When you go to bed, and how long you sleep at a time, might actually make it difficult for you to stop worrying.
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Nota et al., 2014 - Duration and Timing of Sleep are Associated with Repetitive Negative Thinking
Prof. Paul Montgomery has highlighted the importance of sleep for mental and physical health across all age groups at our October 2014 conference in London.
For more information, please see:
and
Montgomery et al 2014 - Fatty acids and sleep in UK children: subjective and pilot objective sleep results from the DOLAB study - a randomized controlled trial
van de Rest et al 2008 - Effect of fish-oil supplementation on mental well-being in older subjects: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
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28 October 2014 - DG News - Sleep Disturbances Linked to Higher Risk for Alzheimer's Disease in Men
12 May 2014 - BBC website - Arrogance of ignoring need for sleep
"Making sure that sleep is obtained during the right time of day may be an inexpensive and easily disseminable intervention for individuals who are bothered by intrusive thoughts," remarks Nota.
The findings also suggest that sleep disruption may be linked to the development of repetitive negative thinking. Nota and Coles therefore believe that it might benefit people who are at risk of developing a disorder characterized by such intrusive thoughts to focus on getting enough sleep.
"If further findings support the relation between sleep timing and repetitive negative thinking, this could one day lead to a new avenue for treatment of individuals with internalizing disorders," adds Coles. "Studying the relation between reductions in sleep duration and psychopathology has already demonstrated that focusing on sleep in the clinic also leads to reductions in symptoms of psychopathology."