Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sleep Important for Happiness

By Mui-Joo Wee. From Fine Art America.
Here's a story that might be obvious, but it's good to know anyway:  according to this news item from WebMD, people with sleep deficiencies are as much as three times more likely to experience poor mood during the day. This comes from a new Mental Health Foundation report entitled "Sleep Matters". The foundation sees poor sleep as a public health concern and is using the new report as a starting point to raise awareness of the importance of sleep.

As Dr. Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the foundation, says, “Whilst great emphasis is rightly placed on the importance of diet and exercise, sleep has for too long been neglected as a major influence on the physical and mental health of the nation. Up to a third of the population currently suffers from insomnia, and with stress and longer working hours on the rise in the current economic climate, it is crucial that we now treat the issue of sleep problems as the major public health concern it is.”

The study is based on data from the "Great British Sleep Survey," which gathered responses from 5,328 people (1,376 men and 3,952 women). Compared to those with normal sleep patterns, respondents with insomnia were four times as likely to experience relationship problems and three times more likely to have trouble getting work done. Since insomnia is often caused by stress in the first place, having these symptoms can create a downward spiral where stress leads to insomnia, which leads to more stress, which leads to more insomnia, etc. etc.

If YOU have trouble sleeping, head over to The Mental Health Foundation's "How Did You Sleep?" website, where you can take their one question survey and read free sleep tips. You'll be happy you did!

4 comments:

  1. Oh this is most definately very true. Takes me just a few days of even slight sleep deprivation and I'm all moody.

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  2. Yes, I sometimes go through periods of insomnia, and it's not a good feeling! The worst thing is lying in bed and wondering if I'll get to sleep or not, but luckily that doesn't happen too much anymore.

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  3. I've heard it's always best not to think of whether you're goign to fall or sleep or not in such situations but rather try to relax or even getting up and reading a book, because this will help your system calm down and has a bigger chance of making you fall asleep than stressign yoruself about not sleeping..... I guess it helps, but it's not always easy!

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  4. Yes, too bad humans can't fall asleep voluntarily, like moving our hands or feet. We have to use reverse psychology I guess.

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