Obesity and memory troubles are an effect of sleep disorders

Getting enough rest can be a tough problem. Two new analyses show that a lack of sleep means bad health. Children and adults with insomnia are at a higher risk of obesity. Sleep may also help memories build and be stronger.

The ways sleep and weight problems link with each other

The rest habits of 300 kids were studied. They were 4 to 10 years old within the study. Kids that slept irregularly tended to be obese. This was something noticed in the study. This was not necessarily kids who got too little sleep, but children that slept more or less on various days of the week. The lead researcher on the study commented on these outcomes. He said, “We think that the direction of the arrow is you sleep less, you eat more, you exercise less because you’re tired, and therefore you gain more weight.”

The connection between rest and memory

Nature Neuroscience today is a journal. Another sleep study was published in it. It was discovered by German scientists that about 25 percent more information was retained by subjects who took a nap right after studying than the others. The theory is that memories, which are first stored in the short-term hippocampus region of the brain, “download” during sleep and are stored within the long-term portions of the brain. Sleep can help memories stay there.

The more rest you get, the better off you are

For many individuals young and old, getting sufficient rest is difficult. Typically, school aged children are supposed to be getting nine hours of rest. Adults are really only supposed to get between 8 and 10 hrs. This is considered "enough" by most. Resting until you naturally wake up is what sufficient rest really is. The good news is, however, that “catching up” on rest seems to be helpful. You should certainly catch up on rest during the weekend. It can reduce weight problems risk from 280 to 400 percent.

Citations

AFP

google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ir9Aq3KpWK1wbwDG1A9sqQLxq0nQ?docId=CNG.3d70bb040bdfdd29691ee978be81fc1a.2e1

Fox News

foxnews.com/health/2011/01/24/study-sleep-extra-pounds-kids/