Sleep & Fitness News - September 26th, 2024

Sleep & Fitness News - September 26th, 2024

Hey packlings 👋

How does taking magnesium every night for three months affect your sleep?  What is Simone Biles’ big hope for the 2028 LA Olympic Games?  And what’s the new science to support “sleeping on it”? Let’s find out in this week’s edition of Sleep & Fitness!

🥬 How Taking Magnesium for Three Months Affected My Sleep

Vogue writer Maria Goldbach shared her experience this week of taking a magnesium supplement for the last three months and how it’s improved her sleep.  Magnesium is a mineral that is involved in over 300 chemical processes in the body.  It has been shown to help sleep through the  relaxing effects it has on the muscles and its supportive function in energy production, as well as its role in helping to lower our cortisol and therefore stress levels. “I have noticed that I fall asleep more quickly, but above all, I really sleep through the night. I used to wake up at least once a night, usually even more often, but now I sleep through almost every night until my alarm clock rings” said Goldbach. “I usually hit the snooze button at least three times, but since taking magnesium before sleep, I wake up full of energy and want to get up.”  If you haven’t tried magnesium before bed, check out our delicious magnesium-infused Night Bites, now back in stock! 

 

🤸 Simone Biles’ Hope for LA2028 - Better Beds

The cardboard beds started in Tokyo, and then the Paris Olympics showed that the recyclable cardboard beds were just a product of COVID-19 - they were here to stay.  However in Paris, elite athletes and their coaches began to speak out about the negative implications that these beds were having on athletes’ rest and performance… because they really weren’t comfortable.  The USA Gymnastics team even went so far as finding and supplying their athletes with mattresses at the Olympic Village in Paris.  In a recent interview, Simone Biles said the beds were the lowest point of her 2024 Olympic experience, and is hoping for better sleeping accommodations in LA in 2028, saying “we’re the best athletes in the world. So, I feel like for just one or two weeks we deserve the best.”  We’ll be following closely to see if LA will rise to the occasion to provide athletes from around the world the best sleeping accommodations possible.

 

💤 New Science of ‘Sleeping on It’ and Decision Making

Conventional wisdom holds that people are seduced by first impressions.  But according to a new study out of Duke University, “sleeping on it” can help us avoid judging a book by its cover.  The study involved items in a box at a garage sale - all worth the same value, but varied as to whether the most valuable items were placed at the top or the bottom.  After the participants had opened the different boxes, the researchers asked them to estimate the value. Some participants judged the boxes immediately, but others “slept on it.” A pattern quickly emerged - when the participants had to make a decision right away, they tended to remember and judge boxes not by the entirety of their contents, but rather by the first few items they came across. In fact, they overestimated the value of the boxes with the “gems” on top by an average of 10%.  However, participants who weren’t asked to decide until the next day didn’t fall into this trap.  This showcases there really is some value to “sleeping on it” when making decisions with longer-term stakes -- for example, going back to a restaurant, or hiring or dating. 

 

📈 ‘Sleepmaxxing’ Becomes Viral Wellness Trend

This week CBS News spoke with sleep scientist Vanessa Hill about the trend that’s going viral on TikTok - “sleepmaxxing” ….or in other words  optimizing your sleep.  Nowadays everyone is promoting a new product or hack that they incorporate into their sleep routine to get the best sleep ever.  This interview touched on how sleep scores can be incredibly valuable for some people in monitoring their sleep trends, while being a negative for others who may obsess about or get anxiety from poor sleep scores.  Hill commented that what she’s most appreciative of in regards to the sleepmaxxing trend is that it’s repopularizing some basic elements of good sleep hygiene - like going to bed and waking up at the same time, eliminating electronic devices an hour before bed, and getting morning sunlight to set your circadian rhythm.  We agree - the more people who are thinking about and prioritizing their sleep routine, the better! 

 

😳 The Top Worries and Worst Sleep Habits for Americans 

A new study from the US News and World Report found that stress negatively affects 74% of adults’ sleep routines.  The top five worries listed in order were: inflation; COVID-19; gun violence in America; climate change; and the 2024 Presidential Election.  The top five worst sleep habits in order were: going to bed at different times; viewing screens in bed; eating too much before bed; falling asleep with the TV on; and pulling all nighters.  It’s appropriate that going to bed at different times is at the top of the list because as we all know setting a consistent sleep schedule is the bedrock of great sleep hygiene.

 

That’s a wrap on this week’s sleep and fitness news.  Remember to follow @lagoonsleep on Instagram for your daily dose of sleep & fitness news and entertainment.



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