Scientists study 'hammock' effect on sleep

We've used these in the provinces since time immemorial? Only now that the city dwellers are catching up?
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Posted: 21 June 2011

WASHINGTON: A team of Swiss and French scientists published a study on Monday that suggests the rocking motion of a hammock improves sleep quality and helps people get to sleep faster.

The study included 12 male volunteers who were not habitual nappers but who agreed to try an afternoon snooze on both a stationary bed and a rocking bed while machines scanned their brains, eye and muscle movements.

Women were excluded from the study because the menstrual cycle can have an effect on electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring, the researchers said.

Two of the 12 men had to be left out of the final analysis because one had a malfunctioning EEG and one experienced too much anxiety to fall asleep on the day he was assigned to the stationary bed.

But the remaining 10 subjects fell asleep faster in the rocking bed than they did in the still one and the quality of their 45-minute nap was deeper, said the findings published in the journal Current Biology.

"We observed a faster transition to sleep in each and every subject in the swinging condition, a result that supports the intuitive notion of facilitation of sleep associated with this procedure," said Michel Muhlethaler of the University of Geneva.

"Surprisingly, we also observed a dramatic boosting of certain types of sleep-related (brain wave) oscillations."

A midway sleep stage known as N2, which includes no rapid eye movements and usually makes up about half of a sound period of sleep, was observed to be longer in the hammock-type bed.

"The rocking bed also had a lasting effect on brain activity, increasing slow oscillations and bursts of activity known as sleep spindles. Those effects are consistent with a more synchronised neural activity characteristic of deeper sleep," said the study.

Researchers hope to examine whether the hammock effect would be similar in longer stretches of sleep, and would like to find out if it can be harnessed to help people who suffer from insomnia.

- AFP/de


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Scientists study 'hammock' effect on sleep

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Solar-Powered Plane Flies Off!

Image via Wikipedia

An invention. I always tell my kids that there has been many inventions, and coming up with an invention is NO BIG DEAL.

I would have to explain to them that inventing is not what matters. What matters is that your invention is something that will help mankind, without having to destroy the earth that we live in. Look at plastic. its invention was most definitely heralded as one of the greatest in mankind's history, but nowadays, it is also one, if not THE, most abhorred product, and is considered the worst pollutant to the planet that we live in.

Not to deal on plastics or any other inventions, let me present to you the news on one inventions - this one really flies!

Read on:

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"The Solar Impulse, a solar-powered plane covered in 12,000 solar cells, took its maiden flight today in Switzerland. The plane stayed aloft for 87 minutes, performing test maneuvers as well as completing a successful takeoff and landing. With the first test flight behind them, the developers can focus on gearing up for their around-the-world solar powered flight set for 2012."
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What's your say? Have you got yours? Anything in your mind to consider as a new invention?
Whatever, do leave your comments.

Care to see what others are saying on this also? Check it out from the source here.

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Travel Destination: Switzerland

Photos from TODAY, Traveller

Thursday July 24, 2008

Travel Destination: Switzerland

Photos from TODAY, Traveller

Thursday July 24, 2008