Experiments link insomnia to weight problems and impaired memory

In 2 separate tests published this week, insomnia has been connected to negative health outcomes. Children and adults with insomnia are at a higher risk of obesity. Sleep may also help memories build and be stronger.

Seeing a connection between obesity and sleep

The sleep habits of 300 children were studied. They were 4 to 10 years old in the study. Kids that slept irregularly tended to be obese. This was something noticed in the study. The amount of rest the kids got didn't correlate. It was just the change in sleeping patterns from day to day. Dr. David Gozal, who was a lead researcher on the study, explained the results by saying “We think that the direction of the arrow is you sleep less, you eat more, you exercise less because you’re tired, and therefore you gain more weight.”

How rest and memory connect together

Nature Neuroscience today is a journal. Another sleep study was published in it. There was a discovery that subjects who took naps right after studying would retain 25 percent more information than other subjects. This is what German scientists discovered. One theory is that memories are "downloaded" during sleep to be put within the long-term part of the brain after being put in the short-term part originally. Memories become stronger in sleep. That is the basic idea.

Getting more sleep

It can be really hard to get enough rest for those of almost any age. For school-aged kids and adolescents, nine hrs or more per night is usually recommended. For adults, anywhere between 8 and 10 hrs is typically considered “enough.”. In general, getting enough sleep should mean sleeping until you naturally wake up. It seems to actually help for you to "catch up" on your sleep though. Catching up on sleep over the weekend can help reduce risk of weight problems between 280 percent and 400 percent.

Information from

AFP

google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ir9Aq3KpWK1wbwDG1A9sqQLxq0nQ?docId=CNG.3d70bb040bdfdd29691ee978be81fc1a.2e1

Fox News

foxnews.com/health/2011/01/24/study-sleep-extra-pounds-kids/