Sleep Science Special Issue
Plus: Take my sleep survey
Welcome to a special issue of Age Wise, exploring the science of improving physical health and mental wellness at every stage of life. Today’s focus is on recent sleep news and feature articles, to accompany an announcement:
I’m writing an ebook about sleep, the many ways we stupid humans sabotage sleep, how to recognize the signs of poor sleep, and how to sleep better to improve work, relationships, and whatever you most enjoy doing in life. Due this fall.
If the topic interests you, please take a moment to fill out my anonymous Sleep Survey, which will help me better understand how people view their own sleep habits and behaviors.
Now, since it’s back-to-school time …
Kids and Teens Really Need to Sleep In
Calling all parents and school officials: Among the stupidest rituals of modern American society is early school start times that force parents to roust kids out of bed in the predawn. Right behind that on the idiocy scale is waking children on weekends because we, as adults, deem sleeping in to be a sign of laziness. Combined with other challenges to a good night’s sleep, these ingrained inanities cause three-fourths of high schoolers and a third of younger kids to sleep much less than what’s good for them.
It’s bad for their moods, their test scores, their physical health and broader mental well-being.
This problem is well documented and well understood by sleep experts and pediatricians. My story (link in the headline above) digs into why the problem isn’t being seriously addressed, and what parents can do to help kids out.
Research also finds when kids get to sleep in, parents get more shut-eye, which is great because …
Good Sleep Makes Us More Kind and Generous
When a lousy night of sleep leaves you fuzzy or cranky the next day, helping others might be the last thing on your mind. Indeed, new research finds that’s pretty much what happens, and the effects can reverberate through networks of friends and family and on into society itself. On the flip-side, sleeping better can make you a kinder, gentler, more giving citizen — a better human.
The study, based on three separate prongs of research, adds to a known empathy+compassion equation, revealing that when people don’t get enough sleep, or their sleep quality is low, they’re more withdrawn from others and less generous.
“Lack of sleep not only damages the health of an individual, but degrades social interactions between individuals and, furthermore, degrades the very fabric of human society itself,” says study team member Matthew Walker, PhD, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Quick Takes
This Is Why You Sleep So Badly In Summer
Super insightful stuff about why we tend to sleep more in winter than summer, a mystery that has long vexed even top sleep scientists. While sunlight is the main outside factor affecting our sleep-wake cycle, “many other aspects of your behavior may shift in summertime in ways that reinforce seasonal sleep fluctuations. You’re likely to work out, socialize, drink, and eat later in the day, which may futher adjust your internal clocks in ways that curtail sleep.”
—Markham Heid on Medium
Melatonin Isn’t a Sleeping Pill. Here’s How to Use It.
The nuance of this hormone is well-captured here: “Instead of a lights-out trigger, melatonin acts more like a dimmer switch, turning the day functions off and switching night functions on. So taking a melatonin supplement is sort of like taking a dose of sunset, tricking your body into feeling like it’s nighttime. It doesn’t put you to sleep as much as it tells the body that it’s time to sleep.”
—Amelia Nierenberg in The New York Times
Use of Sleep Medications is Declining
Most sleep meds range from ineffective to dangerous, so this is great news: U.S. sees a "31% decline in the use of common sleep medications between 2013 and 2018, a trend thought to be linked to a greater awareness of the potential pitfalls"
—Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
Sleep Basics
I’ve written dozens of articles about sleep and related behaviors and conditions that affect sleep. While you wait for my book, here are a select few that just might put you to sleep:
One Last Thought
“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?”
—Ernest Hemmingway
I hope you found something useful in this newsletter, and I look forward to sharing new insights with you early next month. Consider forwarding it to a friend. And don’t forget to take my Sleep Survey!
—Rob