Friday, March 1, 2013

Lack Of Sleep Even Makes Our Genes Less Active


At The Snoozery we like to keep up-to-date with the latest sleep research…

According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, lack of sleep over prolonged periods of time can lead to serious health problems like diabetes, obesity and heart disease.

Genes produce a constant supply of proteins which our body uses to repair and replace damaged tissue, but a recent experiment has revealed that after just a week of sleep deprivation some of these stop working. If your body can’t replenish damaged cells and tissues then it’s likely to lead to lasting ill health.

A week of normal sleep is said to be enough to restore the affected genes to their normal pattern, but this study was only a week of sleep restriction and participants were only restricted to five and a half or six hours a night and as Professor Colin Smith explains "Many people have that amount of sleep for weeks, months and maybe even years so we have no idea how much worse it might be.”

The National Sleep Foundation 2012 Bedroom Poll revealed that 41 percent of people surveyed had restless nights at least a few nights every week. So we'd rather try to tackle this sleeplessness now than wait around to see how much worse the effects of prolonged sleep deprivation might really be! Keep an eye on our blog for useful tips and advice to help you on your way!