We hope you’re enjoying a restful weekend! While you relax, take a minute to catch up on the most interesting new sleep-related articles of the week.
This week, Cassie Shortsleeve discusses what she learned from her visit to a sleep coach, including the importance of individual chronotypes, which determine whether a person is an early riser or more inclined to stay up late into the night. And Richard Lovett discusses research by mathematicians into sleep modelling, which has the potential to inform the next generation of sleep-related apps.
Speaking of the world of tech, sleep trackers are gaining popularity, as Lauren L’Amie writes for NY Magazine online. But, can these devices help you sleep better? As Claire Maldarelli writes for Popular Science, perhaps not. While activity trackers can be great at gathering lots of data, it’s not necessarily the type of data a doctor would use to diagnose a true medical sleep disorder. What’s more, even if a tracker or app can tell you that you’ve not slept your best, it can’t necessarily recommend a course of action to help you sleep better.
We all know the adage about the importance of beauty sleep, and a new study sponsored by Sealy finds that there might be some truth to it. Or, rather, it found that survey participants reported feeling more positive about their own appearances when they felt well-rested. Julia Guerra has more at Elite Daily.
Many factors during the summertime can impact sleep, from heat waves to it staying light outside later into the evening. Kelsey Butler offers some tips for adjusting your sleep routine so you don’t miss out on getting enough rest.
But what if you truly can’t sleep? Kristen Geil compiles a list of recommendations for calming a racing mind so that you can fall asleep peacefully. And if you’re waking up in the middle of the night, Natalia Lusinski has you covered with more expert-approved tips for getting back to sleep. Carina Wolff offers some additional recommendations with “7 Insomnia Cures That Sleep Experts Swear By.” And if all else fails, Lindsay Dodgson suggests a simple breathing technique drawn from the Indian practice of pranayama.
We hope you enjoy this week’s Bedside Reading roundup. Pleasant dreams!
