has implications for further research on the effects of short sleep on obesity, heart disease, diabetes and degenerative diseases.
Sleep Aids May Boost Memory Conversion
Researchers at UC Riverside discovered that some forms of sleeping aids could enhance the action of sleep spindles, which are “bursts of brain activity that last for a second or less during a specific stage of sleep” . These are micro-bursts of activity within the brain are thought to help consolidate short-term memories into long-term memories via the hippocampus. Researchers tested whether or not pharmaceutical aids could improve memory over sleep alone. The study involved healthy, normal sleeping adults who were given two types of sleep aids and placebos before resting, then tested for verbal memory performance. In subsequent tests of verbal memory performance, the Ambien group performed best. These findings are expected to prove useful for finding treatments for people who suffer from diseases such as Alzheimer’s in which normal hippocampus function may become impaired.
Lower BMIs For Longer Sleepers
A short study conducted at Brigham Young University on 300 college-aged women found that participants who slept between 6.5 and 8.5 hours per night had lower body fat than peers who slept less than 6.5 hours or more than 8.5 hours per day. Data was monitored using activity tracking devices over a one week period. Higher-quality rest was also linked with lower body fat, though the strongest connections were seen between consistent sleep-wake times and body fat. Another study published last year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal also found that sleep amount and quality affected fat loss of participants in a weight loss program. This might mean that sleeping the recommended 7-8 hours per day and sticking to a slumber schedule could boost weight loss and help people maintain healthy BMIs, something which will need larger scale studies to prove but is certainly an interesting prospect.
Rest Can Affect Grocery Habits
Another interesting bit of research possibly related to weight and eating habits comes from Swedish researchers. This study looked at how one’s sleep at night can affect grocery shopping the following day. They found that compared to nights on which they were well-rested, a group of shoppers spent more and chose more high-calorie foods when sleep-deprived. In a Harvard article on the study, they also mention links to sleep and metabolism, fat storage, insulin response and leptin levels which all play a role in weight and obesity as well.
Links Between Social Relationships and Sleep
Two studies this year found links between relationships and sleep, one focusing on parent-teen bonds and the other on couples. The University of Cincinnati discovered that social ties between parents and teens and between teens and their peers may play a bigger role on sleep than biology. Parental monitoring of teens’ slumber schedules including consistent bedtimes was most associated with longer rest duration, while familial stress like divorce reduced teens’ sleep. Teens with peers with positive social and school behaviors also were more likely to have healthy sleep patterns. Another study from UC Berkeley found that fights over relationship conflicts were more likely and more severe when partners did not have a good night’s rest. Tired participants were more likely to report negative views of their partners and also showed diminished conflict resolution and diminished ability to read their partners’ emotions.
Night Owls Really May Be Different From Early Birds
There have long been some people who claim to function better when they sleep in, and who naturally gravitate toward later bedtimes. While night owls are most common in the teen and adolescent population, several adults report these habits throughout their lifetime. A recent study published by Aachen University in Germany described by New Scientist magazine aimed to find structural brain differences between night owls and larks (or early birds), and stumbled on some interesting results. They found that up to 20% of people are night owls, and that white matter in night owls’ brains had reduced integrity in areas associated with depression. This information could have significant implications, since most of the world, from corporate workplaces to schools, currently runs on the larks’ schedule which could cause health and performance problems, (or “chronic jetlag”) for those who are naturally programmed to sleep later.
Sleeping Better in 2014
Based on the sleep discoveries and research presented in 2013, there are several compelling reasons for placing an increased emphasis on rest and improving your sleep habits. From improving brain health and preventing skin aging, to maintaining a healthy weight and improving your relationships, rest really is a miraculous thing. There are few other activities that may have such a profound impact on our physical and mental well-being, yet too often this vital function is pushed aside in favor of other activities. If you really want to make the biggest impact with your New Year’s resolutions in 2014 or just want to improve your health in general, consider the findings of these studies and aim to implement healthy sleep hygiene habits into your daily routine. Based on 2013’s amazing sleep discoveries and previous research, adults should get 7-8 hours of high-quality rest per night and ensure that sleep-wake times are consistent as well. Learn more about sleep hygiene in our other recent article on the subject, and stay tuned for next year’s discoveries!
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