This year the Herald’s award-winning newsroom produced a range of first-class journalism, including investigating the state of our mental health in the Great Minds series, how NZ can rebuild stronger post-Covid with The New New Zealand and how to minimise the impact of living in an Inflation Nation.
This summer we’re bringing back some of the best-read Premium articles of 2022. Today we take a look at how to optimise your sleep to improve your health and wellbeing.
How many hours of sleep you really need
Both too much and not enough sleep can cause health problems. Photo / Getty Images
From smartphones that monitor REM to ever-changing “sleep hygiene” rules, we all know a good night’s sleep is essential to wellbeing. Advice varies, however, on how long actually constitutes that restorative rest.
The research, from the University of Cambridge and Shanghai’s Fudan University, looked at the sleep habits of almost 500,000 adults between the ages of 38 and 73.
Researchers discovered that both too much and not enough sleep could cause mental health problems and “worse cognitive performance”.
The study also found that consistency mattered – so it’s no good getting nine hours one night then six the next.
Snoring itself is not a disorder, no matter what your sleeping partner might say. Photo / 123RF
Snoring happens when the muscles in the tongue, roof of your mouth and throat relax and constrict airflow.
Men are about twice as likely to snore as women are, and it can be caused by a number of things, including allergies, ageing, a cold or even just the distinctive shape of your throat. Your weight might also play a role.
Experts say there are ways to find relief however.
If anything about the pandemic has been positive, it's the rise of the nap. Photo / Adrian Swancar, Unsplash
If anything about the pandemic has been positive, it’s the rise of the nap. Freed from office life, many adopted the siesta, snoozing after lunch and working slightly later to compensate. Advocates swear by its restorative and mood-improving benefits – in fact, napping has gained so much positive press, global firms including Google, Nike and Ben & Jerry’s now provide “sleep pods” with soothing soundscapes or dedicated napping spaces at HQ for their snoozing staff.
It all sounds perfect. For some people, however, not so much
So how long should we really be napping during the day? Nap-haters cite grogginess and disorientation and feel it ruins their sleep that night.
It’s all too easy to have a nap that leaves you feeling worse, according to the experts.
Can’t sleep? Try sticking your head in the freezer
There are simple steps we can take throughout the day and night to get better rest. Photo / 123RF
A good night’s sleep can make us more empathetic, more creative, better parents and better partners. Sleep can help us manage stress; it can make us competent and capable and better able to take on the day. But we too often view sleep as an afterthought — until we find ourselves frozen in the middle of the night, our thoughts racing, fumbling for rest or relief.
Some people might reach for a supplement or sleep aid, but there are simple steps we can take throughout the day and night to get better rest.
Here are some of his science-backed tips for sounder sleep.
Without early-morning exposure to light our internal clocks would eventually become misaligned with the external clock. Photo / Sander Sammy, Unsplash
If you want to sleep well, get a dog. Those early-morning walks provide regular exercise, which we know is good for sleep. But as Russell Foster, a British neuroscientist who specialises in the study of circadian rhythms, points out, they also expose you to the early-morning light we all need to keep our internal body clocks – most of which run at about 24 hours and 10 minutes – aligned or “entrained” with the 24-hour day.
The result: better, more regular sleep. “People who own a dog have been shown to have better sleep, and you might think, ‘What’s that all about?’ Of course, it’s because they have to take their dog out in the morning and that’s where they get their photon shower – their entraining light,” says Foster, author of Life Time, which looks at how our bodies are governed by a 24-hour circadian clock.
New research into circadian rhythms reveals the vital importance of our body clocks to our health and wellbeing.
