Sleep is such a valuable and vital part of life and health. Nearly six in ten Americans report having insomnia and insomnia at least a few nights a week, according to the National Sleep Foundation. More and more research is being done linking the benefits of good sleep to increased well-being, lower rates of illness, more happiness, sharper mental abilities, and less fatigue.
A recently completed joint study by the Division of Sleep Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston found that 204 college students have benefited greatly from getting a good and regular night’s sleep. These students, who were between the ages of 18 and 25, participated in a 30-day study that measured sleep time and duration.
When students transitioned from irregular sleep patterns to regular sleep during the week, there were measurable and significant improvements in their levels of evening and morning happiness, a higher level of health, and better calm and composure during the week. There was even greater well-being the day after the week of improved sleep.
Lead author Akane Sano, PhD, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, said: “Irregular sleep-wake schedules are common in our modern society. Our results indicate the importance of sleep regularity, in addition to to sleep duration, and that regular sleep is associated with greater well-being.
In another interesting study published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, professional baseball players increased their sleep over a five-night period and then showed significant improvements in mental processing speed. In addition, their tension, fatigue and daytime sleepiness were reduced by more than a third.
Cheri D. Mah, principal investigator at the Center for Human Performance at the University of California, San Francisco, said: “Our study indicates that short-term sleep extension of an additional hour for five days resulted in demonstrated benefits for cognitive abilities. visual search of athletes, as well as an improvement in their rapid response. Fatigue during a season can negatively affect performance and the extension of sleep during periods of high training volume can be a practical recovery strategy.”
For a nutritional approach to insomnia, the minerals calcium and magnesium have been shown to be effective sleep aids that can increase quality of life. In a study from Iran University of Medical Sciences, an investigation was conducted with 46 adults suffering from insomnia. Taking magnesium oxide tablets resulted in significant increases in sleep time and reduced levels of cortisol in their bodies, which is a stress hormone that can keep people awake.
In another research study from the US Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center, scientists found that a diet rich in magnesium is associated with deeper and less interrupted sleep. Magnesium-rich foods include green leafy vegetables, black beans, pumpkin seeds, almonds, avocados, figs, bananas, brown rice, and nuts and seeds.
The benefits of achieving better sleep are showing up in countless research studies, and the energy invested to obtain them is well worth it.
