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[news.yahoo.com]

[b:996cb952b8]
Lack of sleep may be deadly, research shows[/b:996cb952b8]-Reuters

By Ben Hirschler 1 hour, 39 minutes ago

LONDON (Reuters) - People who do not get enough sleep are more than twice as likely to die of heart disease, according to a large British study released on Monday.

Although the reasons are unclear, researchers said lack of sleep appeared to be linked to increased blood pressure, which is known to raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke.

A 17-year analysis of 10,000 government workers showed those who cut their sleeping from seven hours a night to five or less faced a 1.7-fold increased risk in mortality from all causes and more than double the risk of cardiovascular death.

The findings highlight a danger in busy modern lifestyles, Francesco Cappuccio, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Warwick's medical school, told the annual conference of the British Sleep Society in Cambridge.

"A third of the population of the UK and over 40 percent in the U.S. regularly sleep less than five hours a night, so it is not a trivial problem," he said in a telephone interview.

"The current pressures in society to cut out sleep, in order to squeeze in more, may not be a good idea -- particularly if you go below five hours."
Previous research has highlighted the potential health risks of shift work and disrupted sleep. But the study by Cappuccio and colleagues, which was supported by British government and U.S. funding, is the first to link duration of sleep and mortality rates.

The study looked at sleep patterns of participants aged 35-55 years at two points in their lives -- 1985-88 and 1992-93 -- and then tracked their mortality rates until 2004.

The results were adjusted to take account of other possible risk factors such as initial age, sex, smoking and alcohol consumption, body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol.

The correlation with cardiovascular risk in those who slept less in the 1990s than in the 1980s was clear but, curiously, there was also a higher mortality rate in people who increased their sleeping to more than nine hours.

In this case, however, there was no cardiovascular link and Cappuccio said it was possible that longer sleeping could be related to other health problems such as depression or cancer-related fatigue.

"In terms of prevention, our findings indicate that consiste
ntly sleeping around seven hours per night is optimal for health," he said.

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bigboyx5
At the New Wiener (Mankind Project) weekend I was "persuaded" to attend, we slept in a common area on a cement floor in sleeping bags. At about 02:00 when we went to bed, the room was slightly cold. About an hour later it was so hot everyone was outside their sleeping bags. All the while (about every 20 minutes) someone would slam a door, followed immediately by an cat in heat (sounded artificial). Then Someone would sneek through the room and whisper "men" by people's heads.

The room was still hot when they woke us up, followed immediately by a mandatory 1 minute cold shower.

The best part was when the staff would walk by and fart beside someone's head. My brother in-law went a few years ago as a present from his father, he said this all happened at his weekend as well.

I still laugh when I think about the weekend. I was asked if I liked it by someone and I replied it was the "single biggest mistake in recent memory". But what the hell, for only $650 you get a chance at permanent mental damage, belittled by middleaged men who are scared of how technology is changing the world, and an insight into how the top animal wranglers in the world train their pets to be obedient (stern discipline, followed by food rewards). If anything I now know how to make my dog lsiten better.

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I still laugh when I think about the weekend. I was asked if I liked it by someone and I replied it was the "single biggest mistake in recent memory". But what the hell, for only $650 you get a chance at permanent mental damage, belittled by middle aged men who are scared of how technology is changing the world, and an insight into how the top animal wranglers in the world train their pets to be obedient (stern discipline, followed by food rewards). If anything I now know how to make my dog lsiten better.

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corboy
What you choose to wear is your own business.

And if your decision to stay clothed was 'noticed'---could you tell us about what this 'noticed' consisted of?

The honest thing would've been to state up front that it would be (or become!) a clothing optional event. That way someone could make an informed decision ahead of time whether its something for them.

(Plenty of us would much prefer to stay clothed either for modesty or
because of deciding to skip shaving the legs, or spider veins. Clothing
is an expression of individuality. Unless you go to a school or into an occupation that requires a particular uniform or dress code, you should be
able to keep your clothes on your back---and not get any static from the others or 'have it noticed.'

Dunno what the age range of participation is at HAI. But...but for anyone going through peri-menopause/menopause and vulnerable to hot flashes, it would be very nasty to find oneself in an excessively heated room, especially if coming in from winter conditions outdoors.

If an event is so desirous of getting folks to disrobe, tell 'em ahead of time, before they arrive and have paid to attend.

Informed decision is a beautiful thing.