Ever wonder where sleep advice comes from? I did some digging and here's what I found.
"Sleeping less than 7 hours per night on a regular basis is associated with adverse health outcomes, including weight gain and obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and stroke, depression, and increased risk of death. Sleeping less than 7 hours per night is also associated with impaired immune function, increased pain, impaired performance, increased errors, and greater risk of accidents."
"Sleeping more than 9 hours per night on a regular basis may be appropriate for young adults, individuals recovering from sleep debt, and individuals with illnesses."
"Using electric light (tunable, LED, or dawn-simulating light) in the morning and during the daytime promotes circadian phase advancement and enhances sleep quality."
"Receiving high levels in the morning is associated with reduced sleep onset latency (especially in winter), increased phasor magnitudes (a measure of circadian entrainment), and increased sleep quality."
"Aligning with a natural light pattern, characterized by increased morning and daytime light and reduced evening and nighttime light, may enhance children's sleep duration and efficiency."
"Elders should be exposed to scheduled daylight in morning and evening for prevention of mental disorders and sleep disorders."
"We found that drinking regular caffeinated coffee, compared to decaffeinated coffee, caused a decrease in the total amount of sleep and quality of sleep, and an increase in the length of time of sleep induction. Caffeinated coffee caused a decrease in 6-SMT excretion throughout the following night." (6-SMT = 6-sulphoxymelatonin, the main metabolite of melatonin in the urine.)
"Refrain from substantial caffeine use for a minimum of 6 hours prior to bedtime."
"Feeling tired in the morning leads to high caffeine use, which in turn is associated with impaired subsequent sleep patterns"
"Consumption of energy drinks was significantly associated with changes in sleep quality and patterns of students."
"Increasing daily physical activity (more steps/day) increased the participants’ efficiency of sleep at night and decreased their daytime sleepiness on the following day."
(Note: Increasing exercise/activity levels too fast can also result in negative sleep quality effects.)
"Sleep quality, insomnia severity, and daytime sleepiness could be improved or ameliorated with treatment of exercise"
"For elderly people with sufficient mobility and no preexisting disease, high-frequency physical activity (e.g., 5 or more days/wk) may help reduce insomnia."
"Poor sleep quality is associated with insufficient physical activity in young adults"
"For better sleep health, it is preferable that PA be performed during the day." (Note: Even a short 10min of physical activity can help improve sleep quality.)
"This study suggests that we should pay attention to the reasonable arrangement of physical activity, work and living environment in daily life, for example:
(1) To improve children’s sleep quality using physical activities, mainly outdoor activities; sports games; and other low-intensity, relaxed and happy forms should be used. Furthermore, bright light and a noisy social environment should be avoided during sleep.
(2) Physical activities that can be used to improve the sleep quality of middle-aged and elderly people are mainly low-intensity activities, such as outdoor walking, Tai ji chuan and Baduanjin.
(3) Young people should appropriately adjust to the mental pressure of work, study and life; combine work and rest; and balance the daily physical and mental work to help improve the quality of their sleep."
"Shorter dinner-to-bed time was significantly associated with an increased of GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease) [...]
for patients whose dinner-to-bed time was less than 3 h compared with patients whose dinner-to-bed time was 4 h or more."
"Later meal timing are intricately linked with diminished sleep quality"
"Food intake during the nocturnal period is correlated with negative effects on the sleep quality of healthy individuals"
"Eating or drinking < 1 h prior to bedtime could have negative impact on WASO (wake after sleep onset) but increases sleep duration. Moreover, the further eating or drinking reported from bedtime, the lower odds of short and long sleep duration and WASO observed. These findings suggest that earlier timing of eating or drinking in relation to bedtime – between 4 and 6 h – increases the likelihood of optimal sleep duration."
"The use of portable light-emitting devices immediately before bedtime has biological effects that may perpetuate sleep deficiency and disrupt circadian rhythms, both of which can have adverse impacts on performance, health, and safety."
"Using gadgets (mobile phones) in bed before sleeping negatively affected mood, sleep quality, memory, and concentration."
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