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New research shows how poor sleep damage your health

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S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21572686

The activity of hundreds of genes was altered when people's sleep was cut to less than six hours a day for a week.

Writing in the journal PNAS, the researchers said the results helped explain how poor sleep damaged health.

Heart disease, diabetes, obesity and poor brain function have all been linked to substandard sleep.

What missing hours in bed actually does to alter health, however, is unknown.

So researchers at the University of Surrey analysed the blood of 26 people after they had had plenty of sleep, up to 10 hours each night for a week, and compared the results with samples after a week of fewer than six hours a night.

More than 700 genes were altered by the shift. Each contains the instructions for building a protein, so those that became more active produced more proteins - changing the chemistry of the body.

Meanwhile the natural body clock was disturbed - some genes naturally wax and wane in activity through the day, but this effect was dulled by sleep deprivation.

Prof Colin Smith, from the University of Surrey, told the BBC: "There was quite a dramatic change in activity in many different kinds of genes."

Areas such as the immune system and how the body responds to damage and stress were affected.

Prof Smith added: "Clearly sleep is critical to rebuilding the body and maintaining a functional state, all kinds of damage appear to occur - hinting at what may lead to ill health.

"If we can't actually replenish and replace new cells, then that's going to lead to degenerative diseases."
Click to expand...

Well, this sucks for all insomniacs out there :p
 
F

fierrotlepou

Member
tumblr_m4rp42frRP1rpgrf1o1_500.gif
 
T

Torraz

Member
Damn, I don't sleep that well. Usually wake up a few times a night :/.

Just got a new, better, bed though.
 
R

ROBOKITTYZILLA

Member
I only sleep about 5-6 hours a night during the week. I can definitely tell the difference in how I feel when I get a good 7+ hours of sleep.
 
A

Auron_Kale

Member
Figured this was a known thing, but perhaps I'll be looking to get a new bed this year. I've had my current one for a good while now and I do rotate it regularly.
 
A

AlexBasch

Member
I only need like four or five hours of sleep. More than that and I'll wake up at some random moment in the night, having trouble sleeping again and feeling like shit if I manage to nap. Been like that for some years now.
 
J

Jasoneyu

Member
I feel like shit immediately after the nap then I am fine afterwards, the problem is that I am wide awake for several hours afterwards.
 
C

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
10 hours a sleep per day? Fuck I can barely manage 7-8 if I'm lucky enough to sleep through the night at all.
 
T

Terra

Member
Sleep is extremely important for my well being.

I get 8-9 hours of sleep everyday.
Weekends it differs if I'm out, partying, movies, gaming etc.
And sometimes I wake up in the early hours, mostly when there is a full moon. But I don't worry.
 
L

Lissar

Reluctant Member
MasterBalls said:
To people who can have naps in general; fuck you. It's the middle of the day, go do something.
Click to expand...

Wait. What? Sometimes naps are necessary if you haven't had enough sleep the night before. If your brain is so muddled you can't think straight, probably time for a nap. It's not like everyone who does it is only doing it out of sheer laziness.
 
U

User 100115

Banned
So wait, me getting four hours of sleep at night and then napping an hour or two during the day while the kids are at school is worse than getting just four hours of sleep? Crap.
 
T

Terra

Member
icarus-daedelus said:
I'm curious: does this happen to you in the middle of the night?
I have read before, in a book on sleep & its effects, that division of sleep into two halves with roughly an hour twixt them used to be the norm before the invention of artificial lighting.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Yes, I sometimes wake up around 2 in the night. Maybe I'll check the ipad for 15 minutes or something. Then I go back to sleep. Often, I have no problem with going to sleep again.

Sleep is so important to me, as I said. And I truly enjoy a good nights sleep.It makes me embrace the day in a good way. It has always been that way.

Of course, some nights, some times can be more wake time, if you say, are thinking about something at work or any private matters. But then, the best way to think then, is that you can't really do anything about it right now, from the bed. So relax and go back to sleep.
 
B

besada

Banned
I get great sleep -- and naps -- now that Trileptal has diminished the constant keening wail in my head, but I imagine forty years of chronic insomnia did me no favors.
 
O

Operations

Member
As I grow older (I'm 30 now) I need more and more sleep to feel completely replenished (9+ hours). Thought the opposite would be true as one's age increased.
 
davidnic

davidnic

Member
10 hrs of sleep is common for me when under heavy training and still need more. But 7 1/2 hrs a night I have sleeping this week.
 
E

EloquentM

aka Mannny
I'm really starting to hate studies like this (dealing with the types if food you eat or how much sleep you get or the amount of drugs/alcohol you intake). Anything can be harmful for you so I often find myself asking why bother worrying? No matter how much you try to stay healthy of prevent yourself from expiring it's still a flip of the coin. Sure, you chances may be better but sheesh, why bother wasting your life worrying about what may come when it'll never improve your chances enough to make any kind of lasting difference. /rant.
 
C

Ceebs

Member
I try to get about 8 hours a night. I generally feel like shit the next day if I do not get a good night's sleep.
 
Maximus.

Maximus.

Member
Makes sense. When I have a shitty sleep schedule I don't function well at all, but when I get into a good sleeping routine, I feel like I can do anything.
 
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