Sleep and society

Background: The study aimed to elucidate previously observed associations between morningness-eveningness and depressive symptomatology in university students. Relations between components of depressive symptomatology and morningness-eveningness were analysed.
Methods: Nine hundred and seventy-four university students completed Polish versions of the Centre for Epidemiological Studies – Depression scale (CES-D; Polish translation appended to this paper) and the Composite Scale of Morningness. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to test the structure of depressive symptoms. Pearson and partial correlations (with age and sex controlled), along with regression analyses with morning affect (MA) and circadian preference as predictors, were used.
Results: PCA revealed three components of depressive symptoms: depressed/somatic affect, positive affect, interpersonal relations. Greater MA was related to less depressive symptoms in three components. Morning circadian preference was related to less depressive symptoms in depressed/somatic and positive affects and unrelated to interpersonal relations. Both morningness-eveningness components exhibited stronger links with depressed/somatic and positive affects than with interpersonal relations. Three CES-D components exhibited stronger links with MA than with circadian preference. In regression analyses only MA was statistically significant for positive affect and better interpersonal relations, whereas more depressed/somatic affect was predicted by lower MA and morning circadian preference (relationship reversed compared to correlations).
Limitations: Self-report assessment.
Conclusions: There are three groups of depressive symptoms in Polish university students. Associations of MA with depressed/somatic and positive affects are primarily responsible for the observed links between morningness-eveningness and depressive symptoms in university students. People with evening circadian preference whose MA is not lowered have less depressed/somatic affect.

Social jet lag is a term describing misalignment between social and biological time. In this paper it is argued that the currently used formula for social jet lag captures not only this misalignment, but also sleep debt. It is proposed to adopt the sleep-corrected formula for social jet lag, which takes the form of the difference between sleep onset on free days and workdays in the case of subjects with longer sleep and later/equal sleep onset on free days than workdays; it takes the form of the difference between sleep offset on free days and workdays for subjects with longer sleep and earlier/equal sleep offset on workdays than free days.

Aim Previous studies have demonstrated relationships between sleep and both obesity and diabetes. Additionally, exercise may improve sleep and daytime function, in addition to weight and metabolic function. The present study extends these findings by examining how general sleep-related complaints are associated with body mass index (BMI), diabetes diagnosis, and exercise in a large, nationally representative sample. Subject and methods Participants were respondents to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Sleep complaint (SC) was measured with “Over the last 2 weeks, how many days have you had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep or sleeping too much?” Daytime complaint (DC) was measured with “Over the last 2 weeks, how many days have you felt tired or had little energy?” Responses were dichotomized, with ≥6 days indicating complaint. Covariates included age, race/ethnicity, income, and education. Results Being overweight was associated with DC in women only. Obesity was significantly associated with SC and DC in women, and DC in men. Diabetes was associated with SC and DC in both genders. Any exercise in the past 30 days did not attenuate any BMI or diabetes relationships, but was independently associated with a decrease in SC and DC in both men and women. Conclusion These results suggest that for both men and women diabetes is a significant predictor of sleep and daytime complaints, and there is a relationship between obesity and sleep and complaints for women to a greater extent than men. Finally, exercise was associated with much fewer sleep and daytime complaints in both genders.

No statistical data is available on the number of employees working on night shifts in Turkey. Working on shifts is associated with decreased sleep time, decreased daily sleep quality, and decreased alertness during night shifts. Increased incidences of cardiovascular disorders, peptic ulcers, and some types of cancer in shift workers are well known. Exposure to light at nighttime suppresses melatonin production. In non-synchronized circadian rhythm, disturbed melatonin secretion may lead to excessive sleep, hunger for carbohydrates, and weight gain. Melatonin is the hormone that governs sleep. It seems to be the key regulator of the sleep/wake rhythm. Exposure to light at night and disturbance of the circadian rhythm contribute to the health problems of night shift workers by disturbing melatonin production. In this review, the definitions of social jetlag, delayed sleep phase syndrome, and insomnia will be discussed. Sleep disorders in psychiatric diseases will be reviewed. Melatonergic drugs available on the market will be listed, including their contraindications and side effects. The physiopathology of sleep, sleep disorders, depression, and melatonin will be given with an extended discussion. Two recent reviews about the effect of melatonin on sleep patterns will be discussed. Finally, other treatments for sleep disorders will be summarized. In conclusion, in shift workers, sleep problems are a complex subject in which multiple pathophysiological mechanisms play roles. The double-blind randomized controlled studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses that have been conducted can provide only weakly positive data about the beneficial effect of melatonin use in shift workers. In the future, multi-centered and multi-participant studies will shed more light on this issue. (Eurasian J Emerg Med 2016; 15: 48-53)

Please see:- https://chrisdooks.bandcamp.com/album/lessons-learned-in-the-k-nigsforst-pdf-2015 for related piece, inc free audio download.

This text is a transcript of a spoken word piece of the same name from The Environmental Arts Festival Scotland 2015 - with the addition of an interview between the author and composer/visual artist Wolfgang Voigt.

Creative problem-solving dreams virtually always occur only after the dreamer has done
extensive work on the issue awake. Most typically, a person is stuck at one particular step
of a multiple phase process and the dream solves that step. The dream of Dmitri Mendeleev
about The Periodic Table of the Elements is no exception. All accounts of this event agree
that he’d worked for years on the Table, produced other drafts, but that he attributed the
version he was most satisfied with to a dream. It is less clear whether Kedrov is correct in
his reconstruction that it was the reversal of columns vs. rows which the dream provided.
Accounts of dreams from contemporary scientists and inventors are a richer source for the
detail required to generalize about the role of dreams in problem solving.