2 in 3 women suffer from insomnia in late pregnancy finds new study

From sg.news.yahoo.com

New European research has revealed that 64 percent of pregnant women suffer from insomnia in their third trimester of pregnancy, which could increase their risk of developing health conditions such as gestational diabetes.

Led by researchers from the University of Granada, Spain, along with researchers from the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) and the University of Jaen, the study looked at 486 healthy pregnant Spanish women and monitored the effects of pregnancy through all three trimesters.

They found that the number of women suffering from insomnia prior to pregnancy was just 6 percent, however in the first trimester of pregnancy 44 percent of pregnant women were suffering from the condition, with this figure increasing to 46 percent in the second trimester.

By the third trimester 2 in 3 women, or 64 percent, were suffering from insomnia.

Changes to sleep included how long it took the women to fall asleep, how many times women woke in the night, how long they stayed awake for before falling back to sleep, and changes to total sleep duration -- symptoms which also affect daytime sleepiness. 

The researchers described the numbers as "very high," commenting that the study shows the need for a "systematic approach to this problem."

Study co-author Dr. María del Carmen Amezcua Prieto also added that, "Although it is well known that pre-existing sleep problems worsen and new issues frequently arise during pregnancy, there is a tendency to assume that difficulties related to getting to sleep and maintaining restorative sleep are characteristic phenomena of pregnancy and that they must be endured."

The researchers now stress the importance of taking action to tackle the problem, especially as insomnia can cause a wide variety of health problems, increasing the risk of high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, depression, premature birth, and unplanned caesarean sections. 

One potential treatment could be exercise, with the team finding that regularly partaking in moderate to intense physical activity during pregnancy could protect women against pregnancy-related insomnia, adding that "this is yet another reason for promoting physical activity during pregnancy."

Prof. Aurora Bueno Cavanillas also added that detecting insomnia before pregnancy can help to prevent the problem during pregnancy.

The study also revealed that other factors, such as obesity and whether or not the women have already had children, can have an impact on sleeping patterns.

The results can be found published online in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/2-3-women-suffer-insomnia-pregnancy-finds-study-160039072.html

You snooze, you win: bosses told to help staff sleep

From times.co.uk

Employers should provide quiet spaces at work that will help staff to switch off so they can sleep better at night, according to the first guidance of its kind.
Workers should have areas for mindfulness or rest, the advice says. This could boost productivity by improving performance and customer service.
Managers should be encouraged to ask staff about their sleep habits and be trained to spot signs of sleep deprivation, says the guidance, drawn up by Business in the Community, an employers’ organisation, with Public Health England. The advice also warns against sending non-urgent work emails out of hours.
Some organisations offer beds or chairs where staff can take a nap during breaks, although only in environments where key staff work long shifts, such as air traffic controllers and junior doctors in Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS trust.

The advice does not suggest other employers follow suit but says workplaces should have “quiet spaces for rest and relaxation where employees can switch off from work for a period”.

Lack of sleep can be a symptom of mental health problems. Employers have been advised to look out for signs

Justin Varney, of Public Health England, said some American companies offered sleeping pods or nap chairs, but evidence of the benefits was not clear enough to advocate this more widely. The advice was more about spaces for relaxation.
The guidance was prompted by research last year by Sainsbury’s showing that getting enough good sleep is the factor, among those that people can control, that has the strongest association with happiness.
There has been heightened business interest in sleep after António Horta Osório, chief executive of Lloyds bank, took two months off after stress-related sleep deprivation. He has said that he did not sleep for five days as he battled to turn the bank around in 2011.
Employers have been urged to consider “sleep audits” to see if staff are getting proper rest and the guidance suggests they share advice on sleeping well, such as having a fixed bedtime and not checking emails or watching TV in bed.
It acknowledges the issue is sensitive as disrupted sleep can be linked to pregnancy, menopause, older age, or be a symptom of mental illness. It says employers should train managers to spot staff who are not sleeping well and offer help such as adjusting their workload, moving them to another role or offering leave if the problems are stress-related.
Peter Simpson, managing director of Anglian Water, which has put the advice into practice, said it had improved productivity, customer service and decision-making. “The conversations we have are ones that talk about what the benefits are to employees and also quite openly what the benefits are to the business but not in a way that says, ‘Thou shalt do this, thou shalt do that’,” he said.

Tips for bedtime

• Have fixed times for going to bed and waking up
• Keep to a relaxing bedtime routine
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and a meal late at night
• Turn off devices an hour before bedtime
• Don’t watch television, make calls or read emails in bed
• Don’t use a smartphone as an alarm

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/you-snooze-you-win-bosses-told-to-help-staff-sleep-zqhd2fgvb

Kerry McLean: Now I've overcome insomnia, that book I vowed to write may never get finished

From belfasttelegraph.co.uk

I might be dreaming, but it seems like every time I've delved into the papers over the last week or so, there seems to be another story about sleep or the lack of it. If it wasn't Desmond Swayne getting caught out enjoying 40 winks in the House of Commons mid-debate, it was Donald Trump's doctor declaring that the president exists on a meagre four hours of shut eye each night.

Of course, the world of politics and power seems rife with stories of those people who need very little in the way of sleep. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, all state that four hours kip is more than enough to be happy, healthy and clearly very wealthy. I just wish my lack of sleeping ability had left my bank balance in as fine form as theirs.
My night-time patterns have always been highly malleable. Depending on where I was living, what the season was, how good the current book I was engrossed in was, every and any reason could affect whether I'd get enough snoozing done before the alarm would rouse me in the morning. I'd pass a couple of months on reduced hours and then, for no reason whatsoever, I'd have a few weeks of blissful rest each night, a full eight hours of slumber or as close as any parent of young children gets to that.
But those lovely, little oases of real deep sleep have themselves become a bit of a dream when insomnia took hold of my night times about two years ago. At that stage I was going through the emotional equivalent of a perfect storm. In the wake of having lost my wonderful daddy and giving birth to my third baby, all in the space of several weeks, it's not surprising that my sleep went a bit up the left.
What was more surprising to me was that nothing I tried settled it back down to normal and my goodness, I tried the lot. Face masks, lavender oil, black-out blinds and attempts at deep breathing which only led me to shallow thoughts about whether I'd remembered to make the kids' lunches for the morning or if I'd ever get my head round the intricacies of personal finance. The answer to the first was often no and, to the second, never.

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I discovered many other sleep-deprived souls like myself when I meandered onto social media.
There are hundreds of bleary-eyed users online at all hours, sharing tips on how to get a few more than 40 winks. Thanks to their suggestions whole grains, wild lettuce and spinach became a staple of my diet. My favourite fizzy caffeinated drinks went to the wall, replaced by hot milk and chamomile tea. All healthy changes but they didn't earn me one extra second of sleep. The more I attempted to find a miracle cure, the more uptight I became and the less actual shut-eye I got.
So, about six months ago, I decided if I couldn't fix it, I would embrace it. Those extra hours morphed from time that ticked by slowly into a chance for me to watch something other than CBeebies on the TV, read a book or catch up on a little work. I discovered baking to be a very calming activity when your eyes won't shut for love nor money, though the dodgy results of my early morning cooking aren't quite so soothing. I even started work on the book that I've been saying I would write for the last 20 years.
Granted, I've stopped and started and binned my efforts more than a few times but there's a paragraph or two that have made the cut. And the strangest thing is that since I changed my approach to these late-night shenanigans, the hours I sleep have begun to increase. I've gone from averaging four hours to often getting as much as six and those additional 120 minutes can be the difference between feeling alive and feeling like the walking dead.
The only problem I have now is that without those extra hours that book will never get finished or see the light of day, news which I'm sure will help those who love their literature continue to get a good night's sleep.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/weekend/kerry-mclean-now-ive-overcome-insomnia-that-book-i-vowed-to-write-may-never-get-finished-36527173.html