Add The Health Site as a
Preferred Source Add The Health Site as a Preferred Source

Select Language

Revealed - The key to getting good sleep amid noise

Those who took melatonin were found to have decreased awakenings during the night.

Revealed - The key to getting good sleep amid noise
Sleep, eat and repeat: Sleep for at least seven hours a day. It rejuvenates you. A study published in Annals of New York Academy of Sciences revealed that lack of sleep puts you at a significantly higher risk of obesity.

Written by Editorial Team |Published : March 19, 2015 4:15 PM IST

Did you think that an eye mask and earplugs were best sleep aids? Well, you are wrong. According to latest research, the hormone melatonin could provide better quality sleep than these aids.

Melatonin is the hormone secreted by the body to regulate sleep, usually in periods of darkness. Synthetically produced melatonin is used to boost the body's own melatonin levels to treat some sleep disorders and sometimes as a means of overcoming jet lag.

Both use of oral melatonin and use of earplugs and eye masks improve sleep quality at different levels, especially melatonin. Discomfort from use of earplugs and eye masks might affect sleep quality which was not reported with melatonin, explained lead researcher professor Xiu-Ming Xi from Fuxing Hospital, Capital Medical University in Beijing. Read about the various foods that will aid your sleep.

Also Read

More News

In intensive care units (ICUs), disturbances throughout the night caused by noise and light have been linked to slower recovery.

For the study published in open access journal Critical Care, researchers recruited 40 healthy participants to study the effects simulated ICU conditions had on sleep patterns.

After the first four nights, the participants were randomly divided into four equal groups but continued to sleep in the simulated ICU. The first group did not receive any sleep aid. The second were provided with eye masks and earplugs.

The third group took one mg of fast-release oral melatonin when going to bed. The final group of participants was given a placebo.

It was found that all sleep patterns were disturbed by exposure to the simulated ICU environment. This resulted in feelings of anxiety and reduced quality of sleep. Those participants that used either eye masks and earplugs or oral melatonin had improved sleep. Read about the 8 foods that hinder your sleep!

Those who took melatonin were found to have decreased awakenings during the night even compared to the eye mask and earplugs group, Xi noted.

The quality of the sleep was also found to be much improved for those taking melatonin, with reported lower anxiety levels. Future studies need to be carried out on a larger group of diverse participants, the team concluded.

With inputs from IANS

Image source: Getty Images

Add The HealthSite as a Preferred Source Add The Health Site as a Preferred Source

For more articles on Fitness, visit our Fitness section. For daily free health tips, sign up for our newsletter.

About the Author

Editorial Team

... Read More