Scientists warn of 'global sleep crisis' due to social pressures

May 7, 2016

Washington, May 7: Social pressures are forcing people to cut back on their sleep, contributing to a "global sleep crisis," according to a new study based on research collected through a smartphone app.

ScientistsIt enabled scientists from the University of Michigan to track sleep patterns around the world -- gathering data about how age, gender and the amount of natural light to which people are exposed affect sleep patterns in 100 countries -- and better understand how cultural pressures can override biological rhythms.

"The effects of society on sleep remain largely unquantified," says the study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.

"We find that social pressures weaken and/or conceal biological drives in the evening, leading individuals to delay their bedtime and shorten their sleep."

Lack of sleep is mostly affected by the time people go to bed, the study found.

Middle-aged men get the least amount of sleep, less than the recommended seven to eight hours.

And age is the main factor determining amount of sleep. The research is based on data collected through the free smartphone app Entrain, launched in 2014 to help users fight jetlag.

Scientists asked some 6,000 people 15 and older to send anonymous data about sleep, wake-up and lighting environment, enabling the scientists to obtain a large amount of data about sleep patterns worldwide.

The app also asks users to input information about their ages, gender, countries and time zones. Sleep is driven by an internal "circadian" clock, a cluster of 20,000 nerve cells the size of a grain of rice located behind the eyes, and adjusted according to the amount of light captured, especially natural light.

The average amount of sleep in the world varies from a minimum of seven hours 24 minutes in Singapore and Japan to a maximum of eight hours 12 minutes in the Netherlands, the study found.

Although a difference of 48 minutes may seem inconsequential, a lack of sleep for half an hour can have significant effects on cognitive function and health, the researchers said.

People who need sleep suffer a reduction in their cognitive abilities without really being conscious of it, the new study says. "Impaired sleep presents an immediate and pressing threat to human health," it says.

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Sunday, 8 May 2016

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February 10,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 10: The Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday conducted a route march (Pathsanchalan) in Ramanagara to express solidarity with the anti-Christian forces protesting against a project to install 114-feet tall Jesus Christ statue atop Kapalabetta in Harobele town in Kanakapura taluk in Ramanagara district.

Hindutva ideologue Kalladka Prabhakara Bhat, who had led a rally in Kanakapura last month against the project, also led the Sunday’s route march and addressed a public meeting following the march.

“The district name is Ramanagara, but they have not nurtured the culture of Ram here. They have developed a strong culture of Ravana, which we pledged to dislodge,” Bhat told the gathering.

He said the Sangh Parivar will never allow the statue to come up as he said it would foment religious conversion that is rampant in Harobele.

“The so called Kapalabetta is of stones, which are revered as Lord Muneswara by the Hindus. This hillock must be named as Muneswara Betta,” he added.

Referring to the ongoing protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Bhat said the law was brought in to protect the Hindu minority in Pakistan and Bangla Desh.

“The Muslims living in India hail Pakistan. But when we ask them to go to Pakistan, they will never go,” he took a jibe at the minority community.

Reacting to the RSS route march, senior Congress functionary DK Shivakunar, who represents Kanakapura assembly seat, said the Sangah Parivar is trying to disturb the communal harmony in the district and they will never succeed in it.

“The BJP is operating through the Sangh Parivar in the Ramanagara district. The party has won as may as 26 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, still they are doing all these things to keep their support base. People of Ramanagara will never back them,” said Shivakumar.

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News Network
July 23,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 23: The Siddi community in Karnataka got its first lawmaker as Governor Vajubhai Vala nominated five persons, including Shantharama Budna Siddi, to the Karnataka Legislative Council on Wednesday.

Shantharama Siddi had been working as a social worker and was a post holder at the Vanavasi Kalyan Prakalpa, a tribal welfare initiative of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The Siddis, an ethnic group in India, are said to have descended from the people of the East African region. They are included in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST) in Karnataka.

Apart from the Shantharama, the inclusion of CP Yogishwar, who had left Congress to join BJP in 2017 but failed to retain his seat in the 2018 Assembly polls, is also considered as a big decision.

Adagur H Vishwanath, another former JDS leader, who had quit his party and joined BJP but failed to retain his seat has also caught the attention of the people.

Further, Governor Vala has nominated Talwar Sabanna and Bharathi Shetty to the Upper House in the state.

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News Network
April 4,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 4: The mother and grandmother of the 10-month-old baby boy, under treatment at a private hospital in Deralakatte here for COVID-19 infection, tested negative.

Doctors at the hospital said the condition of the infant, who was admitted with an acute respiratory infection, was stable and there had been a good response to the treatment being given in isolation.

The child, hailing from Sajipanadu Village in Bantwal Taluk was admitted to a hospital at Deralakatte in Mangaluru for treatment on March 23 as it had developed respiratory problems. 

On March 24, the child’s condition worsened and hence his throat swabs was sent for COVID-19 testing. On March 27, reports of the tests confirmed that the child was infected with COVID-19.

Health authorities are of the view that the baby might have contracted the disease when the family travelled recently to Kasaragod in Kerala, a district identified as a hotspot for Coronavirus.

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