Sleep Well(ness) WO RD S― JAM I E CH R I STIAN DESPL ACES
There was some seemingly good snooze news last year when it was announced that Kiwis are the world’s best sleepers, notching up an impressive 7.5 hours, on average, per night, slightly more than Australia, Finland, the Netherlands and the UK. However, the study was conducted by sleep app, Sleep Cycle, meaning participants may already lean toward leading health- and wellness-conscious lifestyles for other studies have shown Kiwis—and much of the world—to be sleep deprived, and an overreliance on online platforms is partly to blame. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) reports that 88 percent of adults admit to sacrificing sleep in order to binge on TV shows, with the figure skyrocketing to 95 percent for 18-44-year-olds. A quarter of the respondents expressed frustration at their inability to stick to bedtime routines. “Choosing to binge on entertainment at night instead of sleeping has serious ramifications,” says Dr Kelly Carden, AASM president. “Sleep is essential to health, wellbeing and safety, and chronic insufficient sleep can lead to an increased risk of health problems, mood disorders and motor vehicle accidents.” The Journal of Clinical Sleep concludes binge-watching to result in greater fatigue, greater insomnia, and even poorer sleep quality once folk have finally drifted off. The use of electronic devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops in bed affects our circadian rhythm (the body’s internal clock), their short-wave, artificial blue light inhibiting the release of sleep hormone melatonin, making it harder to fall asleep. The Sleep Foundation recommends that we should be ideally digitally disconnecting two hours before bed, but certainly no less than 30 minutes. And don’t think you can simply
‘catch up’ on that lost shut-eye at the weekend. Research has shown that you need as much as four good nights’ rest for every hour of sleep lost, so a substantial ‘sleep debt’ soon accumulates over an inconsequential period of time. A 2016 study revealed a third of Kiwis to be sleep deprived (figures in keeping with similar research in other countries like the US, the UK, and Australia), with women and those aged 35-49 years likely to suffer most, while stress and electronics-use are cited as the most common causes of sleep disruption. “The reality is poor sleep patterns can have a negative flow on effect, if you’re tired, you’re less likely to prioritise exercise and healthy eating,” says Dr John Mayhew, chief medical officer of life insurer Sovereign, author of the study. “If you sleep well, you’ll feel both mentally and physically energised and alert and more likely to make better decisions about your health, including fitness and diet.” A study published last December by Science Direct looked at the links between sleep depravation and mental health, with nearly 40 percent of Kiwi participants reporting that they get below the recommend minimum of seven hours kip per night. Study leader Carol Lee of Auckland University says that it’s of particular importance to develop target interventions for Māori and Pacific peoples as they often sleep less while “persistently found to exhibit poorer mental health outcomes and lower health care access". Other known consequences of continued sleep deprivation include heightened risk of developing diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s. According to Professor Matthew Walker, director of California University’s Centre for Human Sleep Science and author of Why We Sleep, ongoing sleep deprivation—