sleeping

We believed that sleeping with our dog or cat was a comforting and healthy idea. Science shows that it destroys your night’s rest

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More than ten years ago it was carried out a survey of 23,000 pet owners. There were curious data: a quarter of them admitted treating their pet as if they were small children and a little less than 75% admitted keeping photos of them. But perhaps the most striking thing is that half admitted sleeping with their pets. There is no memory of a sociological division of this magnitude since the potato omelet. So we’ve been wondering what science said about sleeping with your dog or cat. Do people really sleep with their pets? The truth is that sleep researchers haven’t paid much attention to the topic. We have a lot of pseudo-theories about ‘dominance’ or ‘doggy soul’ that are very successful on reality television, but the research in the ‘human-animal co-sleeping‘was a relatively forgotten area that in recent years has experienced a boom. As we have spoken on other occasions, sleep is a more cultural phenomenon than it seems and changes a lot between regions and times (Blunden, Thompson and Dawson; Worthman and Melby; Munroe, Munroe and Whiting). In the same way that it was relatively recently that Western societies separated resting places by age (children and adults), it was only relatively recently that spaces between humans and animals were completely separated. In fact, there are many cultures in which these coexistence practices are maintained naturally. And the most solid studies (Albert and Bulcroft; Westgarth et al.; Overgaauw) coincide with the survey in that there is a 50% split in co-sleeping with dogs and cats – which are the most common nocturnal companions (Albert and Bulcroft). And it’s curious because Since 2018 we know that dogs are less annoying than cats. In this sense, it cannot be said that the results of the survey are surprising. Research maintains that humans continue to show a strong attachment to their pets and are often considered important members of the family (Archer). As it says Smiththis is not free: animals are a source of support, affection, comfort, security and stability which can have important health benefits. It is true that the size of the pet has a lot to do with it and if we look in more detail (for example, in dogs) we see that 76.85% of Yorkshire Terriers or 62.96% of Chihuahuas sleep with their owners compared to 18.18% of Saint Bernards or 30.27% of Labradors. Even so, the percentage of Saint Bernards is a very high percentage. In addition to what Eckstein already pointed out, other factors that intervene are the number of children in the family (more likely where there are no children – Albert and Bulcroft) or gender (more likely with women). Some problems of sharing a bed with pets Research suggests there are some potential problems with sharing bedding with animals. Health risks. These include some immune responses, allergies, asthma or hypersensitivity pneumonitis; Bites and scratches can also occur through which infectious diseases associated with domestic animals can be contracted (Plaut, Zimmerman and Goldstein). Those most susceptible to these types of problems are young children, pregnant women and immunocompromised patients (Smith). However, the overall health risks are very low; almost insignificant if the animals receive medical care and maintain proper hygiene. Sleep problems. In general, the main problems related to sleep quality involve companions (kicking, snoring, etc.) and children, but pets also play an important role. Without going any further, a study from the Mayo Clinic found that fifty-three percent of pet owners who slept with their pets had problems resulting from it. Nevertheless, it is difficult to know the real impact of these interruptions because they are very short interruptions that by themselves explain little: however, it seems that Yes, there is a difference between sleeping in the bedroom or in the bed.. This is because interruptions can be related to temperature imbalances between humans and pets; as well as differences in sleep and wake cycles (Campbell and Tobler). If they only sleep in the bedroom, everything becomes easier. Behavior problems in animals. Jagoe and Serpell found that dogs that are allowed to sleep with their owners may experience an increase in aggression and separation-related problems. Effect on interpersonal relationships. Finally, animals can be an important source of conflict and stress in relationships. Coming to generate intimacy problems (Jagoe and Serpell) Should we sleep with our pets? Smith and his research team found that sleeping with pets in the bed had a small impact on sleep quality in the time taken to fall asleep or feeling tired when waking up. However, the authors maintain that the continued practice of co-sleeping with pets indicates benefits of social support, social interaction and personal safetydespite the disadvantages. In general, it seems that science agrees with common sense. Sleeping accompanied by animals can have some problems but always related to previous problems at a health and behavioral level. And, on the other hand, if our pet is healthy, has proper hygiene and a ‘good education’, not only are there no problems, but it can have very positive effects. The evidence has been divided in recent yearsbut remains unanimous in this regard Images | Faith Goble, John Liu, Tony Alter, Jon-Eric Melsæter. Xataka | We have been looking at Noah’s syndrome as a minority and controlled problem for years. we were wrong *An earlier version of this article was published in January 2016

Showering with cold water before sleeping in a heat wave seems like the best idea. Science warns that it is a big mistake

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Heat waves are already with us and in many places in recent days we have seen how they has far exceeded 40 ºC in many parts of our country. But the problem is not only that it is difficult to leave the house, but that sleeping becomes practically impossible for many peoplehaving a very fragmented sleep with different awakenings or even suffering from insomnia due to not being able to fall asleep. A solution. Faced with this great problem, common sense and desperation push us to get under the shower to be able to cool our body as much as possible just before entering bed to at least be a little cooler and try to fall asleep. But the problem here is that showering activates our body and can have a quite different effect than what we are looking for, making it very difficult to fall asleep. The mechanism of sleep. Something that we must keep in mind is that for our brain to understand that it is time to sleep, it needs a very specific physiological signal, which is the drop in the body’s core temperature. But when we take a shower of ice water, we get instant relief on the skin, but we cause our blood vessels to constrict so that our blood does not drop below its precious 36-37 ºC. In other words, the blood vessels They close to protect the internal heat of the body by sending less blood to our skin. The result. Although we get very fresh skin, a few minutes after getting out of the shower, the body experiences a rebound effect, retaining central heat and remaining in a state of alert because for the body there is a threat to which it has had to respond. On the other hand, warm or hot water does just the opposite, since, according to the group of researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, hot water stimulates the thermoregulatory system, causing blood to travel from the inner core of the body to the extremities. This facilitates a massive dissipation of body heat once we leave the bathroom, and that subsequent drop in core temperature is the biological switch that induces sleep. The warm water. Knowing all this, we can conclude that we should not use hot or cold water when showering, but that the middle ground is what we should look for. This is what an exhaustive review published in the journal points out. Sleep Medicine, where it was analyzed thousands of data to reach the conclusion that the optimal water temperature to improve sleep quality is between 40 and 42.5 ºC. But in a context of great heat like the one we are experiencing, experts clarify that the ideal is to look for the point of warm water, since the objective is not to roast ourselves, but to relax the blood vessels to promote heat loss from inside the body. The time. Showering and immediately getting into bed (or getting on top of the sheets) doesn’t work at all, since the body needs time to cool down. This same study we were referring to showed that the optimal time to take this shower is between 1 and 2 hours before going to bed. And best of all, it is something that has been shown to reduce the time it takes to fall asleep. These data are reinforced by a large-scale observational study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, where, after analyzing more than 1,000 adultsresearchers confirmed that bathing between 61 and 180 minutes before going to bed is directly associated with faster falling asleep, thanks to physiological changes that are related to body heat. Images | Slaap In Xataka | An expert clarifies the main mistake of sleeping with air conditioning: “It is totally unnatural and we rest worse”

We thought that sleeping was only good for rest. It actually helps us build new muscle.

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We spend a third of our lives sleeping, and although to some people it may seem a waste of time because literally while we sleep we are not ‘producing’, the reality is quite different. And it’s not just about resting, but our brain hides a real neural “switch” that, during sleep, dictates whether our body will build muscle, burn fat or, on the contrary, enter a state of metabolic emergency. What was seen. Joint research from the University of California and Stanford University, published in September 2025 in the prestigious magazine cell, managed to map this mechanism. The researchers identified a specific neuronal circuit in the hypothalamus composed of two fundamental players: the GHRH neuron, which acts as the “accelerator” of growth hormone, and somatostatin, which functions as the “brake.” Its balance is essential to regulate how much growth hormone is released during sleep. And it is not something that should be left in the background or only for children who are growing, but this hormone is essential to be able to build muscle, break down fat or even regulate glucose. In the first half of the night. Not all moments of the night are worth the same, since approximately 70% of daily growth hormone secretion occurs during the first cycle of deep sleep, also known as the N3 phase. In this way, if we shorten our hours in bed and miss that key rest, deep quality sleep is not achieved and the desired peak of growth hormone does not occur. What this directly leads to is accumulating fat and losing muscle tissue. The hunger. The muscle is not the only one affected, but our diet also suffers chemical sabotage. Here research has shown that little sleep drastically alters our appetite-regulating hormones. A large meta-analysis published in the journal Obesity Reviewsthat analyzed 21 studies with 2,250 participants, pointed out that short sleep causes leptin, which is the hormone that sends the signal of satiety, to decrease by 18%, while ghrelin, the hormone that triggers hunger, increases by 28%. This makes us have a greater appetite and prefer to consume more calories if we do not sleep enough hours. The metabolic risk. The impact of not sleeping goes far beyond hunger and the scale, since at a metabolic level, sleep restriction reduces insulin sensitivitywhich directly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. More and more data. If you still had doubts about the benefits of sleeping correctly, we already know that having a good sleep allows us to be more productive and better integrate the different knowledge that we learn in our brain. But to this is now also added the ability to ‘create’ new muscle, making the smartest decision to be sleeping, although for some it is not very productive. Images | Slaapwijsheid.nl Anastase Maragos In Xataka | Hitting the gym every week is great, but it all depends on what you do right after you leave the gym.

93% of owners believe that sleeping with their dog improves their rest. Science has just proven that it is self-deception

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Night comes, you get into bed and, almost out of inertia, your dog or cat jumps on the mattress to curl up at your feet. For many people, pets are full members of the family and even share the sheets. According to a report from the platform Sleep Foundation56% of people say they sleep with a pet in their room. The bond is so strong that the mere idea of ​​changing this habit generates rejection. Sleep psychologist Shelby Harris recounts in an interview for The New York Times that when caring for patients with insomnia problems, the first reaction is usually almost defensive: “I have a dog. You’re going to tell me not to sleep with him.” And, although sleeping with our animals gives us an immense feeling of peace, the scientific community has begun to empirically measure what happens in our body and brain during the night. The bad news is that, objectively, your rest could be suffering much more than you realize. Data under the microscope. An exhaustive study published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports decided to put exact figures on this phenomenon. Researcher Brian N. Chin and his team analyzed the habits of a representative sample of more than 1,500 adults in the United States. The results revealed that sleeping with pets is directly associated with poorer perceived sleep quality and greater severity of insomnia symptoms. Interestingly, the impact is not identical with all animals. Research analyzes showed that this negative effect on human sleep is strongly associated with dog owners, but no evidence was found that the same damage occurs when sleeping with cats. This difference may be due to the fact that dogs have greater sensitivity to external stimuli, waking up more easily to the noise of cars or barking in the neighborhood. The main problem lies in the sleeper’s self-deception. The author of the study highlights a surprising fact: 93% of people who slept with their pets firmly believed that their pets had a positive or neutral effect on their sleep. This disconnection between perception and biological reality is also supported In another study carried out on 12 women; Although the monitoring devices showed that the dogs constantly interrupted their rest, they rarely reported these interruptions the next morning. Why do we rest worse if we feel good? Dr. Vsevolod Polotsky, a sleep researcher at Johns Hopkins University, explains that the sleep of dogs and cats is not continuous; They inevitably move, bark, scratch or walk on the bed and on us. All this nocturnal activity causes what experts call “microawakenings.” Neurology professor Kristen Knutson details that these brief interruptions, which we are often not even aware of, are extremely disruptive because they abruptly take us out of the deep sleep phase. Worse yet, they have been associated with the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which significantly worsens overall rest. Furthermore, the investigation of Scientific Reports demolished one of the most widespread beliefs: the myth that the pet acts as a protective shield against anxiety before sleeping. Although high levels of life stress were associated with worse sleep, the scientists found no evidence that sleeping with the animal had a “buffering” effect that would protect the person from the ravages of stress. However, purely emotional logic has an undeniable weight in this equation. Sleeping with a pet, especially one with whom you have a close bond, can reduce the sense of perceived vulnerability and dramatically increase the feeling of security. We are faced with a complex exchange: our physical body experiences fragmented and less efficient sleep, but the animal’s mere presence helps emotional regulation by making us feel happy and protected. The verdict of the specialists. For animals, the experience of sharing sheets is undoubtedly positive. Dr. Dana Varble, veterinary director of the North American Veterinary Community, points out that animals Those who sleep with their owners experience higher levels of trust, as well as an increase in beneficial neurotransmitters such as oxytocin and dopamine, known as the feel-good hormones. However, in the case of humans, medical specialists warn about certain risk profiles: Respiratory problems: People with allergies or asthma are at risk of seeing their symptoms activated by being exposed to allergens such as animal dander for multiple hours in a closed space. Persistent allergens: Dr. Raj Dasgupta, pulmonologist, warns that allergens They also reside in the animal’s saliva and skin, which can cause watery eyes and continued nasal congestion throughout the night. Previous disorders: For those who suffer from chronic problems such as insomnia or sleep apnea, Dr. Polotsky is very clear when stating that bed sharing “is particularly harmful” and will prevent the patient from falling asleep again when they wake up. There are, of course, medical exceptions where the balance tips in favor of the animal. Service dogs trained for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are of great help by knowing how to identify physical symptoms and wake their owners to interrupt nocturnal nightmares. Dr. Dasgupta also recognizes that, For people dealing with depression or anxiety, the pet can act as a comforting “big blanket” that effectively decreases distress. The unwanted companions. Beyond sleep quality, hygiene adds another layer of risk to nighttime living. A revealing pilot study published in the scientific journal Pathogens investigated what exact bacteria and parasites we take to bed. Of the 50 animals analyzed, 30% literally slept in bed, under the blankets with their humans. The most striking thing about this research was the great contradiction of the owner: although 42% of all respondents cited lack of hygiene as the main reason why pets should not be allowed into the bedroom, in practice, many ignored the risk and allowed them to sleep there. Microscopic measurements of the fur were surprising. The aerobic colony count (ACC) on the dogs’ hair exceeded the maximum limits of bacteria tolerated on hospital surfaces or in food preparation areas by 4 to 43 times. Even more graphic is that 64% of the dogs tested positive for … Read more

The biggest mistake you can make the night before the Selectivity exam is not leaving a topic unlooked at: it is not sleeping

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When we think of a student during exam time or of a candidate who is preparing very intensely for an exam that will offer him job stability, we automatically think of the classic image of being up early in the morning studying hundreds of underlined pages. Here it seems that sleeping becomes a minor issue due to the fact of studying and cramming hundreds of pages. But the reality is that study without sleeping It’s like wasting time, even though it may seem otherwise. The science. Here the science has a lot to sayand a robust body of evidence suggests that putting aside studying and getting into bed for 7 or 8 hours of sleep is by far the smartest decision you can make before an exam or during preparation. And something they don’t teach us is that studying is only half of the learning and memorization process that occurs in our brain, since the other half occurs while we are asleep in order to ingrain knowledge. In the brain. To understand why sleep is non-negotiable for students, we have to look at what happens inside our heads when we sleep. At these moments we may think that the brain is in a state of lethargy or shutdown, but the truth is that it is a period of frenetic activity at the neuronal level. We found one of the proofs in a published article in Neuron which suggests that the sleeping brain is biologically optimized for memory consolidation. Something very important, because during the day the brain acts like a true sponge, capturing a large amount of information quickly but volatile, which far exceeds the limit of its capacity to retain it. Transferring it to the hard drive. All this knowledge that we try to acquire in one afternoon has to be consolidated so that we can later remember it in the exam. This is where sleep comes in, which is where a hippocampal-cortical transferwhich allows the information acquired during wakefulness to be reactivated and transferred to the cerebral cortex, which is where the information is stored long-term. In Nature We found a fascinating article that detailed how neurons repeat at full speed the information learned during the first phase of sleep. This phase prepares the ground so that, during REM sleep, in the second half of sleep, synaptic connections are stabilized and strengthened to integrate all the information. But if we skip hours of sleep, or reduce it to 3-4 hours to be more efficient, this process is interrupted. The disaster of sleep deprivation. The penalty for not sleeping is severe, since if you decide to spend the night sleepless to review “a couple more topics”, you should know that the price you have to pay is a 40% reduction in learning capacity, in addition to an increase in memory losses and a plummet in concentration. And what these losses ultimately generate are temporary memory gaps, which is the typical situation in which we remain “blank” looking at the exam sheet without knowing what to write, although you remember having read it hours before. This is why a student with few hours of sleep shows much slower response times, is confused when making decisions, and suffers a radical worsening of attention. In surveys. In 2023, a study carried out with 640 students of the Autonomous University of Madrid during their exam period pointed out that 61.3% of those surveyed already sensed that their performance would improve if they slept more. From here, the researchers confirmed a direct and positive association between sleep quality and academic performance. Furthermore, they discovered that the “sleep debt” accumulated during the week took a very high toll, being associated with worse performance perceived by the students themselves. The perfect dose. Here the recommendation that we must keep in mind is that of the WHO or the National Sleep Foundation, which suggests that young adults should sleep between 7 and 8 hours a day, and even increase to 9 hours for students with great cognitive stress, such as opponents. Images | Ministry of Health In Xataka | If you wake up tired on a regular basis, your rest is fragmented. The good news is that science knows how to fix it

start sleeping 8 hours every day

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Almost all of us know that sleeping poorly takes its toll on us the next day, where thinking becomes a task that it’s not easy at allin addition to having fewer reflexes or simply being much more tired. However, what happens inside the body when we alter our hours of sleep goes far beyond simple fatigue and contributes (a lot) to our aging. This is what a monumental study has pointed out, putting figures on this phenomenon. The essay. A recent investigation published in the prestigious magazine Nature has analyzed approximately 500,000 adults to find out how sleep duration affects our “biological age.” And the verdict, after measuring the state of almost all our systems, draws a very clear U-shaped curve: the sweet spot is between 6 and 8 hours a day. The biological clock. What makes this study a milestone is not only its gigantic sample size, which gives it enviable statistical power, but its approach. And normally aging studies are based on very general blood markers, but now science has opted to cross-reference data from genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and medical images. With all this information, what they have done is nothing more than create 23 different “aging clocks” that represent the state of 17 organs of the human body. This has allowed them to map in a coordinated way the relationship between the brain, which is affected by this lack of sleep, and the rest of the body. A curve. The main finding of this article focuses on the fact that the relationship between sleep and the level of aging does not follow a straight line, but rather has a ‘U’ shape. This means that people who systematically sleep between 6 and 8 hours have a lower “biological age” compared to their chronological age, in addition to having better general health. But at the extremes, both sleeping less than six hours and sleeping more than eight hours are associated with accelerated aging in most of the organs that have been analyzed. Because? There are reasons for both excess sleep and not enough sleep that justify this accelerated aging. If we focus on people who sleep little, we must take into account that during sleep the brain expands its channels to “clean” the accumulated metabolic waste, which interrupting it can cause accelerated brain aging. But in addition, lack of sleep increases the levels of pro-inflammatory molecules and we already know that inflammation sustained over time can cause irreversible damage to organs. Also in excess. We may think that sleeping a lot is the best thing there is, but the reality is quite different, as this study points out. The reasons for this are that spending 10 hours in bed does not mean sleeping well for 10 hours, since people who sleep ‘a lot’ tend to have fragmented, superficial sleep with micro-awakenings. This means that they spend more time in light phases and less in the restorative sleep that we value so much. But we must also keep in mind that sleeping for a long time can be a symptom of an underlying disease such as depressionsleep apnea or chronic inflammation that is not the cause of aging as such, but does cause great damage to the body. There are nuances. Although the data on the table are quite robust, the study itself points out a crucial limitation that is often the Achilles heel of epidemiology: the association does not prove chance. This means that we don’t know if we age faster because we sleep too little or if we sleep too little because our body is aging due to an underlying disease. As epidemiologists who have reviewed this type of literature point out, forcing a person to sleep 7 hours does not guarantee that their biological clock will suddenly turn back. Furthermore, the researchers themselves clarify that the interval of 6 to 8 hours is a population association. That is, it is what works on average for the human species, but it does not imply that this range is the strict and optimal dogma for the biological needs of each individual. Images | gpointstudio in Magnific In Xataka | We have become obsessed with “natural” sleeping pills. The problem is that we are not solving much

Sleeping four hours and working is equivalent to going to the office with six too many beers. Unless you have a ‘superpower’

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You’ve probably heard of businessmen, politicians or geniuses who claim to sleep just four hours and wake up refreshed with the ability to be very productive throughout the day. This is something that for medicine was simply a disguised sleep deprivation that would take its toll sooner or later; However, the most recent research suggests that it is possible to sleep this amount of time without consequences. Although it is better not to imitate them. Short sleepers. Here science has identified a condition called “familial natural short sleep”, which means that people who ‘suffer’ from it not only sleep little by choice, but their brain appears to perform nighttime maintenance tasks much more efficiently. That is why their restful sleep lasts much less than for other mortals. genetics is the great person responsible for this ‘skill’ and science has not ceased in its attempts to identify the targets that exist in the genome. One of them is genes DEC2 and ADRB1which were the first genes associated with this ability, since it was observed that members of the same family shared these mutations and slept for about six hours without negative effects. But these were not unique, since researchers have recently seen how a variant of the gene SIK3 reinforces the idea that the need for sleep is not a behavioral quirk, but rather an inheritable biological trait. For these people, sleeping 4 or 5 hours is not a sacrifice, but rather it is their natural state. Their cognitive performance is not affected and they do not experience the daytime sleepiness that would engulf anyone else. False productivity. This is exceptional, since for 99% of the population, between 7 and 9 hours of sleep are needed to have good cognitive performance throughout the day. In this situation, when we sleep four hours constantly without having this genetic advantage, we enter a state of chronic deprivation. And it is not something secondary, since the dangerous thing is that the human brain is terrible at evaluating how much damage it is suffering from lack of sleep, having the idea that “we are fine” when we are not. In fact, evidence shows that being awake for 17 to 24 hours produces cognitive impairment similar to having a blood alcohol level of 0.05% to 0.10%. In colloquial terms, trying to perform after sleeping four hours is comparable to trying to work on a night’s break where several beers have been drunk. And it is a sensation that some of us have experienced with clouded judgment and unstable emotional control. The danger. Sleeping little not only makes us think slower, but it is also known that there is a direct relationship between short sleep and high blood pressure, obesity and type 2 diabetes. In addition, during sleep it activates its ‘cleaning’ mechanisms to eliminate, for example, the beta-amyloid protein that is linked to Alzheimer’s. That is why interrupting this cleansing is not the best way to have an efficient nervous system. Don’t sell us productivity. At a time when there are many videos on social networks that suggest that sleeping a lot is a waste of time because it reduces our productivity on a daily basis, it is easy to fall into the practices of getting up at five in the morning and sleeping a few hours. But the reality is that if we weigh having good health or sleeping little to have more time to work, health logically weighs more. That is why the message we are left with is that, if we are not genetically “prepared” to sleep so little, it is best to avoid it as much as possible. Images | gpointstudio in Magnific In Xataka | If you fall asleep in less than five minutes, you don’t have a “superpower”: it’s a warning signal from your brain

We have become obsessed with “natural” sleeping pills. The problem is that we are not solving much

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In a society where problems falling asleep are on the agenda, the promise of having a deep and restful rest It has become one of the great businesses of the 21st century. And faced with a silent epidemic of insomnia, millions of people have turned to a parallel pharmacy where no prescription is needed, since products such as melatonin, magnesium or CBD are available to anyone. The melatonin paradox. Health authorities in the United States have been warning for years of a drastic increase in melatonin consumption among adults. It is perceived here as a “natural hormone” and therefore harmless, and although it is true that has proven usefulnessscience calls for curbing enthusiasm. Here’s Duffy’s essay pointed Because at low doses it can improve the efficiency and duration of sleep, but what must be taken into account is the importance of following medical instructions to have a dose adjusted and controlled to the personal situation. It is true that there is still a lot of research ahead to determine the safety of melatonin supplementation, since some studies they even point to an increased risk of heart failure with taking for more than one year. The CBD. Cannabidiol is another of the protagonists that is beginning to have more and more importance on the shelves of many people who have sleep problems. Unlike melatonin or magnesium, CBD is a compound derived from cannabis to “turn off” the nighttime mental noise. And here the science suggests that the effect of CBD is promising, but there is still a long way to go to determine its safety. The most solid studies conclude that CBD is not a pure sedative, but that its greatest effectiveness is observed above all with patients whose insomnia is directly related to anxiety or chronic stress, since it can modulate the stress response, reduce nocturnal rumination and allows sleep to come as a side effect. But they have problems. Right now, marketing inconsistency is a big drawback of CBD, as much of the failures reported by users are due to over-the-counter products that are not of the proper purity or concentration. Magnesium. If there is a mineral that has capitalized on the attention on the internet in recent years, it is this one. It is promoted as the ultimate natural anxiolytic and sleeping pill; However, science suggests that they are greatly inflating the effects it has. Here, as we have repeated on many occasions, supplementing when there is no deficiency of this or other minerals is not the best decision. Some small trials indicate that specific formats such as magnesium bisglycinate can provide modest improvements in cases of mild insomnia, but at a general level, the scientific community concludes that its “miracle pill” status lacks robust support. Go to the doctor. On many occasions, when we have a problem, we want to resort to the miracle pill without doing anything else. When we are told about maintaining good sleep hygiene, keeping screens out of our sight several hours before going to sleep or forgetting about heavy dinners, the truth is that we find it complicated. Or at least more difficult than taking a pill they sell us, which will make us sleep without doing anything else. It is for all this that it is always best to go to the doctor to determine what is underneath the insomnia, to be able to treat the root of the problem and not put patches on top, which is ultimately what is achieved with supplements. Images | diana.grytsku in Magnific In Xataka | There is a whole fever for magnesium as a supplement to sleep better: science has things to say about it

We believed that the secret to rest was sleeping eight hours. A study has shown that we forget a big element

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One of the mantras most repeated ad nauseum in the field of health is related to the need to sleep at least eight hours nightly. A goal that has been widely studied with the repercussions that failure to meet it may have. But now we have seen how the regularity in sleep is a much more powerful preacher of long-term health than mere duration. It’s when you sleep. Although we had very ‘glorified’ how much sleep we have to, trying to make up for lost hours on the weekendthe reality is that the important thing is to have good consistency, as is the case with many other processes. The regularity. The scientific consensus on this paradigm shift is gaining strength, and the last major proof is published by the National Sleep Foundation with an article that points to this regularity as one of the most forgotten components of our nocturnal habits. The key here lies in the internal clock, since we must remember that the time of waking up and early exposure to natural light is what activates our internal system with the cortisol release. In this way, by maintaining a constant reference, we ensure that critical biological processes, from hormonal secretion to body temperature, are regularized. When we don’t respect it. Just like when we travel to another country and we follow schedules very different from ours, the same thing happens here. We have the classic situation on the weekend, where we go to bed late and get up two or three hours later than usual, and surely the feeling when we get up is exhaustion. This is what is now known as ‘social jet lag’ or ‘Monday jet lag’, responsible for that mental fog, lack of alertness and low cognitive function with which we start the week. A shield. Unlike total sleep duration, regularity is a direct marker of the integrity of our circadian system, since when the internal clock and the demands of the environment become out of sync, known as chronodisruption, the body suffers. Just like when we travel between countries or experience time change. Here, a study published in Health Data Science HE dedicated analyzed more than 88,000 adults in the United Kingdom and found that irregular sleep patterns are associated with a greater predisposition to suffer from up to 172 different diseases. In fact, actigraphy studies have shown that intra-individual variability in our sleep hours is a direct marker of all-cause mortality, so trying to accumulate hours on Saturdays and Sundays not only does not save the furniture, but it puts us at risk. The impact of irregularity. In this sense, a linear relationship can be seen between sleep instability and the risk of suffering a cardiac event. But trying to “compensate” for tiredness on the weekend also results in worse insulin sensitivity and ends up altering glucose metabolism, which causes the bill to be quite expensive in the long run. Furthermore, the lack of a clear sleep routine causes a chronic pro-inflammatory state. This alteration compromises our immune response to pathogens, worsens the regulation of autoimmune diseases, and decreases the ability of our cells to repair themselves and eliminate metabolic waste. In summary, following set hours of sleep is essential if we really want to have optimal results in our daily lives. Images | diana.grytsku in Magnific In Xataka | We have accepted that “deep sleep” is the standard for sleep quality: science points in another direction

Sleeping four hours a day and performing at your best is not a myth, it is a genetic rarity of 1% of the population

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There are people who boast of sleeping only four or five hours a day and claim to wake up fresh as a lettuce, something that can generate a lot of envy, but also skepticism, since it seems hardly credible being able to sleep little and be so active. And science has not stopped saying that sleeping little it is very bad for your healthalthough there is an exception to the rule (as we are used to seeing). What we knew. For decades, the unwavering recommendation of the World Health Organization and sleep medicine experts they have been clear: a healthy adult needs between 7 and 9 hours of sleep night so that your immune system, your metabolism and your mental health function properly. Getting out of there, below, is buying tickets for diseases such as, for example, Alzheimer’s to appear. The exception. Given this rule, there is 1% of the world’s population that has a true genetic superpower that allows them to bypass this rule without any consequences. And the culprit has been detected by researcher Ying-Hui Fu, who after tracking down these people has seen that it has an important genetic component. How it looked. To do this, the researcher decided to analyze entire families where several of their members ‘functioned’ perfectly with just six hours of sleep, without showing daytime sleepiness or cognitive deterioration, while the rest of their family members needed more than eight hours of sleep. And from here, the culprit had a first and last name: the mutation of the DEC2 gene, known as BHLHE41. Although this finding has been the tip of the iceberg, because subsequent studies in animal models and entire families of humans have found a real cocktail of mutations in other genes that seem to optimize sleep so that four hours is more than enough. And it even gave them a ‘protective shield’ against cognitive decline when they faced even shorter nights. In the end they are all benefits. Because you don’t have to try. Reading about these mutations can be tempting, since, after all, different very relevant figures have sold us the myth that we should sleep little because it is a waste of time, and we should get up early at five in the morning. But the truth is that it is vital to separate these people who have an alteration in their genetics from people who sleep little because they want to. If this is not the 1% of the population (which is most likely), science suggests that chronically sleeping six hours or less during middle age increases the risk of suffer from dementia by 30%and even the chances of suffering from diabetes or hypertension also increase. This means that the body should not be deprived of sleep when it is ‘asking for’ it. Something that is noticeable as soon as you wake up. Future views. The interest of the scientific community aims to perfectly understand how these genes can make sleep much more efficient, and above all how they protect against different diseases related to sleep deprivation. In this way, the long-term goal is not necessarily to create pills so that we all sleep four hours and work more, but rather to develop therapies for sleep disorders or prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Images | user18526052 on Freepik In Xataka | Drink water right before going to sleep? Science has finally clarified whether it is a good idea or a terrible enemy of sleep

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