5 Things Keeping You Up At Night

 

 

We have all had those nights where we just can’t fall sleep. You toss and turn. You get a drink of water and pace the house. No matter what you try, you are not getting to sleep anytime soon. It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what is keeping you from those needed ZZZs. Luckily, we compiled the five most common things that can keep you up at night and what you can do to make them disappear.

 

 

Stimulants

If you are drinking a lot of coffee, tea or soda throughout the day, you might find yourself unable to sleep at night. Fairly obvious, right? Well, did you know that these are not the only stimulants in your diet that may affect your sleep patterns? Chocolate and sugar can have the same effect. If you find yourself unable to sleep at night, try keeping a food journal to see if certain foods could be contributing to your poor sleep. A good night’s sleep might be as easy as making a few minor changes to your diet.

 

 

Stress

Everyone has stress. Whether you are concerned about your financial responsibilities, problems at work or even stressing about the fact that you can’t sleep, stress can keep your mind awake even when your body is begging for rest. While the causes of your stress may be difficult to remedy, you can try to turn your mind off faster at night by turning off the TV an hour before going to bed. Television can keep your mind engaged, making it harder to switch to a “sleep mode.”

 

Another tactic you can try is reading a book shortly before bedtime. But, it is recommended that you read outside of your bedroom to train your body that “bed” means “sleep.” Meditation can also help ease your mind and put those racing thoughts to bed.

 

 

Back Pain

Whether it’s acute—from overexertion or a muscle pull—or chronic, back pain can keep you from getting comfortable and falling asleep. You might be able to fall asleep, but find yourself waking up during the night with your back stiff and sore. According to Northamericanspine.com, as many as one third of adults experience back pain each month. A heating pad or an over-the-counter pain reliever may help. Sometimes the answer is as simple as changing your pillow. If the pain persists, there may be underlying causes that require more examination by a doctor.

 

 

Time to Yourself

If you are a busy adult spending time working, running errands or taking care of the kids, you might not get very much time to yourself. This lack of down time could be contributing to your poor sleep. When you lie down at night, your mind senses that it’s time to sort through any issues you may have been putting off during your busy day. Try scheduling a night of fun or perhaps a trip to the spa to give yourself that much needed “you” time.

 

 

Marital Problems

It’s no secret that fighting with your spouse can keep you up at night. The pressure of always arguing, or the desire to not speak your mind, can cause you to stay awake at night internalizing instead of resting. Consider speaking to a counselor, or being more open with your spouse about how the relationship is affecting you. Don’t let minor arguments interrupt the amount of sleep you need to function at 100% each day.

 

From prolonging sicknesses to promoting weight gain, lack of sleep can affect your life in a multitude of ways. Getting the proper amount of sleep each night is crucial to your overall health. Take the time to identify what might be causing you to remain awake and take the steps needed to resolve those reasons. Your body will thank you.

 

Savannah Coulsen is a freelance writer. She lives in Raleigh. Savannah loves to read and write and she hopes to write a novel someday. Savannah also loves learning and is a self-proclaimed health guru.

 

Co author Doug Johnson helped create North American Spine and manages all medical staff, in addition to training physicians in proper AccuraScope procedure techniques.

 

 

Categories: sleep, sleep deprivation, things, up at night

I Heart Sleep: Why Fewer than 6 Hours Damages Heart Health

In your hectic, daily schedule, sleep can seem like such a hindrance – that’s eight hours of your day in which you’re not doing anything productive! However, sleep is actually extremely productive for your overall wellbeing. Sleep helps you to stave off major health concerns by aiding your mental and emotional wellness, keeping you trim, strengthening your immune system, fighting inflammation, and maintaining your heart and blood vessels.

 

In fact, sleep enables your body to repair your damaged tissues, produce crucial hormones and strengthen your memories. This latter process is known as consolidation, and it helps you to perform a new skill better after sleeping than you would if you spent an equivalent amount of time awake, which is why all-nighters are never as effective as you think they’ll be. Virend K. Somers, MD, a professor of medicine and cardiovascular diseases at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who studies sleep and heart health, explains, ‘It’s a way for the body to integrate everything that happened over the past waking day and to kind of prepare for the next day.’

 

According to Shelby Freedman Harris, PsyD, director of behavioural sleep medicine at Montefiore Medical Centres Sleep-Wake Disorders Centre in New York City, ‘When you’re sleeping you’re regulating hormone levels, you’re regulating insulin levels, your blood pressure is being kept under control, there are a lot of things going on, and if you’re not getting enough sleep you’re throwing these things out of whack.’ One way in which your body becomes skewed by a lack of sleep is in your heart. If you get less than six hours of sleep a night, or you don’t spend enough time in the deepest stages of sleep, you have a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes than those who get at least seven hours.

 

In 2011, two studies revealed the devastating impact of sleep deprivation on heart health. The first study, performed in male Japanese factory workers, showed that sleeping for less than six hours a night made the factory workers five times more likely to have a heart attack over a 14-year span compared with those who logged between 7 and 8 hours a night. The second study, this time involving men over the age of 65, showed that even healthy participants with normal blood pressure were almost twice as likely to develop hypertension if they spent less time in the deepest sleep stage (known as slow-wave sleep).

 

As well as long-term sleep deprivation having an impact on your heart health, there’s also some evidence – albeit somewhat limited – that even short-term sleep deprivation may be harmful if you already have a heart problem. Swedish researchers, who published the results of their work in 2012, reported that in the week after the spring transition to daylight saving time, hospital admissions for heart attacks increased by about 4% compared to other weeks. This is the time in which you set your clocks an hour ahead and lose an hour of sleep.

 

As to why not sleeping enough affects your heart, wellness experts aren’t quire sure. However, researchers are clear on why sleep apnoea is a known heart hazard. If you have sleep apnoea, you tend to snore and have upper airway collapse during sleep, meaning that you snort and gasp for breath without really waking up enough to be aware of it. Charles Czeisler, MD, the Baldino Professor of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, explains, ‘It’s as if somebody’s choking you, so your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure goes up, and instead of having a daily cycle in which everything slows down at night, instead everything is higher during the night. Over time, even your daytime blood pressure is higher.’

Categories: blood pressure, factory workers, heart attacks, heart health, Sleep apnoea, sleep deprivation, sleep medicine, sleep nbsp, term sleep

How to Prevent Your Partner from Talking in Their Sleep

You may love your partner more than life itself, but when you wake up in the middle of the night because of their incessant sleep talking; loving your partner becomes a little bit harder. Sleep has a very close connection to your wellbeing, being related to your physical and mental health. Plus, if your partner is keeping you from your much-needed eight hours a night, the wellness of your relationship could also be at stake! So, how do you get your partner to keep sch-tum when you’re sleeping?

 

When your partner suffers from somniloquy, or sleep talking, they have no control over what they say and can say things they wouldn’t otherwise when conscious. When you tell you partner about it, or the things they’ve said, they can often be quite shocked as they don’t remember doing it, may have used different voices or language to that which they usually use. This sleep talking may have been spontaneous, or induced by something you’ve said. Though it does no harm to your partner, you may be at risk of sleep deprivation, as well as the emotional impact of having someone you love say unusual things, or even yell out during the night.

 

Sleep talking can be caused by a number of factors, including stress, depression, fever, sleep deprivation, daytime drowsiness, medications and alcohol. There may be a hereditary element involved, but often it’s external factors that seem to stimulate the behaviour. Underlying sleep conditions, such as sleep apnoea, make your partner more prone to talk in their sleep because they often fail to sleep soundly. Sleep talking rarely requires treatment, but your partner should seek medical attention if the episodes become very frequent, emotional, aggressive, abusive or dramatic. Your partner should keep a sleep diary, so that the doctor can see their sleep patterns over the course of two weeks. The diary should include bedtimes, the approximate time your partner fell asleep and woke up, any medicines your partner takes and when they’re taken, working hours, stress levels, exercise undertaken, and any drinks consumed.

 

Here are a few techniques that can keep your partner’s lips zipped after bedtime:

 

1. Get enough sleep. Your partner is more likely to sleep talk if they’re sleep-deprived.

 

2. Develop a relaxing pre-sleep habit. Your partner could try having a warm bath or a light bedtime snack before bed, drinking warm milk, listening to soft music or reading for 10 minutes.

 

3. Listen to your body. Your partner should only go to bed when they feel sleepy.

 

4. Avoid things that will interrupt your sleep. Your partner should avoid TV, smoking, heavy meals, caffeine and alcohol at bedtime.

 

5. Create the right environment. Your bedroom needs to be set up in a way that endorses sleep, so make sure it’s as quiet and cosy as possible.

 

6. Reduce stress. Practising simple exercises, stretches or yoga poses on a regular basis can help your partner to reduce daily stress levels, and sleep better as a result.

 

7. Stick to a routine. Your partner should maintain a regular schedule for meals, medications, chores, and other activities.

 

8. Eat the right foods. Tryptophan increases your body’s level of serotonin, which helps you to feel good and get to sleep more easily. Therefore, your partner should eat plenty of tryptophan-fuelled foods, such as wheat germ, cottage cheese, milk, eggs, and almonds.

 

9. Avoid taking sleeping pills. While sleeping pills may help with the odd episode of restless sleep, most doctors avoid prescribing them for periods longer than three weeks.

 

10. Block out the distractions. You can help your partner sleep better and talk less by getting them some earplugs, or something to create white noise, such as a fan. Just in case these tips don’t work, you might want to invest in some ear plugs for yourself too!

Categories: bedtime nbsp, Causes, nbsp, partner, prevention, sleep, sleep deprivation, Sleep Talking, sleeping pills, Stress Levels, talking

Hangovers and Long Meetings: Diet Help When You Need It Most

In life, love, wellness and everything in between, timing is crucial, and this is no less true when it comes to what you eat. According to Marta Montenegro, the creator of the Montenegro Method DVD workout series with a master’s degree in clinical exercise physiology, ‘Depending on the time of day or what situation you’re in, your body needs certain nutritional properties to help you get through—so you can work and live at your optimal level. Food creates all kinds of hormonal reactions in your body—reactions that affect your mood, your alertness, your energy level, and everything in between. So while you may already know what you need to eat, it’s also important to know when to eat it.’ With that in mind, let’s take a look the best foods for your wellbeing, and the best times to eat them.

 

1. After a Tough Workout: While amping up your fitness is eventually good for your muscles, immediately after a workout they will be stressed and broken down. They then grow in preparation for the next challenge, but you need to give them proper nutrition in order to take full advantage of that growth cycle. Andrea Hacker Thompson, MS, RD, of the ACSM Fit Society Page, recommends a carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of 2:1 for short, low-to moderate intensity workouts or 3:1 in long, high intensity training sessions. Montenegro adds, ‘Eat 30 minutes to one hour after completing your workout, because that’s the best window for your body to absorb the nutrients after a workout.’

 

2. After a Long Meeting: Lauren O’Connor, RD, from Nutri-Savvy advises munching on almonds when feeling foggy in or after a meeting, as they provide you with a little protein and plenty of healthy fats. Montenegro details, ‘Research published in the journal Neuron shows protein, not sugar, activates the cells that keep us awake and burning calories. While whole grain carbohydrates provide the glucose that keeps the brain going, protein is what guarantees that you won’t forget what the meeting was about in the first place. That’s especially true when protein is rich in the amino acid tyrosine, a neurotransmitter that is critical for brain energy and alertness.’

 

3. After an Endurance Event: At the finish line, the name of the game is replacing sweat loss, as you need to replace those glycogen stores. Registered dietician and certified fitness trainer Shari Portnoy, RD, CPT says the best post-marathon foods and drinks will contain mostly carbohydrates, some vitamins and small amount of protein to help replenish those deleted stores. Ximena Jimenez, RD, national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, points out that chocolate-flavoured milk has the ideal 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein, and it helps replace other nutrients. Jimenez enthuses, ‘It’s actually a great source of electrolytes, especially potassium.’

 

4. After a Bad Night’s Sleep: Not only does a restless night make you feel groggy the next day, it also gets in the way of your waistline. Montenegro notes, ‘Researchers at UCLA researchers found that poor sleep causes increased ghrelin and decreased leptin during the day, which can lead to an increased appetite and overeating. To combat this, start your day off with lean protein. Try an ounce of nuts or three ounces (abut a size of a deck of cards) of lean meat, which will keep you feeling satisfied longer. You can also try Greek yogurt mixed with a banana and some Chia seeds sprinkled in.’

 

5. After a Night Out: The morning after a night on the town provides a hangover as well as sleep deprivation, so what you eat is key. Luckily, Jimenez has the morning fix you need: ‘The next day have a virgin Bloody Mary. It’s an easy hangover cure. The tomato juice will replenish your body from water and electrolyte losses caused by an alcohol binge.’

Categories: body, Endurance Events, hangover cure, montenegro, nbsp, Protein, sleep deprivation, Workout

Till Snores Do Us Apart: Is Marriage Ruining Your Sleep?

Sleep plays a major role in your wellbeing, but it isn’t until you get married that you realise how it impacts family wellness. You and your spouse may have completely incompatible sleep styles, which could spell relationship trouble down the line. According to a National Sleep Foundation survey, one in four American couples sleep in separate beds due to interference with sleep. Plus, sleep wellness expert Dr. Volpi, founder of New York and California’s premier Eos Sleep Centres, argues that snoring is one of the top three reasons for divorce in the US. So is it separate beds until death do you part, or might you parting a little earlier due to your spouse’s incessant snores? Not if we can help it! Here are some top tips for coupling up on your sleep habits.

 

1. Use your bed for its intended purposes, and nothing else: You may like to have a cheeky game of Angry Birds in bed while your spouse drifts off in the middle of the news, but the bedroom should be used for the two greatest gifts in life; sleep and sex. Dr. Volpi urges, ‘It’s imperative that couples avoid eating, watching TV or using electronics in bed. It’s been scientifically proven that the light from TV and computer screens affects melatonin production and throws off circadian rhythms. Plus, working in bed won’t help couples wind down and ease into sleep.’

 

2. Stick to a sleep schedule: Dr. Volpi asserts, ‘Going to bed and waking up at different times every day is a sleep destroyer, and is easy to do when couples have different work or social schedules. In order to practice good sleep hygiene, couples should get into a pattern of going to sleep and waking up around the same time every day, including weekends.’

 

3. Lessen that snoring as much as possible: ‘For some people, an increased amount of airway obstruction occurs when they sleep on their backs; this is known as positional snoring,’ Dr Volpi explains. ‘Many times snorers come to me complaining of being “frequently assaulted” through the night by their bed partner in an effort to get them to roll over.’ If you’re the snorer question, try sleeping on your side. This can be difficult to maintain once you drift off, so try sewing a ball into your T-shirt pocket, and wear it backwards during sleep. That way, you’ll roll back onto your side whenever you attempt lying on the ball. In addition, extra pillows can elevate the head, which can also prevent snoring.

 

4. Create a relaxing bedtime ritual: ‘When your body gets used to a night time routine, the brain is tricked into knowing that it’s ready for bed, and naturally calms the body,’ says Dr. Volpi. A study published in Sleep, suggests winding down together by taking a hot bath 90 minutes before bedtime can help. The sleep expert explains, ‘The hot water raises body temperature, and cool air in the bedroom lowers skin temperature, which triggers your body to produce melatonin and become drowsy.’

 

5. No alcohol or sleep medications before bedtime: A recent study in the British Medical Journal has found that taking sleep medications makes you four times more likely to die than those who don’t take the pills. You may therefore be tempted to self-medicate with a night cap or two, but Dr. Volpi warns against relying on sleep medications or alcohol as sleep aids. He notes, ‘Even if you think they’ll help you fall asleep initially, alcohol and medicines that make you drowsy can affect your sleep throughout the night. Alcohol and sedatives also cause the throat and tongue muscles to relax even further than usual, exacerbating snoring.’

Categories: Couples, dr volpi, nbsp, Partnering Sleep Patterns, separate beds, sleep, sleep deprivation, sleep medications, snoring, volpi

Why Sleep is So Important to Your Health and Weight

While everyone is different when it comes to health and wellbeing, and different amounts of sleep work for different people, wellness experts assert that you need roughly seven to nine hours of sleep every night. According to researchers at the Sleep Disorder Clinic at Stanford University, any less sleep than this can lead to serious health concerns, such as heart disease. In fact, wellness experts believe that sleep deprivation is worse for your health than drinking or even smoking. If you have fewer than six hours of sleep a night, studies show that your risk of having a heart attack increases by 18% compared to those who get a regular seven to nine hours. However, that’s nothing compared to people who get fewer than five hours of sleep a night, as their heart attack risk is raised to 40%. Surely, it’s time to stand up and take notice of the importance of sleep.

 

During sleep, your body uses this time to repair itself. This is also when your stress levels drop, thus making it possible for your brain to become focused again. In fact, your sleeping habits have even been linked to your ability to maintain or lose weight, with regular, restful sleep correlating to better results. Plus, in the deepest stages of sleep, your body is better able to fight disease from the inside – much like some sort of health concern secret agent – and repair tissue damage and more. From all this, you can see that your body is a complex machine that needs constant care, with sleep acting as its own version of a reboot or self-overhaul. While you wouldn’t rush your mechanic when he or she is checking and fixing your vehicle, you do it to the “little mechanics” inside your own body.

 

Let’s unpack some of the more interesting and pleasant side effects of a good night’s sleep; weight loss. Research has shown that sleep deprivation causes your levels of ghrelin to rise and your levels of leptin to drop. In English? Leptin is a hormone produced by your body to make you feel satisfied or full after you eat. The less sleep you get, the lower your level of leptin which, in turn, means you feel less satisfied when you eat the next day and will end up eating more. The other sleep-food hormone your body produces is ghrelin, which is designed to stimulate your appetite. Therefore, not getting enough sleep packs a one-two punch to your waistline, with low leptin levels making you feel less full when you eat, and high ghrelin levels causing your body to get hungry, and consequently eat, more often.

 

Now we’ve covered the importance of sleep – although I could go on – it’s now time to look at how you go about getting enough sleep. If you have deadlines or an overly busy schedule, sometimes it’s not possible to get your seven to nine hours. When this occurs, try to remove any unnecessary obligations until you get your sleep routine back on track and, failing a seven- to nine-hour stretch, try to take naps when you can. If getting to sleep is difficult for you, you might find it easier to nod off if you’ve exercised during the day (as long as you avoid doing this less than three hours before bedtime). A bedtime ritual, such as having warm milk with honey, a warm bath or reading for a little bit before bed, can also help you get your body ready for sleep. Finally, make sure your room is the right temperature and well ventilated. Sweet dreams!

Categories: body, health, Heart Attack, hours, levels, Repairs, sleep, sleep deprivation, weight, wellness experts

Sleep: How Much Do You Really Need?

Cutting back on sleep may be tempting when you’ve got deadlines to meet and a social life to squeeze in to your already jam-packed day, but it isn’t really the best answer long-term. The truth is that you can’t afford to cut back on sleep all the time – even a small loss can affect your mood, energy and your ability to handle stress. In order to know how much is good for you, you need to learn how to determine your nightly sleep needs – then you will know how much you need each night to stay on top of things. But what can sleep really do for your health, and what are the various stages of sleep that you need to know about in order to get good quality shut-eye at night. Though we may not realise it, the majority of us try to get as little sleep as we can, in order to avoid missing out on nights with friends or to meet those deadlines of an evening. There are always things which seem more important that your sleep, but this isn’t true - sleep is as important as your diet and exercise regime for a healthy body.

Though it may seem like it, sleep isn’t a time when your body and mind switch off for eight hours. You brain stays busy even when you’re sleeping, making sure that a range of biological processes take place during this vital stage. Without enough hours of restorative, good quality sleep, your body won’t be able to work properly, learn, create or even communicate when you wake up. In other words, you will be missing out on your true potential – all through missing sleep. Of course, you don’t need to choose between your health and being productive. The moment you start getting enough sleep, you’ll notice a vast improvement in the levels of energy and your general wellbeing. There are a number of myths around sleep. For example, people believe that getting one hour less of sleep each night won’t affect your functioning during the day – this isn’t true. While you may not notice feeling sleepy, your ability to think properly and respond quickly does decrease after just one hour less of sleep. It also, more worryingly, affects your cardiovascular health, energy balance and ability to fight infections. Likewise, people think that your body adjusts to varying sleep schedules quickly – the truth is that it can take over a week to a change in your sleep pattern, even just switching to the night shift or travelling across time zones.

Obviously, the amount of sleep we need varies from person to person – however, most healthy adults need between seven and a half to nine hours of good quality sleep each night. Children and teenagers need even more in order to function at their best. The best way to see if you’re getting enough is to monitor how you feel in the mornings – if you’re feeling energetic and alert all day, you’re probably getting enough. If you’re lethargic and struggling to focus, you may need to increase your hours. Just because you can function on seven hours, doesn’t mean that it’s the right amount for you – there is a good chance you would operate a lot better on a couple of hours more each night. It’s possible that many of us are sleep deprived and don’t realise – the signs are fairly subtle, so most people don’t spot them. If you struggle to wake up in the mornings, feel sluggish in the afternoon, get sleepy in warm rooms or in meetings, or get drowsy when driving or eating meals, you may be sleep deprived.

Categories: sleep deprivation, sleep patterns, tiredness

Beating Summer Insomnia: How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Sleep deprivation doesn’t just take a toll on your emotional health; it impacts all areas of your wellbeing. Your wellness can be affected by poor concentration, anxiety, depression, irritability, difficulty communicating with others, fatigue, increased risk of diabetes and cancer and even poor heart health due to increased risk of getting calcium deposits in the arteries. In the summer, getting your recommended seven to nine hours a night can be challenging, especially with the warm evenings and longer daylight hours, so how can you get a good night’s sleep during warm nights?

Firstly, keep your windows open during the evenings, and make sure your bedroom curtains are drawn during the day. This will help to reduce heat in your room if you’re there in the day, but, more importantly, it will cool the room when you’re trying to get to sleep. Also, instead of using your duvet or a blanket, just use thin cotton sheets. Synthetic bed sheets are better avoided, however, as these will only add to the warmth. In a similar vein, you may be tempted to sleep wearing as little as possible – or nothing at all, but wearing light cotton nightwear is a far cooler option. This is because light cotton nightwear will help absorb excess perspiration.

There are things you can do during the day to help you sleep better. Make sure you are being healthy and active by incorporating a few changes into your daily routine. Go for a fifteen-minute walk or try to take the stairs instead of the lift. It’s a small thing, but even a little bit of exercise can ensure that you’re fully rested later on. If the heat’s still getting to you in the evening, take a bath with cold or room temperature water just before you go to bed and drink some cold water. Plus, you may want to avoid heavy meals, caffeine and alcohol after 6pm. These things cause dehydration and make your digestive system overactive, which, in turn, makes you feel hot. Finally, try having a tray of ice and water below a table fan. This way, the fan will pick up cool air from the ice tray and reduce the temperature in the room.

 

 

Categories: Cold Bath, Cotton Sheets, sleep deprivation

New Study Explains Why Sleep Deprivation Eases Depression

You might not think that sleep deprivation is conducive to emotional wellness, but many of those whose wellbeing is affected by depression often experience temporary relief after forgoing a good night’s sleep. Yes, sleep deprivation is an impractical long term treatment, and the mood boost typically only lasts until you fall asleep again, but wellness experts are still interested in the mechanism behind this phenomenon, and a new study, published in Translational Psychiatry, has found a key culprit in sleep deprivation and depression relief.

Until now, it was thought that astrocytes — a star-shaped type of glial cell — regulate the brain chemicals involved in sleepiness. These cells continuously release the neurotransmitter adenosine when you’re awake, which then builds up in your brain. This causes the feeling of sleepiness and its related memory and attention deficits, known as “sleep pressure”, which adenosine creates by binding to receptors on the outside of your neurons.

For the new study, the research team at Tufts University investigated this process in an attempt to determine whether it is responsible for your antidepressant feelings during sleep deprivation. The researchers gave mice with depressive-like symptoms three doses of a compound that triggers adenosine receptors, and this mimicked sleep deprivation. The mice continued to sleep normally, but after 12 hours they showed significant mood and behaviour improvements, which lasted for 48 hours.

The results of the study validate the theory that an adenosine build-up is the reason why a lack of sleep leads to antidepressant feelings. This is an important verification, as the results present a new, promising target for drug development. If scientists can chemically mimic sleep deprivation, you can experience the antidepressant benefits without the unwanted side effects of actually losing sleep. This could give you immediate relief from your depression, which is big news considering that traditional antidepressants often take six to eight weeks to work.

Dustin Hines, lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at Tufts, commented, ‘For many years neuroscientists focused almost exclusively on neurons, whereas the role of glia was neglected. We now know that glia play an important role in the control of brain function and have the potential to aid in the development of new treatments for many illnesses, including depression and sleep disorders.’

New Study Explains Why Sleep Deprivation Eases Depression

Categories: Research, sleep deprivation, Treatments