This insightful exploration of the multifaceted world of sleep begins with a deep dive into the science of sleep, uncovering the intricate biological and neurological processes that govern our sleep-wake cycle. Expert voices shed light on the complexities of sleep disorders, including insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy, revealing their profound impact on individuals.
Venturing beyond science, we traverse the historical and cultural dimensions of sleep. Ancient sleep practices, bedtime rituals, and the evolving cultural attitudes toward rest and rejuvenation are unveiled through interviews with historians and anthropologists, offering a rich tapestry of insights into how societies have perceived and valued sleep throughout history.
At the heart of this exploration lie the personal stories of individuals battling sleep-related challenges. Their narratives add a deeply human dimension to the broader issues, reminding us that the pursuit of restorative rest is a profoundly personal and often emotional journey.
Turning to the present, the documentary examines modern solutions and interventions for sleep-related problems. State-of-the-art sleep clinics, therapies, and the burgeoning sleep technology industry are spotlighted, showcasing the innovative approaches that address contemporary sleep challenges.
This film provides a comprehensive and enlightening journey into the world of sleep, delving into its science, historical and cultural significance, personal narratives, and contemporary solutions. It encourages viewers to reflect on their own relationship with sleep and consider how they can prioritize their sleep health in our fast-paced world.
Up to 70 million Americans have a sleep disorder, the most common of which is insomnia; 10 percent of American adults struggle with chronic insomnia and 30 percent report occasional or short-term insomnia
Research finds you can remain consciously aware even while your brain and body are sleeping
Insomniacs who report being awake even when their brain wave patterns indicate they’re sleeping have increased activity in brain areas associated with conscious awareness during the dreamless phase of sleep
If you struggle with insomnia and frequently feel you’ve not slept a wink, processes involved in reducing your conscious awareness during sleep may be impaired. Practicing mindfulness meditation is thought to target these processes and may help improve your sleep experience
Sleeping pills are very limited in their effectiveness and have serious side effects. Safe and natural sleep aids include melatonin, 5-HTP, valerian, chamomile tea and CBD oil
According to the American Sleep Association,1 up to 70 million Americans have a sleep disorder, nearly 40 percent unintentionally fall asleep during the day at least once a month and nearly 5 percent have nodded off while driving at least once. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, with 10 percent of American adults struggling with chronic insomnia and 30 percent reporting occasional or short-term insomnia.
Interestingly, insomniacs will often insist they’ve not slept a wink all night, even though they’ve actually been sleeping. Researchers have now discovered there’s a reason for this discrepancy in experience, and it has to do with consciousness. In a nutshell, even though the brain is sleeping, insomniacs remain consciously aware, and therefore believe they’ve not slept at all.
Many Insomniacs Remain Conscious Even When Asleep, Study Finds
Daniel Kay, a psychology professor at Brigham Young University in Utah who led the study,2 told Medical News Today,3 “… [Y]ou can be consciously aware and your brain [can] be in a sleep pattern. The question is: What role does conscious awareness have in our definition of sleep?” Traditionally, it’s been believed that sleeping involves the absence of conscious awareness, but Kay’s team was able to conclude that this is not categorically true.
To investigate the role of consciousness during sleep, the team analyzed the sleep patterns and subjective experience of 32 people with insomnia and 30 who reported sleeping well.
Once the participants were deemed to be asleep, based on their brain patterns, a radioactive tracer was injected into their arms. Using brain imaging, the researchers were able to examine neurons that remained active during sleep, and their exact locations. The following morning, the participants were asked about their subjective experience of their sleep. Medical News Today explains the results:
“The study found that people with insomnia who reported that they had been awake, even when the polysomnography showed otherwise, had increased activity in brain areas associated with conscious awareness during the dreamless phase of sleep — that is, nonrapid eye movement sleep …
[I]t is normal during the process of falling asleep for the brain to send inhibitory neurons that make people less and less consciously aware until they’ve reached a state of deep sleep. However, what the findings of the new study suggest is that people with insomnia may not feel as though they’re asleep until their brain experiences a greater inhibitory activity in areas that are linked to conscious awareness.”
Normal Sleepers May Not Get as Much Sleep as They Think
As noted by the authors,4 “Brain activity in the right anterior insula, left anterior cingulate cortex, and middle/posterior cingulate cortex may be involved in the perception” of insomnia. People who reported sleeping well turned out to have increased activity in the same areas of the brain as insomniacs. The reason for this is because your brain goes through “an inhibition process” when you fall asleep, gradually lowering your conscious awareness.
While insomniacs require a greater level of inhibition before their consciousness recedes, many good sleepers report falling asleep long before their brainwaves indicate that they’re actually sleeping. This is basically the reverse situation of insomnia: Good sleepers lose conscious awareness at a very low level of inhibition, making them believe they fell asleep much faster than they actually did, based on their brain patterns.
Mindfulness Meditation Recommended for Insomniacs
So, if you struggle with insomnia, frequently feeling you haven’t slept a wink, what can you do? Kay says, “In patients with insomnia, processes involved in reducing conscious awareness during sleep may be impaired. One of the strategies for targeting these processes may be mindfulness meditation. It may help the patients inhibit cognitive processes that are preventing them from experiencing sleep.”
Practicing “mindfulness” means you’re actively paying attention to the moment you’re in right now. Rather than letting your mind wander, when you’re mindful, you’re living in the moment and letting distracting thoughts pass through your mind without getting caught up in their emotional implications.
You can add mindfulness to virtually any aspect of your day — even while you’re eating, working or doing household chores like washing dishes — simply by paying attention to the sensations you are experiencing in the present moment. Mindfulness meditation, on the other hand, is a more formal practice in which you consciously focus your attention on specific thoughts or sensations, and then observe them in a nonjudgmental manner.
This is just one type of meditation; there are many forms available. Transcendental meditation, for instance, is one of the most popular forms of meditation, practiced by millions of people around the world. It’s simple to perform. Simply choose a mantra that has meaning for you, sit quietly with your eyes closed and repeat your mantra for a period of about 20 minutes, twice a day.
The idea is to reach a place of “restful” or “concentrated” alertness, which enables you to let negative thoughts and distractions pass by you without upsetting your calm and balance. Some aspects of mindfulness, mindfulness meditation, and other forms of meditation overlap.
For instance, focusing your mind on your breath is one of the most basic, and most rewarding, relaxation and meditation/mindfulness strategies there is. To learn more about meditation and the different forms of practice available, see “Meditation Connects Your Mind and Body.”
Common Factors That Keep You Awake
Aside from the possibility that you’re simply misperceiving your inability to sleep, certain environmental factors can make it more difficult to fall asleep. This includes such things as:5
Your pillow being too hot. A cool pillow, and more importantly the room temperature overall, will decrease your core body temperature, which induces drowsiness. In one study, insomniacs equipped with a cooling cap fell asleep within 13 minutes — three minutes faster than normal sleepers — and remained asleep 89 percent of the night. Reader’s Digest6 suggests placing your pillow in the freezer for a few minutes before bed to cool it down.
Starting a new medication. A number of different drugs can cause insomnia, including blood pressure medications, antidepressants and steroids. Oftentimes, this side effect can be ameliorated by changing the time at which you take the drug. Beta-blockers, prescribed for high blood pressure and/or arrhythmia, for example, are typically best taken in the morning instead of at night.
Pets. As much as you love your fur-babies, if they’re hogging your bed or filling it with hair, consider keeping your pets out of your bed. According to one Mayo Clinic study,7 while some find their pets help them sleep better, approximately 20 percent of pet owners admitted the animal disrupted their sleep in one way or another.
Cold feet. While cooling your head induces sleep, cold feet can keep you tossing and turning. The solution: Wear socks to bed.
Exhaustion. While exhaustion is frequently confused with tiredness, the two are not the same. When exhausted from stress or overwork, your brain tends to be on high alert. This “cognitive popcorn” can make it difficult to fall asleep, no matter how exhausted your body is. Rather than falling into bed right away after a long day, try winding down, allowing your mind to settle before trying to fall asleep.
When Anxiety or an Overactive Mind Keeps You Awake
One of my favorite tools for resolving anxiety that contributes to insomnia is the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), which combines tapping on certain points of your body with verbal statements that help pinpoint the underlying issues. In the video above, EFT therapist Julie Schiffman demonstrates how to tap for sleep.
EFT helps to release worries, fears and even physical symptoms that stand between you and a good night’s sleep by reprogramming your body’s reactions to many of the unavoidable stressors of everyday life, making it easier to take them in stride.
When stress triggers are reduced, you will naturally sleep better. In 2012, a triple blind study8 found that EFT reduced cortisol levels and symptoms of psychological distress by 24 percent — more than any other intervention tested. This is enormously significant, as there are few things that will destroy your health faster than stress.
Researchers at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine discovered that how you cope with stress might have an even greater impact on your sleep than the number of stressors you encounter. They also found that mindfulness therapies worked best for suppressing the “mental chatter” that inhibits the onset of sleep. Lead author Vivek Pillai, Ph.D., wrote,9 “While a stressful event can lead to a bad night of sleep, it’s what you do in response to stress that can be the difference between a few bad nights and chronic insomnia.”
Avoid Sleeping Pills for Insomnia
To learn more about the ins and outs of sleep, and lots more tips and strategies to improve your quality and quantity of your rest, please see “Sleep — Why You Need It and 50 Ways to Improve It.” Whatever you do, avoid sleeping pills. Not only do they have extremely limited benefits, the side effects can be quite severe. Take Belsomra, for example, a next-gen type sleeping pill that acts on a neurotransmitter called orexin “to turn down the brain’s ‘wake messages.’”
The company’s own clinical trials showed the drug allowed people to fall asleep an average of six minutes sooner than those taking a placebo, and stay asleep 16 minutes longer. More than 1,000 consumer complaints against Belsomra have been filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with complaints ranging from lack of effectiveness and next-day drowsiness to sleep paralysis, heart problems and suicidal ideation. One in 5 reports claim the drug made them the opposite of sleepy.10
Other research has found sleeping pills like Ambien, Lunesta and Sonata reduce the average time it takes to fall asleep by about 13 minutes compared to placebo, while increasing total sleep time by about 11 minutes.11 Interestingly, participants believed they had slept longer, by up to one hour, when taking the pills. This is thought to be due to anterograde amnesia, which causes trouble with forming memories.
When people wake up after taking sleeping pills, they may, in fact, simply forget they’d been unable to sleep. Sonata is also associated with addiction.12 Studies have also shown that use of sleeping pills increase your risk of death and cancer.13 To learn more about the hazards of sleeping pills, see Dr. Daniel Kripke’s e-book, “The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills.”14
Natural Sleep Remedies
Fortunately, there are far safer options. While you work on addressing the root causes of your sleep problems, temporarily using a natural sleep aid may help you get to sleep easier. Following are a handful of alternatives:
Melatonin. In scientific studies, melatonin has been shown to increase sleepiness, help you fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep, decrease restlessness and reverse daytime fatigue. Melatonin is a completely natural substance, made by your body, and has many health benefits in addition to sleep. Start with as little as 0.25 milligrams (mg) and work your way up in quarter-gram increments until you get the desired effect.
5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). One of my favorite sleep aids is 5-HTP. 5-HTP is the hydroxylated form of tryptophan. It easily passes your blood brain barrier when it is converted to serotonin (thereby giving mood a boost) and then to melatonin (enhancing sleep). I believe this is a superior approach to using melatonin. In one study, an amino acid preparation containing both GABA (a calming neurotransmitter) and 5-HTP reduced time to fall asleep, increased the duration of sleep and improved sleep quality.15
Valerian root. Studies have found valerian root helps improve the speed at which you fall asleep, depth of sleep (achieving deep sleep 36 percent faster16) and overall quality of sleep.17 Start with a minimal dose and use the lowest dose needed to achieve the desired effect, as higher dosages can have an energizing effect in some people. Typical dosages used in studies range between 400 mg and 900 mg, taken anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours before bed.
Chamomile tea. This herb is typically used in the form of infusions, teas, liquid extracts or essential oils made from the plant’s fresh or dried flower heads. It has sedative effects that may help with sleep, which is why chamomile tea is often sipped before bed.
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil. Another alternative is to take CBD oil. By bringing tissues back into balance, CBD oil helps reduce pain, nerve stimulation and muscle spasm. It also promotes relaxation and has been shown to improve sleep.
“Silence is the perfectest herault of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much.” – Shakespeare
The word noise comes from a Latin root word meaning, “pain,” or “distress.” Noise is something we’ve become accustomed to, even if we are keenly aware of its ability to cause multiple forms of anguish. Even if we live in “decibel hell,” we can find moments of silence to reduce our pain. We can intuitively observe that silence, in contrast, reboots our ability to think straight, and offers us a profound feeling of peace.
Silence also allows us to get to know our deepest truths in an undeniable way. It is in complete silence that the thoughts we shelter from others come to the surface.
But what else happens to us when we take a break from the deafening sounds of modern life? Aside from the metaphysical benefits of sitting in silence, there are staggering physiological changes which take place throughout the body: notably in the brain.
Scientists have studied the effects of silence on the brain for several decades, but a few studies are paramount in their importance if we are to understand just how vital silence is for a human being.
Silence Develops New Brain Cells
One study, published in the journal, Brain, Structure, and Function observed mice under the influence of noise and silence. The way the study was structured, silence was expected to be the control (identifiable or observable fact meant to minimize the effects of independent variables in a study). However, mice exposed to two hours of complete silence daily developed a peculiar side effect – they started to develop brand new cells in the hippocampus of the brain, the area which is associated with learning new things, retaining memory, and processing emotion. Though new brain cells don’t always directly translate into better health, one of the researchers, Imke Kirste, says that these new cells appeared to become functioning neurons.
“We saw that silence is really helping the new generated cells to differentiate into neurons and integrate into the system.”
Silence Heightens Sensitivity And Empathy
There are many brain areas associated with emotional sensitivity and empathy. Particularly, the right supramarginal gyrus, is an imperative brain region for the development of these traits. If this brain region doesn’t function properly on a regular basis — or when we need to make particularly quick decisions — our ability to execute empathy is dramatically reduced.
Silence Fights Insomnia
One study, published in JAMA measured the effects of silence on sleep. Though it was used to test mindfulness meditation, the essence of the meditation is to observe the thoughts, silently. Those who spent just twenty minutes practicing “silence” had a measured increase in sound sleep and no longer suffered from insomnia.
The Brain Evaluates And Internalizes Information
“You throw thorns, in my silence they become flowers.” – Gautama Buddha
Another important study has found that the brain processes information very differently when we allow it to be in silence. When the brain is at rest, meaning, it is not exposed to new stimuli via sound, it can take both internal information (learned things) and integrate them more seamlessly with external information.
In other words, instead of reacting to external stimuli, including things that would normally trigger us to behave in a less-than-conscious way, we can quickly determine how to integrate experiences with people, circumstances, and more.
Although we can’t impose a quiet environment in our own minds, and always calm our personal thoughts, it seems that a quiet external environment allows the famous “gap” in our thinking which Daoists, Buddhists, and others have hinted at. This gap is a split second of calm which allows us to choose our reaction to the world, instead of acting out old habits.
As Nietzscheonce said, “Silence is worse, all truths that are kept silent become poisonous.”What better way to see the world as it truly is, and not as we’ve erroneously imagined it, then by getting a daily dose of silence?
Multiple studies that measured changes in heart rate, respiratory rates, carbon dioxide levels, cerebral-artery flow, and other concrete physical changes, found that just a few moments of silence change how our bodies respond to the world.
Preliminary studies even indicate that silence can help us to overcome childhood trauma, PTSD, and other serious conditions of the heart and mind. The amygdala — associated with memory formation and emotion — is activated when we hear “noise” leading to the release of stress hormones. Conversely, silence activates the release of oxytocin, GABA, and serotonin – all hormones which reduce stress.
In closing..
Silence is much more important to our brains than we’ve previously thought. All profound internal progress – our a-ha moments – are preceded by silence.
Christina Sarich is a staff writer for Waking Times. She is a writer, musician, yogi, and humanitarian with an expansive repertoire. Her thousands of articles can be found all over the Internet, and her insights also appear in magazines as diverse as Weston A. Price, Nexus, Atlantis Rising, and the Cuyamungue Institute, among others. She was recently a featured author in the Journal, “Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and Healing Arts,” and her commentary on healing, ascension, and human potential inform a large body of the alternative news lexicon. She has been invited to appear on numerous radio shows, including Health Conspiracy Radio, Dr. Gregory Smith’s Show, and dozens more. The second edition of her book, Pharma Sutra, will be released soon.
Sleep is among the most basic human needs, essential to a person’s well-being, and it turns out that the lack thereof can lead to unexpected negative consequences.
Researchers from Yale University came to the conclusion that poor sleep can lead to heavier consumption of alcohol among young people.
The study conducted by an associate professor of psychiatry, Lisa Fucito, involved 42 young people who had previously reported excessive consumption of alcohol.
Every day, in the course of one week, the participants in the study filled out questionnaires, in which they wrote down the amount of alcohol they consumed. At the same time, they were wearing devices to measure their sleeping patterns.
The research showed that a short sleep and early recovery subsequently lead to a greater consumption of alcohol. At the same time, those who consume large amounts of alcohol tend to go to bed later than their “sober” counterparts.
“These preliminary findings support further investigating sleep as an alcohol risk pathway in young adults as well as the potential for improved sleep to reduce this risk,” the authors wrote.
Earlier, scientists from the University of California in Los Angeles found that lack of sleep slows brain activity, which, in turn, can lead to cognitive disorders, causing temporary memory dips and vision problems.
Summary: From consolidating memories to cleaning out toxins in the brain that accumulate during waking hours, researchers explore why sleep is so important and what happens when we don’t get enough.
Source: The Conversation.
Many of us have experienced the effects of sleep deprivation: feeling tired and cranky, or finding it hard to concentrate. Sleep is more important for our brains than you may realise.
Although it may appear you’re “switching off” when you fall asleep, the brain is far from inactive. What we know from studying patterns of brain electrical activity is that while you sleep, your brain cycles through two main types of patterns: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and slow-wave sleep.
Slow-wave sleep, which occurs more at the beginning of the night, is characterised by slow rhythms of electrical activity across large numbers of brain cells (occurring one to four times per second). As the night progresses, we have more and more REM sleep. During REM sleep we often have vivid dreams, and our brains show similar patterns of activity to when we are awake.
What are our brains doing while we sleep?
Sleep serves many different functions. One of these is to help us remember experiences we had during the day. REM sleep is thought to be important for emotional memories (for example, memories involving fear) or procedural memory (such as how to ride a bike). On the other hand, slow-wave sleep is thought to reflect the storing of so-called “declarative” memories that are the conscious record of your experiences and what you know (for example, what you had for breakfast).
We also know experiences are “replayed” in the brain during sleep – the memories of these experiences are like segments from a movie that can be rewound and played forward again. Replay occurs in neurons in the hippocampus – a brain region important for memory – and has been best studied in rats learning to navigate a maze. After a navigation exercise, when the rat is resting, its brain replays the path it took through the maze. Replay helps to strengthen the connections between brain cells, and is therefore thought to be important for consolidating memories.
But is it that important for you to remember what you had for breakfast? Probably not – that’s why the brain needs to be selective about what it remembers. Sleep allows the brain to sift through memories, forgetting certain things so as to remember what’s important. One way it may do this is by “pruning away” or “scaling down” unwanted connections in the brain.
This is thought to counterbalance the overall strengthening of connections that occurs during learning when we are awake. By pruning away excess connections, sleep effectively “cleans the slate” so we can learn again the next day. Interfering with this scaling down process can, in some cases, lead to more intense (and perhaps unwanted) memories.
The importance of sleep for keeping our brains optimally active may be reflected in our changing sleep patterns as we age. Babies and children sleep much more than adults, probably because their developing brains are learning much more, and being exposed to new situations.
Later in life, sleep declines and becomes more fragmented. This may reflect either a reduced need for sleep (as we are learning less) or a breakdown in sleep processes as we age.
A leading theory of sleep function – the “synaptic homeostasis hypothesis” – suggests that during sleep there is a widespread weakening of connections (known as “synapses”) throughout the brain. NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from The Conversation article.
Sleep is also needed to do a bit of brain “housekeeping”. A recent study in mice found sleep cleanses the brain of toxins that accumulate during waking hours, some of which are linked to neurodegenerative diseases. During sleep, the space between brain cells increases, allowing toxic proteins to be flushed out. It’s possible that by removing these toxins from the brain, sleep may stave off neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
What happens if we have a bad night’s sleep?
Getting enough sleep is important for attention and learning during our waking hours. When we are sleep deprived, we can’t focus on large amounts of information or sustain our attention for long periods. Our reaction times are slowed. We are also less likely to be creative or discover hidden rules when trying to solve a problem.
When you haven’t had enough sleep, your brain may force itself to shut down for a few seconds when you’re awake. During this “micro-sleep” you may become unconscious for a few seconds without knowing it. Drowsiness while driving is a leading cause of motor vehicle accidents, with sleep deprivation affecting the brain just as much as alcohol. Sleep deprivation can also lead to fatal accidents in the workplace – a major issue in shift workers.
The beneficial effects of sleep on attention and concentration are particularly important for children, who often become hyperactive and disruptive in class when they don’t have enough sleep. One study found getting just one hour less sleep per night over several nights can adversely affect a child’s behaviour in class.
What are the long-term effects?
The longer-term effects of sleep deprivation are more difficult to study in humans for ethical reasons, but chronic sleep disturbances have been linked to brain disorders such as schizophrenia, autism and Alzheimer’s. We don’t know if sleep disturbances are a cause or symptom of these disorders.
Overall, the evidence suggests having healthy sleep patterns is key to having a healthy and well-functioning brain.
About this neuroscience research article
Source: Leonie Kirszenblat – The Conversation
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image adapted from The Conversation article.
Along with providing the fruit’s bright red color, the antioxidant compounds in tart cherries — called anthocyanins — have been specifically linked to high antioxidant capacity and reduced inflammation, at levels comparable to some well-known pain medications. Tart cherry juice was found to help extend sleep time by 84 minutes among study participants according to a new pilot study published in American Journal of Therapeutics.
Michigan researchers had previously shown that a cherry-enriched diet not only reduced overall body inflammation, but also reduced inflammation at key sites (belly fat, heart) known to affect heart disease risk in the obese. “Chronic inflammation is a whole body condition that can affect overall health, especially when it comes to the heart,” said Mitch Seymour, PhD, at the University of Michigan. However, reducing inflammation is not the only benefit. The evidence is now overwhelming that cherry-enriched diets also improve sleep.
Natural remedies for sleep disturbances range from those that are well-researched and backed by a scientific results to the old wives tales your family has handed down from generation to generation. Sometimes, these two ends of the spectrum meet and science is able to prove what those old wives have known all along, just because a remedy has been handed down doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
Cherry juice drinkers report less napping time during the day (compared to their normal sleeping habits) and against placebo group napping times. In 2001, Burkhardt et al. even observed that the Montmorency variety, in particular, contains about six times more melatonin than the Balaton variety.
Since melatonin is the hormone that regulates sleep, the team found that people who consumed tart cherry juice concentrate not only slept for longer, but also had improved their quality of sleep.
“Insomnia is quite common among older adults and it can lead to a range of health issues if left untreated,” said lead researcher Jack Losso, professor in the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge who has conducted previous studies on tart cherry juice and sleep. “However, many people are hesitant to resort to medications to help them sleep. That’s why natural sleep remedies are increasingly of interest and in demand.”
Research Methodology
Eight healthy male and female subjects 50 years or older with chronic insomnia and a usual bedtime between 9 p.m. and midnight participated in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Insomnia was defined as trouble sleeping on average three nights per week, with an Insomnia Severity Index score greater or equal to 10 and meeting the International Classification of Sleep Disorders-2 criteria for insomnia.
In advance of screening, potential subjects fasted for 10 hours, excluding water, before a blood test was administered and questionnaires were completed, including the Insomnia Severity Index.
Participants who passed the screening were randomly assigned to either a Montmorency tart cherry juice group or a placebo control group. Those in the Montmorency tart cherry juice group consumed about 8 ounces (240 mL) of Montmorency tart cherry juice containing a measured level of procyanidin in the morning and at night, 1-2 hours before bedtime, for 14 days. Following the same schedule, participants in the placebo group consumed a drink designed to look and taste like cherry juice.
Procyanidins and anthocyanins are the major compounds, or polyphenols, in Montmorency tart cherries. The placebo drink, made of distilled water, fructose, dextrose and lemon powder, did not contain these polyphenols found in the tart cherry juice.
After two weeks of consuming Montmorency tart cherry juice or the placebo drink, subjects had an overnight polysomnographic sleep study and blood was drawn to measure the kynurenine-to-tryptophan ratio, which identifies tryptophan degradation and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) to evaluate inflammation. On waking after the sleep study, five validated questionnaires previously conducted with participants were repeated and subjects were questioned about any adverse events. After a two-week washout period, the subjects were crossed over to the tart cherry juice or placebo group, and the two-week testing period was repeated.
Given there are no current polysomnographic studies of Montmorency tart cherry juice on which to base a power analysis, the clinical trial was designed as a pilot study to determine power for a larger, adequately powered study that would give statistically significant differences. Dr. Losso collaborated with Dr. Frank Greenway, professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, a research campus of the Louisiana State University, to perform the clinical trial with polysomnography.
Results
When compared to a placebo, Montmorency tart cherry juice was found to significantly extend sleep time of the senior insomniacs by 84 minutes. Sleep efficiency increased on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, but the other questionnaires showed no significant differences. Despite the small size of the pilot study, researchers demonstrated reduced plasma levels of kynurenine with increased tryptophan levels. In this study, in vitro results showed that the tart cherry juice procyanidin B-2 inhibited serum indoleanmine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), which was identified as part of the mechanism for tart cherry juice improving sleep efficiency, and in vivo results showed the inhibition of PGE2, which is a biomarker of inflammation. While not conclusive, such outcomes should be used as background for forming hypotheses for the conduct of human clinical trials.
The study’s use of a polysomnography, considered the “gold-standard” method for evaluating sleep pathology, provided a more accurate assessment of sleep than methods administered in similar studies, allowing for the selection of subjects with insomnia versus other sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea. Because three of the original eleven identified subjects in this study meeting the Pigeon2 screening criteria had sleep apnea rather than insomnia, being able to identify and eliminate subjects suffering from sleep apnea was important for achieving accurate results.
This data adds to the growing body of previous research showing similar results pointing to the potential effects of Montmorency tart cherry juice on sleep quantity and quality. While additional research is needed, the researchers at Louisiana State University are encouraged by the significant increase in sleep time among the senior insomniacs who participated in this study.
Montmorency tart cherries are the most common variety of tart cherries grown in the U.S., and are available year-round in dried, frozen, canned, juice and concentrated forms.
Poor sleep can make us feel down, worried and stressed. So it’s no surprise that how well we sleep has a direct impact on our physical and mental health.
The relationship between insomnia and mental illness is bidirectional: about 50 percent of adults with insomnia have a mental health problem, while up to 90 percent of adults with depression experience sleep problems.
Sleep problems can also create a loop, slowing recovery from mental illness. People with depression who continue to experience insomnia, for instance, are less likely to respond to treatment for depression. They are also at greater risk of relapse than those without sleeping problems.
Emotional Processing
It is unclear how insomnia makes a person more likely to develop mental illness. Research suggests, however, that it may affect our ability to process negative emotions.
In one study, sleep-deprived people were found to show greater emotional reactivity to unpleasant images than to pleasant images or images with neutral emotional content. People who weren’t sleep deprived showed no differences in emotional reactivity.
In another study, brain scans revealed that people with insomnia showed greater activity in the brain’s emotional processing area when they used a strategy to reduce their negative reactions to images than when they did not use this strategy.
That suggests insomnia makes it difficult to react appropriately to negative emotions. This may exacerbate their sleep difficulties and make them vulnerable to experiencing depression.
Cognitive behavior therapy treatment of insomnia includes training in how to interpret emotional information less negatively.
There is also some evidence that mental illnesses may arise from problems within brain circuits that overlap with those that regulate our body clocks or sleepiness timing system.
But insomnia tends to persist unless it is directly targeted for treatment. In one research trial, 51 percent of individuals who overcame depression after psychological treatment (cognitive behavior therapy) or medication were still experiencing insomnia.
Research is now focusing on whether treatment of insomnia will also improve mental health outcomes for people with mental illness, including depression and anxiety.
A recent Australian research trial with 1,149 participants does suggest that treatment of insomnia reduces depression symptoms.
Participants who completed a cognitive behavior therapy-based insomnia intervention showed a lower incidence of depression symptoms than those who were given health information with no insomnia treatment content.
If you have insomnia, speak to your doctor. If warranted, he or she can refer you to a specialist sleep doctor or psychologist. They can assess how your insomnia and any associated mental health difficulties interact and tailor your treatment accordingly.
Jo Abbott is a research fellow and health psychologist at the Swinburne University of Technology.
“Our citizens should know the urgent facts…but they don’t because our media serves imperial, not popular interests. They lie, deceive, connive and suppress what everyone needs to know, substituting managed news misinformation and rubbish for hard truths…”—Oliver Stone