Are you getting enough sleep?

At OISE Oxford, many of our hard-working students have high-powered or pressured jobs which may take their toll on their sleep patterns. We therefore thought some of you may be interested to read about an experiment recently undertaken at the University of Surrey’s Sleep Centre to investigate the effects of having just one more hour’s sleep.

According to the Sleep Council, the average Briton gets around 6.5 hours sleep per night and in order to find out whether this was enough, researchers asked one group of volunteers to sleep for 6.5 hours per night for a week while a second group was asked to sleep for 7.5 hours. After a week the researchers took blood tests and asked the participants to switch sleep patterns to see what effects this would have.

Extraordinarily, computer tests revealed that cutting down on sleep by just one hour had marked effects on the participants’ mental agility. Furthermore the blood tests showed that over 500 genes, including genes associated with processes such as inflammation, immune response and response to stress, became more active. The team also saw increases in the activity of genes linked to diabetes and risk of cancer. The reverse happened when the volunteers added an hour of sleep.

Their conclusion therefore was that there are clear health benefits to having that extra hour in bed. A great excuse for a lie in if ever I heard one.

Click here to take the BBC’s sleep profiling test 

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine

It is hot

So it is quite hot. At last, the UK looks set to enjoy a real summer. Today will be the hottest day of the year and the heatwave is forecast to last well into next week.

At OISE Oxford we would like to recommend the Guardian's article on how to 'Sleep soundly and beat the heat'.

1) Choice of bed lined is important - natural fibres are best. The director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre and author of Sound Asleep recommends keeping your pillow in the fridge during the day and retrieve it as you go to bed. However, I am not sure if this is the soundest of advice. Who has room in their fridge for a pillow? And if you had room the chances of getting yogurt, butter and other fridge items would be really rather high. Of more sound advice - do spread out, rather than sleeping curled up will help you keep cool.

2) Make sure there is good air circulation – either by using a ceiling or portable fan, or just keeping door and windows open.

3) Prepare your beddroom for sleep, by leaving blinds down or curtains closed during the day to keep the sun out, and opening your windows in the evening once the heat of the day has died down

4) If you're in the grip of sweaty insomnia, "run your wrists and hands under the cold tap for a few minutes. Dry your hands and go straight back to bed."

5) A nap in the day will help counteract the effects of lost sleep.  Bring on the siestas!