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It's Monday. For most of us, that means it's back to the grind — whether that grind be work, school, or some other scheduled obligation. Unfortunately for weekend warriors everywhere, these obligations typically require us to get up earlier than we'd choose if it were up to us. More »
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The future of civilian space travel in low Earth orbit (or "LEO," for those in-the-know) is looking brighter by the day, but what will life be like when you're soaring hundreds of miles above Earth's surface? How will you eat, how will you sleep, and how will you go to the bathroom? We've got a preview of ten things you should know about day-to-day life in LEO, so you don't embarrass yourself when your opportunity at space travel finally presents itself. More »
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Sleeping isn't just about refreshing us for the day ahead. It also has a more long-term impact on our health. The deep REM sleep associated with dreams actually shuts off our brain's stress chemistry and soothes our most painful memories. More »
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The problem with trying to do any sort of meaningful research into the way people dream is that it's not exactly easy to give instructions to someone who is asleep. Most of us have no control over what we do when we're sleeping, and limited memories of what we did. More »
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Well, isn't that sinister? According to a new scientific study, left-handed individuals are more likely to have sleep disorders than right-handed ones. More »
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If we're to believe some of the latest scientific research on sleep (or even just viral YouTube videos), the effects of dreams have likely bewildered Earth's creatures for hundreds of millions of years. But humankind, in particular, has fostered a unique and lasting fascination with dreaming. More »
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How does an ostrich sleep? Almost imperceptibly, it seems. Even though an ostrich might be sound asleep, it can look wide awake or, at most, a little drowsy. John Lesku from the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology discovered this by fitting six ostrichers with "Neurologgers", electrode-laden helmets that measures their temperature, brain activity, eye movements and neck muscle contractions. More »
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College Roomies from Hell!!! creator Maritza Campos has unleashed her crazy brain in a new webcomic Power Nap, which depicts a future where no one sleeps and everyone works — all the time — and one man who can't keep his eyes open. More »
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That, at least, was Benjamin Franklin's theory. (He also said we should be early to rise, because he was a jerk, I guess.) But when scientists put this old maxim to the test, did they find any truth to it? More »
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Our circadian clock is the part of our brain the regulates our body's cycle, making sure that we sleep, eat and act in concordance with the twenty-four-hour day. More »
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A new study which shows that wives' sleeping problems have negative impacts on marriages, where husbands' do not. The study was presented at the 25th Anniversary Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, and it showed that when women in the relationship suffered insomnia, both members of the couple reported more negative and fewer positive interactions the next day. Contrarily, if the male had trouble sleeping, neither side reported worsening interactions the next day. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5812951&view=rss&microfeed=true Chronic insomnia is a problem for a huge number of people, but new research reveals a simple way to get to sleep, without reaching for the drug cabinet. Borrowing a tip from PC case modders, researchers found that a liquid cooling system attached to people's heads seems to help them sleep. More »
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Upon seeing this video, anaesthesiologist Professor Brian Pollard from Manchester Royal Infirmary told BBC reporter Jennifer Carpenter: "Our jaws just hit the ground. I can't tell you the words we used as it wouldn't be polite over the phone." More »
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The feeling of jerking awake just as sleep begins to overtake us is familiar to most readers. So too is seeing someone in a deep sleep eerily (or adorably) twitching their hands or feet. What is it that makes people do this while they are supposed to be resting? More »
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When you're really tired, your brain deals with the problem by putting parts of itself to sleep. Scientists say partially-asleep brains could explain everything from sleepwalking and talking, to why you make so many mistakes when you're exhausted. More »
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As people get older, their sleep cycle start to shift, which means older people tend to go to sleep at much earlier times. Here's the crazy part: a little blood-related trickery can make young people sleep just like the elderly. More »
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Today, clocks throughout the United States jump forward an hour to mark the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. The economic and energy benefits of DST have been hotly debated for nearly a century, but does it pose a health risk? More »
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As you sink into sleep, you enter a state called hypnagogia, similar to hypnosis. You may hear strange noises or snatches of imaginary conversations, experience odd physical sensations, and see vivid hallucinations of geometric shapes. Your muscles may twitch involuntarily. Nobody is sure why. Nor does anyone know why, as we enter deeper sleep, our white blood cell count rises and eventually we begin to dream. But after decades of careful observation, scientists have figured out that there are a few things we do better when we're sleeping than when we're awake. More »
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Humans spend about a third our their entire lives asleep...at least, that's the theory. Lots of people get by on significantly less sleep, but this has its trade-offs. And memory is one of the biggest victims of not enough sleep. More »
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Researchers have peered into the brains of the baby zebrafish — through their transparent skin — and found that their brains have fewer synapses when they sleep. This probably holds true for humans too. More »
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REM sleep behavior disorder blocks the paralysis that comes with deep sleep and causes people to violently act out their dreams. As though that's not bad enough, the disorder might mean neurological diseases are in the patient's future. More »
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It's one of the most common, and most poorly understood, sleep disorders. Sexsomniacs have sex with bedmates in their sleep, or sometimes while sleep walking. Now a new study sheds light on the phenomenon. More »
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People who are sleep-deprived often report getting a "second wind" where they suddenly wake up and feel great — though they are still too fatigued to do any major problem-solving. A group of researchers have discovered there's a good reason for this. Sleep deprivation floods your brain with dopamine, the very same hormone that amphetamines like crystal meth shoot into your neural receptors. More »
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Human sleep patterns were once controlled by circadian rhythms governed by day and night. But now, according to a new study, almost everyone in the United States has a sleep pattern that's controlled by when they watch TV. A massive survey on time management conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics shows that most people watch TV between 11 - 11:15, dropping off to sleep when they switch the tube off. The hour when nighttime falls affects this pattern very little. Human sleep patterns are therefore more malleable than believed, and it's possible people could change them as easily as changing channels. More »
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Why do our brains need sleep? And can we switch off the genes that make sleep necessary? Medical researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say that they've located a gene that regulates sleep, and if they can switch it on and off it's possible that you'll be able to take a pill to eliminate your desire to snooze. Unfortunately, the researchers' work also shows that doing this might drive you insane or reduce your mental abilities dramatically. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=343957&view=rss&microfeed=true Wired's latest magazine has a sideblurb-o-graphic about how to get by on only two hours of sleep a day, and here's a longer article about polyphasic sleep (as its called, who knew?) that breaks it down a bit further. Basically it is dangerous, could cause physical and social side effects, and will turn you into a fully functional automaton that runs on extremely short naps all day. Sign us up. More »
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