Black Friday's Best Deal: Extra Sleep

It’s that magical time of year when millions of frenzied consumers chase one-time-only holiday bargains. The day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, is a holiday in itself. Smartphones, high-definition televisions and countless other items are available for less money… but there’s another type of price to pay.

Most of the best bargains are door-buster sales. You have to be among the first in the store for a shot at the low-priced prize, meaning you better be in line at midnight.

You might want to consider your sleep before you bundle up and line up outside Target or Best Buy. Holiday weekends like this are few and far between. The long weekend is the perfect time to make up for all the lost sleep and get your slumber schedule back on track.

If you still want to get that Christmas shopping done on the cheap, try shopping online instead. Amazon.com offers all kinds of Black Friday prices, and even price-matches some items.

Friday isn’t the only day you can score a great deal online. Best Buy, Macy’s and JCPenney all have “Black Thursday” specials on their website, beginning at midnight. Then there’s always also “Cyber Monday”, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Make sleep a priority this year and you don’t necessarily have to miss out on the deals. You’ll be better rested for the always stressful holiday season.

Clock Gene Levels Linked to Insomnia and Depression

Scientists are learning why insomnia and depression are so closely interconnected. Sleep disturbances, especially early morning awakenings, are a common symptom of depression. An Ohio State University study suggests that these symptoms are related to an over-active body clock.

The so-called Clock gene helps regulate the body’s circadian rhythms. Molecular-level disturbances in the Clock gene may disrupt the 24-hour body clock, causing sleep problems.

The study compared the blood samples of people with a history of depression to those who had never been clinically depressed. The study included 60 participants; 25 spent at least five hours per week caring for a family member with dementia.

Blood analysis shows people with a history of depression had higher levels of the Clock gene. The relationship held true after statistical adjustments for age and lifestyle factors such as substance use, exercise, medical conditions and caregiving status.

Researchers also analyzed three other circadian genes, but found no statistically significant differences in gene levels between depressed and non-depressed subjects.

The authors of the study caution that the findings demonstrate there is a link, but causal direction remains unclear. In other words, further research is needed to determine whether depression causes the clock gene to be elevated, or vice versa.

Researchers explain their findings are simply a snapshot of how gene activity differs between people with and without depression.

Several other studies have attempted to explain the link between insomnia and depression.

A study published in the September 2010 issue of SLEEP suggests sleep deprivation causes depression in young adults. Every hour of sleep lost significantly raises the risk of emotional distress, a combination of high levels of depressive and anxious symptoms.

Another study presented at SLEEP 2010 in San Antonio reported similar findings, but for teenagers. Students who reported problems with daytime sleepiness were three times more likely to have depression compared to their peers.

In any case, the treatment options for depression and insomnia often overlap. While medication can help in the short term, cognitive-behavioral therapy is the best approach for lasting results. Conquering depression and insomnia takes a lot of work, but your health and happiness are worth the effort.

Nighttime Sleep Essential for Mental Development in Young Children

Good nighttime sleep at a very early age may help kick-start cognitive development and give kids a leg-up in school. The amount of nighttime sleep – not daytime naps – is the key component to advanced executive function in children, a study included in the November/December issue of Child Development reports.

Executive function is another name for a specific group of mental skill areas essential for success in the classroom. Skills include attentiveness, self-discipline, organization, memorization and the abilities to plan, think and work with others. Executive function develops rapidly across the first six years of life. Little is known about why some children are more successful at developing those skills than their peers.

The study followed 60 Canadian children between their 12 and 26 months of age. At the 12 and 18 month mark, each parent completed sleep diaries by recording when their child slept and for what length. Researchers tested the children’s executive function at 18 and 26 months of age.

Results show children who slept mostly at night did better at most executive function-related tests, especially the tasks involving impulse control. The number of times the children woke per night did not impact test results. The findings held true even after the authors adjusted for factors such as socio-economic class, parents’ education level and children’s general cognitive skills.

The authors of the study note that infant sleep later sets in motion the development of more advanced executive skills. This may help flesh out recent findings that linked earlier bedtimes to higher test scores in school-aged children.

The AASM recommends infants get a minimum of 14 hours of sleep per day for healthy development. Toddlers should sleep 12 to 14 hours per night. Start your child’s health habits out on the right foot and make their sleep a priority.

Photo by doriana_s

More Evening-Types Smoke, Have Harder Time Quitting

Morning types seem to have all of the advantages. They aren't only less depressed and more successful, as a previous studies reported – they tend to avoid a particularly bad habit that can destroy your health. More night owls tend to be smokers, and quitting can be more difficult for them, according to the results of a longitudinal study published in the journal Addiction.

The study’s authors say the findings don’t necessarily mean being a night person will put you at risk for tobacco use. There are several possible explanations why night owls are more likely to smoke.

One may be the type of activities night owls engage in. They may spend more time doing activities in environments that promote smoking, such as socializing at bars or restaurants.

Night owls may also have a tendency to be more sensation-seeking than larks. The brain’s systems that manage addiction and reward-seeking may relate to chronotype, the authors write.

The study compared more than 23,000 pairs of twins for 30 years. Participants were surveyed about their smoking habits once per decade. In their second interview, they answered questions about whether they were evening or morning types.

About thirty percent of the participants answered definitively that they were morning types. 1 in 10 said they are clearly night owls. The rest were somewhere in-between.

During the start of the study, 43 percent of the night owls smoked and 27 percent of morning types smoked. Smoking rates dropped to 35 percent and 21 percent about a decade later. Evening-types were 27 less likely to have quit smoking.

Learn more about evening and morning chronotypes.

Sleep Loss Linked to Heart Disease and Stroke Risk

Researchers have discovered new clues to why chronic insomnia can cut short men’s lives. People who sleep poorly or are chronically sleep deprived have elevated inflammation caused by increased hormone production, a recent study reports. Inflamation is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

The study, presented at the American Heart Associate Scientific Sessions, involved 525 middle-aged people. Each subject reported the number of hours they slept per night before they were was screened for chronic sleep deprivation using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index survey.

After a screening for inflammatory hormones, researchers compared the level of inflammation and sleep quality. Participants who slept fewer than six hours per night and scored poorly on the sleep quality index had higher levels of inflammation. The results were adjusted for external risk factors such as smoking, blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.

The results show there is a relationship between sleep deprivation and heart disease, but it’s not clear if it’s a causal relationship.

Previous studies show people who sleep at least seven hours per night live longer than their peers. People with abnormally short or long sleep durations have a high risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and stress.