Media and sleep

In the last week, two people have pointed me in the direction of media programs that were dedicated to sleep. Maureen,  our office/administration manager at Manse Medical told me that Catalyst on the ABC was screening a segment Wednesday night and my brother in law told me Triple J was devoting their science talk back hour to 'all things sleep'. Unfortunately, due to circumstances I missed both shows but with the wonders of modern technology I have been able to catch up on both via the internet.

The catalyst program 'Interrupted sleep; the dangers of restricted sleep' followed two people having an overnight sleep study. They were both subjected to reaction time testing and a driving simulator test, pre and post sleep. One participant was allowed 8 hours sleep but whenever he went into REM a loud noise was blasted into his room, waking him. This apparently happened approximately 300 times throughout the night and his comment in the morning was that it was the worst night sleep of his life.

The second participant was restricted to 4 hours sleep but was able to have this uninterrupted. In the driving simulated test the following morning the later participant did worse, even though the former had basically had no deep sleep!The Associate Professor in the interview then highlighted the impact on the former participants metabolism and how an ongoing sleeping pattern like this increases the risk of Type II diabetes.

For those who have never seen a sleep study set up or what the raw data of a PSG looks its worth checking out this program as it gives some insight.

On the catalyst website they are also calling for people to participate in The Big Sleep Survey 2010. The Triple J website also points people in the direction of filling in this survey. The project is being undertaken by 
Citizen Science & Research Project with ABC Science in conjunction with CIRUS, the NHMRC Centre for Sleep and the Woolcock Institute, University of Sydney.The scientists involved in this survey are interested in knowing the answer to questions like:

• How have Australian sleep habits changed in the last 10 years
• Is our use of technology in the bedroom effecting the amount of sleep we are getting.
• What is the prevalence of parasomnias in Australia
• How many people try to catch up on sleep on the weekend 
• How many teenagers experience sleep phase shifting or the desire to stay up late and sleep the next day.

The results of this National on line survey should be very interesting. The media attention attribute to this survey reinforces the growing awareness and interest in our sleep health.

Jessica