A new research has revealed that searches of the word "sleep" in Google reached an all-time high 2023, setting a new record. This therefore means that Americans are getting much more worried concerning sleep. The study furthermore indicates that insomnia, anxiety, and sleep apnea were among the most searched common concerns for users.
The researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, examined Google search queries about sleep disturbances from 2010 to 2023 over a 14 years' period. They discovered that searches for "sleep" alone were up 68% by December 2023 compared to any other point in the study timeline. The researchers attributed the rise to the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected sleep worldwide following lockdowns and various public health safety actions.
"Sleep is a biological necessity, and the pandemic has interfered with our ability to obtain sufficient sleep, heightening the risks of countless health detriments," said Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience and the senior author of the study. "We wanted to see how people are coping with their sleep issues and what kind of information they are seeking online."
They also checked on some of the popular search terms on sleep like "how to sleep better," "sleep tips," "sleep hygiene," "sleep disorders." Common between them was that Insomnia was found to be the most popularly searched sleep problem, post which anxiety and sleep apnea filled up the sleep searches. Other common sleep issues included snoring, nightmares, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy.
Comparison of the Google search data to the information obtained from the National Health Interview Survey, which collects information on health status and behaviors among Americans, shows that the Google search trends manifested the prevailing levels of sleep problems in truth by incidence and severity.
Dr. Walker says, "Our findings demonstrate that Google searches can be a useful measure of sleep health within the nation as they appear to reflect, amongst other things, how long people are sleeping for at night." "We hope our study can contribute to the awareness of sleep importance and therefore encourage those who find it difficult to sleep to visit the experts."
The study also outlined a number of guidelines to improve sleep health based on best practices and evidence from the scientific literature. According to the findings, some of the guidelines included:
- Maximizing bright light during the day because this helps in circadian rhythm modulation, which encourages vigilance at night.
- Decrease exposure to blue light later in the day, for instance, from televisions, smartphone, or computers in order not to suppress melatonin production that signals sleep. Avoid watching televisions, smartphone, or computers at least one hour before sleeping or if possible use glasses that block blue lights or filter out blue light on a phone or any other device.
- Make sure to keep a regular wake and sleep pattern each day, including weekends, going to bed and getting up at the same time. Your internal clock has the ability to adapt to new time zones faster, just as jet lag-like effects can be avoided by exposure to natural light upon arrival.
- Make a conducive, stress-free bedroom with cool room temperature that can be darkened with heavy curtains or blinds. Allow the sleeping area to be quelled by using earplugs, fan, or white noise machine in order to avoid or eliminate all unwanted sounds. Quality and supportive mattress, pillow, and bedding make better sleep possible.
- Avoid caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and consumption of heavy meals too close to bedtime as they can impair good quality and duration of sleep. Caffeine helps to stay awake and alert for a few hours up to several hours, but alcohol influences your sleep phases and brings more awakenings. Nicotine also stimulates the nervous system and contributes by making it difficult to fall asleep. Also, heavy meals can lead to indigestion and even heartburn, thus one cannot sleep or gets woke by acid reflux effects in the middle of the night.
- Exercise regularly but not too close to bedtime because it will enhance your physical and intellectual performance and hence you will be able to have a good sleep. Exercise can reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance your circadian rhythm. However, exercising too late in the day can raise your body temperature and make it harder to fall asleep. The idea is to accumulate a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity in a week, mostly done either early morning or afternoon.
- Use relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, and breathing exercises either before retiring or to help you in falling asleep. This will relax both the mind and the body and help reduce the stress and anxiety that have been associated with poor sleep.
- Avoid checking on the clock and cannot even check your phone if you wake up in the middle of the night since these will aggravate this anxiety hence, making it quite impossible for you to sleep again. If you do not find feeling sleepy even after 20 minutes, then get out of the bed and do some relaxation activities such as reading a book or listening to soothing music until you get to feel sleepy again.
- In addition, consult a specialist with chronic or severe sleeping difficulties such as insomnia, apnea, and others like unbalance sleeping disorders. The latter can considerably impact your health and quality of living and probably need medical examination to understand the reason for the purpose to improve symptoms. Your doctor can help you identify the best option for your specific case, which may involve medicine, behavior therapy, or devices like CPAP machines.
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The study was published in the journal Sleep Health. –(Greatidea360)
