Browsing by Subject "uni"

Mediassa sekä koulutuspolitiikassa on vasta viime aikoina alettu kyseenalaistamaan koulujen al-kamisaikoja ja esitetty niitä syynä murrosikäisten krooniseen univajeeseen. Tutkielmani kuvailee aineiston avulla millaisia yhteyksiä koulunkäynnillä ja unella on sekä niitä ratkaisuehdotuksia, joita aineisto esittää murrosikäisten koululaisten univajeeseen. Tutkimuskysymykseni ovat 1) Millä tavoin uni on yhteydessä murrosikäisten koulunkäyntiin? 2) Minkälaisia ratkaisuehdotuk-sia aineisto esittää kouluaamujen alkamiselle? Tutkielmani on kuvaileva kirjallisuuskatsaus, jonka aineisto koostui 22:sta tieteellisestä tutki-musartikkelista. Artikkelit ovat osa suomen- ja osa englanninkielisiä, ja ne ovat kaikki kerätty Google Scholar-tietokannasta. Analyysimenetelmäni oli sisällönanalyysi, jota kaikin poimimaan aiheeseen liittyvät eri yhteydet ja näkökulmat erilaisiin kategorioihin. Lisäksi nostin aineistosta ratkaisuehdotuksia. Jopa puolet koululaisista nukkuu liian vähän. Tuloksista voidaan todeta, että unen on merkittävää vaikutusta murrosikäisten kognitiivisiin kykyihin, mielialaan, fyysiseen- ja henkiseen terveyteen, turvallisuuteen sekä koulumenestykseen. Unen määrään näyttäisi vaikuttavan biologisten tekijöiden lisäksi koulun alkamisaika, sekä nukkumaanmenoaika ja sitä edeltävä toiminta. Aineiston tutkimukset osoittavat lisääntynyttä unen määrää, kun koulun alkamisaikaa siirretään myöhäisemmäksi. Aineistoissa esitetään koululaisten krooniselle univajeelle ratkaisuehotukseksi kouluaamujen siirtämistä myöhäisemmäksi, vanhempien asettamia nukkumaanmenoaikoja, virvokkeiden ja elektroniikan käytön rajoittamista iltaisin sekä enemmän terveystiedon opetusta liittyen nukkumiseen.

Introduction: Sleep related problems affect wellbeing extensively. Sleep problems share many common background factors with personality, such as individual way of processing cognitions and emotions. By understanding the interactions between personality and sleep, it is possible to develop better and more individual-friendly ways to treat sleep related problems. In this review, personality is approached from the framework of the Big Five personality traits, which are: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. The purpose of this review is to sum up the current results of the research conducted in the field of personality traits and sleep, to direct the future research on the field and to discuss the limitations of the current research. Results: There are interactions between personality traits and sleep. Neuroticism affects the quality and the amount of sleep negatively. However, the causality might go the other way around: sleep deprivation and problems falling asleep might cause later neuroticism. Extraversion has a relationship with better quality of sleep, diminished amount of sleep and fluctuating circadian rhythm between weekdays and weekends. Conscientiousness affects the quality of sleep, the regularity of the circadian rhythm and the morningness of the circadian rhythm. Individuals who have high openness have diminished need for sleep and they have coping-mechanisms that protect them against the negative effects of stress. Agreeableness has a relationship with better sleep in terms of quality and quantity, and with constant circadian rhythm between weekdays and weekends. The personality traits’ interactions include conscientiousness’ protective effect against neuroticism when considering sleep quality. Also, the differences in sleep quantity are statistically best explained with two traits: openness and neuroticism. Discussion: The interaction between personality traits and sleep has been investigated mainly from the point of view of personality traits. When the interactions are studied from the point of view of sleep it is possible to merge the effects of the personality traits and derive preliminary personality trait profiles for different aspects of sleep. The profile for good quality of sleep seems to be high extraversion, high consciousness, high openness, high agreeableness, and low neuroticism. The profile for poor sleep quality is almost reverse: high neuroticism, low extraversion, low consciousness, and low openness. Apart from the quality, it’s also possible to derive subjective sleep deprivation profile: high neuroticism and low extraversion or interestingly high extraversion if only the amount of sleep is being studied. Limitations of the current research in the field include a tendency to use university student samples, self-assessment inventories as the sole information source and the over-simplifying approach of merely studying one personality trait instead of the whole personality profile. Examining the personality trait profiles could lead to more statistically significant results and thus it might increase the practical implications in the field of personality and sleep.

Aims of the study. The aim of this study was to examine normative development of sleep patterns and circadian rhythmicity during adolescence. Previous studies have found that sleep duration shortens across the lifespan, and especially adolescents’ sleep timing shifts later due to physiological and psychological factors. Sleep patterns in adolescence are connected to individual’s endogenous circadian rhythms, usually measured by delayed melatonin secretion in the evening. There is a lack of understanding how sleep patterns are related to circadian body temperature rhythms during adolescence. Methods. This study was part of SleepHelsinki! cohort study of the Sleep & Mind Research Group. Adolescents’ sleep patterns were measured with actigraphies, whereas circadian body temperature was measured from the skin surface. Circadian temperature rhythmicity was inspected by circadian period length, the mesor of skin surface temperature and the amplitude of daily changes within the rhythm. Baseline measurements were measured from 215 (71.6 % girls) adolescents aged 16–18 years. At one-year follow-up, 156 (76.3 % girls) adolescents were measured again. Mixed models for repeated measures were used to examine changes over the year in sleep patterns and endogenous circadian temperature rhythm, separately for both girls and boys. Sex differences were tested with one-way variance analysis. Linear and ordinal regressions were used to predict sleep and circadian rhythm over the year. Results and conclusions. Over the year, adolescents’ sleep duration became longer during the week, while weekend sleep shortened. However, this change was only significant for girls. Sleep schedule became more delayed for both girls and boys during the week, as sleep onset, midpoint and offset occurred at a later time. Circadian rhythm changed for boys, as their average skin surface temperature increased, and their circadian temperature amplitude became smaller. Boys also had significantly lower circadian temperature amplitude than girls at the follow-up. Compared to boys, girls were 5.85 times more likely to have a high circadian temperature amplitude at the follow-up measurement. Changes in sleep length during the week was moderated by temperature amplitude, with higher circadian amplitude predicting sleep duration to become longer. Still, the likelihood to have long sleep duration was affected by past sleep duration.

Objectives: Delayed circadian rhythm and other sleep difficulties, common in adolescence, are related to wellbeing in various ways. The delay of sleep can be attributed, among other factors, to the nighttime use of electronic media, such as tablets and smartphones. However, there have been various contradictory findings about the effect of electronic media on sleep quality. Previous studies’ sample sizes have been small and the majority consisted of males. Therefore, this study examines the effect of electronic media on sleep architecture in adolescence with a larger sample size and includes both males and females. It was hypothesized that the use of electronic media will be related to the decrease of either REM- or slow-wave sleep. The differences between sexes and different types of electronic media were also investigated. It was hypothesized that the effect will vary based on the type of media. Methods: 166 adolescents took part in this study (age 16–17, 97 females). Their sleep was monitored with an all-night polysomnography. The duration of the use of electronic media on the same day was used in order to predict the sleep stages by regression analysis. Multivariate covariance analysis was used to compare the effects of different types of electronic media. Results and conclusions: The use of electronic media was not associated with the decrease of neither REM- nor slow-wave sleep. Secondly, the groups characterized by different uses of electronic media did not differ significantly with regards to proportions of sleep stages. This study, therefore, does not provide support for the previous findings implicating adverse effects of electronic media on the quality of sleep.

Aims. Exercise is known to be associated with longer sleep duration and better sleep quality. Good enough sleep has a positive impact not only on somatic and mental health, but also for example on memory and learning. However, so far there is no research of other hobbies than sport in relation to sleep. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of sport hobbies, other hobbies and the time spent on hobbies on adolescents’ sleep duration and quality. Methods. Different hobbies and time spent on hobbies, sleep duration, sleep latency, sleep efficiency and sleep problems of 1374 adolescents (girls 66.4%, mean age 16.84 years) was measured with self-report questionnaire as a part of University of Helsinki SleepHelsinki! research project. Associations with different hobbies and sleep were analysed with ANOVAs and post hoc tests. The effect of time spent on hobbies on sleep was analysed with ANOVAs and regression analyses. Results. Sleep duration on weekdays on average was 7.28 hours, which is less than the recommended 8-10 hours per night, but on weekends adolescents slept enough, 9.26 hours. Girls reported more sleep problems and poorer sleep quality, but no sex differences were found in sleep duration. 58.4% of the adolescents reported having sports as their main hobby and 18.5% reported having no hobbies at all. Those with sports as their main hobby, had longer sleep duration and better sleep quality than those without any hobbies or whose main hobby was other than sports. When analysed separately for boys and girls, this positive association between sport hobbies and sleep was found only in girls. Time spent on hobbies was not associated with sleep duration or quality. Conclusion. Based on this study it seems most important that adolescents do sports in general, not necessarily the amount of time they spend with their hobbies. Adolescents without any hobbies slept less than others and had the worst sleep quality so special attention should be paid to get the most passive adolescents to exercise to improve their sleep and wellbeing.

Objectives: This master´s thesis examined the association between chronotype and substance use in “SleepHelsinki!” study, a population-based cohort of adolescent. Chronotype refers to a person’s partly biological tendency to a certain circadian rhythm, and the extremes are often called “early larks” or “night owls”. Based on earlier studies, the first research hypothesis was that later chronotype is associated with higher substance use. The second hypothesis was that social jetlag mediates the association between chronotype and substance use. Third hypothesis was that the association between chronotype and substance use is moderated by sex. Methods: All Finnish-speaking adolescents who lived in Helsinki and were born year 1999 or 2000 (N=7539) were invited to the study. The participation percent to an e-questionnaire was 18% and sample size was 1367 individuals, of whom 67% were girls. The indicator of chronotype was midpoint of sleep on free days. Social jetlag was measured as the difference between the midpoints of sleep on free days and days with obligations. Substance use was measured with AUDIT-C score and with the status of daily smoking and if the adolescent had tried recreational drugs. First hypothesis was analyzed with regression analyses, the second with mediation analysis and the third with moderation analysis. Results: Later chronotype was related to more substance use (p<0.001 for all measured substance use factors). This association was stronger in girls than in boys (p=0.033). However, social jetlag did not mediate the connection between chronotype and substance use (p=0.962). Conclusions: Our study contributed to the understanding on the association between later chronotype and higher substance use. The coexistence of these factors is useful information in the treatment of youth with sleep problems or substance use problems. The role of social jetlag in adolescents has to be studied more since the results of this study are in conflict with earlier research on social jetlag.

Uni on eläimille elintärkeää. Kaikkia sen merkityksiä ei vielä tunneta. Erityisen tärkeää uni ja lepo ovat nuorilla kasvavilla eläimillä, koska kehittyvät aivot vaativat paljon unta. Kotieläinten unta ja vireystilaa sekä uneen vaikuttavia tekijöitä on tutkittu hyvin vähän. Tuotantotiloilla saattaa olla pikkuvasikoiden uneen merkittävä vaikutus. Epämiellyttävät ympäristöolosuhteet, kuten liian suuret ryhmäkoot, liiallinen kosteus, likaisuus ja veto voivat heikentää unen laatua. Stressireaktio on yksi elimistön vasteista, jonka avulla yksilö selviää jatkuvasti muuttuvassa elinympäristössään. Aiemmin on todettu, että stressin jälkeen koe-eläinten NREM-unijaksot olivat pidempiä ja syvempiä. Myös eläimen vuorokausirytmi voi muuttua kroonisen stressin aikana. Unella voi olla myös vaikutusta yksilön kykyyn sietää pitkäaikaista stressiä paremmin. Lisääntynyt nukkuminen vähentää altistumista stressitekijöille. Siten uni säätelee ja lievittää stressin vaikutuksia. Tässä tutkimuksessa seurattiin kolmen kuukauden ikäisten vasikoiden lepo- ja unikäyttäytymistä yksilökarsinoissa sekä betonilattialla (12 vasikkaa) että pehmeällä kumimatolla päällystetyllä lattialla (12 vasikkaa). Vasikoita kuvattiin tauotta 24 tuntia. Vasikan aktiivisuus määriteltiin tutkimuksessa seuraavasti: seisoo tai makaa. Makaaminen jaoteltiin sen perusteella, makasiko vasikka rintansa päällä vai kyljellään (tukeutuuko vasikan lapa maata vasten). Makaavan vasikan käytöksen perusteella määriteltiin, onko se valveilla vai nukkuuko se, käyttäen Hännisen (2007) kehittämää metodia; Pään ja varsinkin kaulan asentojen perusteella uni jaettiin REM-uneen ja NREM-uneen. Jos vasikan pää liikkui vähintään kerran 30 sekunnin tarkkailujakson aikana, vasikan määritettiin olevan hereillä. Jos taas niska tuki vasikan päätä, mutta pää ei liikkunut 30 sekunnin aikana (vasikka saattoi myös märehtiä), vasikan koodattiin olevan NREM-unessa. Kun niska ei tukenut päätä, vaan pää tukeutui vasikan ruumiiseen tai alustaan, eikä pää liikkunut 30 sekunnin aikana, vasikan määritettiin nukkuvan REM-unta. Tutkimuksessamme vasikat nukkuivat vuorokaudessa lähes kaksi tuntia enemmän purukuivitetulla betonilattialla kuin kumimatolla (550,31 ± 103,61 min vs. 402,53 ± 102,69 min, p<0.05). NREM-unen määrä vuorokaudessa oli suuntaa antavasti (p<0.08) suurempi betonilattialla pidetyillä vasikoilla (428,13 ± 102,06 min) kuin kumimatolla pidetyillä vasikoilla (305,61 ± 101,15 min). Vasikat nukkuivat vuorokauden kokonaismakuuajasta enemmän betonilattialla kuin kumimatolla (54,78 ± 9,64% vs. 42,44 ± 9,55%, p<0.06). Vasikat makasivat vuorokaudessa kerrallaan betonilattialla 31,80 ± 4,48 min ja kumimatolla 25,95 ± 4,44 min (p=0.05). Päättelimme, että betonilattia on pikkuvasikalle epämiellyttävä makuualusta, johon vasikka sopeutuu lisäämällä untaan, erityisesti NREM-unta.

Riittävä uni on välttämätöntä nisäkkäiden terveydelle ja hyvinvoinnille. Tämän vuoksi karjanpitoon liittyvät seikat, jotka vaikuttavat eläinten unen laatuun ja määrään, vaikuttavat siten myös eläinten hyvinvointiin ja tuottavuuteen. Kasvavien eläinten kohdalla unen merkitys korostuu. Uni säätelee monilla nisäkkäillä muun muassa glukokortikoidien ja kasvuhormonin eritystä. Naudalla tätä yhteyttä ei ole toistaiseksi osoitettu. Liian aikainen tai äkillinen maidosta vieroitus altistaa vasikoita sairauksille, lisää imemiseen liittyvää häiriökäyttäytymistä ja voi hidastaa vasikoiden kasvua. Maidosta vieroituksen vaikutuksia vasikoiden uneen ja lepoon ei ole tätä koetta ennen juuri tutkittu. Unen rakenteessa tapahtuvat muutokset korreloivat sen kanssa, kuinka hyvin eläimet sopeutuvat elämään eri stressioireiden paineessa. Syventäviin opintoihini kuului videomateriaalin käsittely liittyen vuoden 2004 – 2005 kokeesta sekä kirjallisuuskatsauksen tekeminen vieroitusstressin vaikutuksista vasikoiden uneen ja lepoon. Kokeessa vasikat vieroitettiin hapatetusta juomarehusta äkillisesti niiden ollessa noin kahdeksan viikon ikäisiä. Tämän ikäiset vasikat pystyvät jo käyttämään kiinteää ravintoa hyväkseen. Ihanteellisen vieroituksen tulisi kuitenkin tapahtua vähitellen. Kokeessa oletettiin, että vasikat ovat juomarehusta vieroitusta seuraavina päivinä nälkäisiä, koska vasikat ovat vieroitukseen asti hankkineet suurimman osan ravinnostaan juomalla vapaasti tarjottua hapanmaitoa. Nälkä stressaa vasikoita, ja stressi voi muuttaa unen laatua ja/tai rakennetta. 24 vasikan käyttäytymistä videoitiin 8 viikon iässä päivänä ennen juomarehusta vieroitusta, vieroituspäivänä ja 1., 2., ja 7. päivänä vieroituksen jälkeen. Videoista rekisteröitiin vasikoiden seisomiseen ja makaamiseen käyttämä aika ja vasikoiden eri univaiheissa viettämä aika. Vasikoiden käyttäytyminen ennen ja jälkeen vieroitusta analysoitiin toistomittaussekamallilla. Vieroituspäivinä vasikat olivat levottomia, mutta vieroituksen jälkeisinä päivinä vasikat lepäsivät aiempaa pidemmissä jaksoissa kerrallaan sekä nukkuivat enemmän ja pidempiä jaksoja NREM- unta kerrallaan. REM- unen suhteen muutokset olivat vähäisiä. Tulokset olivat yllättäviä, koska aiemmissa tutkimuksissa koejyrsijöiden unen rakenteen muutokset stressin seurauksena ovat olleet päinvastaisia: yleisesti kokonaisuniajan on todettu vähentyvän ja unen rakenteen muuttuvan rikkonaisemmaksi. Päättelimme, että vasikoiden vieroitus vapaasta hapanmaitojuotosta muuttaa niiden lepo- ja unirytmejä. Muutokset palautuivat osittain tai täysin viikon kuluttua vieroituksesta.

The importance of equine welfare has become more important in the last years. There is a need for welfare parameters, which help to define and measure the welfare of domestic horses. The importance of sleep on health and wellbeing is well-known in humans but has not yet been extensively studied in horses. It is known that horses sleep either non-REM-sleep or REM-sleep. Also, horses are able to partially sleep in a standing position. For REM-sleep they need to have muscle atony and lie down. Horses are easily disturbed while sleeping and many factors affect how much and how long horses spend sleeping. Horses are also able to postpone their REM-sleep for extensive periods of time, which directly effects their health and welfare. The aim of our study was to measure and analyze how the softness of the bedding in the lying areas affect the sleeping and resting behavior of horses. This thesis was part of the UNIHEPO initiative, which consisted of multiple studies around equine sleep. For our study we conducted a cross over study with sixteen (16) clinically healthy horses in the equine school Ylä-Savon ammattiopisto during fall 2022. The study included three treatments: the normal amount of bedding as the baseline, then thin (5 cm) bedding and thick (15 cm) of bedding. We recorded three periods: the baseline, and then two consecutive periods with half of the stalls having thick bedding and the other half thin. The duration of each treatment period was 21 days, respectively. We switched the treatments after the first period so that that each horse had both treatments. We recorded and analyzed the first two (2) and last two (2) nights of each period. The results were reported as seconds calculated from the median of the daily mean values. Only the data from the two treatments was analyzed for this thesis. The horses exhibited more resting behaviors and supported their necks longer in a sleeping position, when the bedding was thicker (p=0,002). There was no statistically significant difference between the treatments when lateral recumbency bout amounts or lying durations were analyzed, but the lying duration was longer. With thicker bedding the horses had a higher number of sternal recumbency bouts (p=0,013) and the bout duration was longer (p=0,001). Also, the total duration spent in sternal recumbency was higher on thicker bedding (p=0,002). Surprisingly we noticed rolling behavior after lying bouts almost solely on thicker bedding (p=0,004). There were also some tendencies for correlation between the height of the horses, lying bouts and bedding thickness. Our research provided us with valuable information on the factors affecting the sleeping and resting behavior of horses. At the same time the need for further research was highlighted. Still, our results reinforce the scientific knowledge, which is crucial in developing and promoting equine welfare.

Insomnia and milder sleep problems are common complaints that affect about one third of the adult population. Because of the side-effects of hypnotics there is a growing need for new non-pharmacological treatments for insomnia. In earlier studies mindfulness-based treatments have proven to be effective for example in the treatment of depression and stress symptoms. It has also been demonstrated in multiple studies that mindfulness has many favorable effects on general wellbeing, such as increasing positive affect. The effects of mindfulness on insomnia and sleep have been the focus of large-scale research just for the past few decades. The objective of this thesis was to review the most recent research findings on the effects of mindfulness-based treatments on insomnia and sleep in different contexts, and to evaluate the reliability of these findings and the studies’ limitations. In addition, initial findings on the mechanisms through which mindfulness is thought to improve sleep are reviewed. Latest meta-analyses, systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials and background information were searched form Pubmed and Google Scholar -databases. Three most recent systematic reviews or meta-analyses and six randomised controlled trials published after them were included in the review of the effects of mindfulness on insomnia and sleep. Seven studies were included in the review of the mechanisms between mindfulness and sleep. Research findings accumulated so far indicate quite strongly that mindfulness-based treatments might be an effective approach in treating insomnia and in improving sleep in general. Mindfulness-based therapies might even pose a potential alternative to traditional insomnia treatments. Especially the positive effect of mindfulness on sleep quality was demonstrated in many studies. However, the observed effect sizes varied between different studies. Research findings concerning the mechanisms between mindfulness and sleep suggest that more adaptive cognitive processes seem to play a central role.