University of Sydney researchers explore sleep patterns
30th Jan 2013
Do you ever wonder why some nights you sleep like a baby and then others you feel like you've barely rested?
Well, according to a recent study by the University of Sydney, varying sleep patterns are normal.
The researchers studied a group of healthy males over two weeks and found that all of them experienced changes in sleep duration.
Principal investigator Dr Chin Moi Chow said that what was interesting about the research is that the length of sleep depended on the body's need for rest.
"If you incur a sleep debt, your body will signal a need to catch up on extra sleep. As you increase your sleep duration to recover from the debt, your ability to prolong wakefulness increases," Dr Chow explained.
"Then, as prior wakefulness increases, sleepiness is inevitable, and a need for further sleep develops again."
Dr Chow added that changes in sleep patterns are also influenced by diet, exercise, temperature, drinking patterns and so forth.
Since this is preliminary research, the study team hopes to conduct further investigations and then use the results to help those suffering from sleep problems such as insomnia.
