Poor sleep affects kids’ learning ability

SYDNEY: Lack of sleep can adversely affect the ability of kids to learn and interact at school, according to new study.

The new survey led by Melbourne researchers has revealed that nearly a quarter of children aged six and seven have poor sleeping habits, which has a strong effect on their health, behaviour and learning ability.

“Children are able to make the transition well if they are able to interact with peers and teachers and concentrate in class and take on the workload,” he said.

“If you have enough sleep, you have enough concentration … the brain is still growing, they are still taking in a lot of information,” Sydney Morning Herald quoted Jon Quach, lead researcher, as saying.

“Some might say it’s an overwhelming amount of information so the brain needs to be optimal. If you don’t get enough sleep, that’s something you are really missing out on,” he added.

The team from the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute studied almost 4500 children, whose sleep behaviour was recorded at the age four to five and again at six to seven. About one-third of children reported poor sleep habits.

In another survey, about 23 per cent of the children were reported to have sleep problems. About 6 per cent were classified as moderate or severe.

The problems included children who were unhappy to sleep alone, reluctance to go to bed, restless sleep and waking during the night.

However, compared to the first survey about 10 per cent had resolved their problems, while about 3 per cent had continued to sleep badly and another 3 per cent developed new problems.

“If the child has a persistent sleep problem then their outcomes will be worse,”

“And if they have a resolving sleep problem, and that’s treated or just naturally goes away, then their outcomes will improve.

“They won’t be as good as if they had no sleep problems at all, but they did show a remarkable improvement,” he added.

Green tea good for heart

A daily cup of green tea can help in preventing heart diseases, a new study suggests.

The study led by Athens Medical School in Greece has found that drinking green tea can swiftly improve the function of (endothelial) cells lining the circulatory system. Endothelial dysfunction is a key event in the progression of atherosclerosis.

Lead researcher Dr Nikolaos Alexopoulos conducted randomised trial involving the diameter measurement (dilatation) of the brachial artery of healthy volunteers on three separate occasions – after taking green tea, caffeine, and hot water (for a placebo effect).

The measurements were taken at 30, 90 and 120 minutes after consumption.

Dilatation of the brachial artery, due to increased blood flow is an independent indicator of cardiovascular risk.

The findings revealed that endothelium-dependent brachial artery dilatation increased significantly after drinking green tea, with a peak increase of 3.9 per cent 30 minutes after consumption. The effect of caffeine consumption (or hot water) was not significant. This shows that green tea has short-term beneficial effect on the large arteries.

“These findings have important clinical implications,” said Dr Vlachopoulos.

“Tea consumption has been associated with reduced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in several studies. Green tea is consumed less in the Western world than black tea, but it could be more beneficial because of the way it seems to improve endothelial function,” Vlachopoulos added.

Green tea originated in China and is now consumed throughout the world. It is made with pure leaves, and has undergone little oxidisation during processing.

The new study is reported in the latest issue of European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.

Happy thoughts may dampen cravings

The next time the urge to light up a fag strikes after quitting smoking, think of a holiday in snow-capped mountains — it may help you beat the desire.

A study by a team of researchers in the United States has revealed that happy thoughts dampen the cravings towards addictive substances by curbing the excitement levels in the brain’s reward centres.

“If drug addicts, gambling addicts or alcoholics are worse at ignoring their cravings than others cognitive control might help them kick their habit,” lead researcher Mauricio Delgado said.

In fact, the researchers from Rutgers University and New York University have based their findings on an analysis of the brain activity of 15 volunteers as they played a simple game, the New Scientist reported.

The participants were asked to associate blue cards with a real USD 4 payoff, and yellow cards with nothing. To control for potential biases, the team swapped the colour assignments for half the volunteers.

Before either a yellow or blue card flashed onto a computer screen, the participants received an instruction to either concentrate on their prize or instead on some calming, natural object — a blue ocean, for instance.

The US team measured how excited the volunteers were by attaching an electrode to each volunteer’s finger as raised excitement changes the electrical behaviour of the skin.

When there was not USD 4 up for grabs, the participants stayed perfectly calm no matter what they were thinking. But with the flash of a blue card and money on the line, those who thought about the cash showed more excitement than those who pictured the sea or some other succour.

The same trend held for the volunteers told to link yellow cards to cash, the researchers found.