Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
A new U.S. study suggests that taking a short nap during the day won't relieve the effects of sleep deprivation following a restless night.
The study, conducted by researchers out of Michigan State University's (MSU) Sleep and Learning Lab, found that short naps ranging between 30 and 60 minutes are ineffective in mitigating the potentially dangerous cognitive effects of sleep deprivation.
The findings were published Thursday, in the peer-reviewed scientific and medical journal Sleep.
The study involved 275 college-aged participants who completed cognitive tasks at MSU's lab in the evening before going to bed.
According to the study, the tasks measured attention and place keeping, such as the ability to complete a series of steps in a specific order without skipping or repeating them, even after being interrupted.
The participants were randomly split into three groups. The first group was sent home to sleep, the second stayed at the lab overnight and had the opportunity to take either a 30- or a 60-minute nap, while the third group did not nap at all in the deprivation condition, according to researchers.
The following morning, all of the participants reconvened in the lab and repeated the cognitive tasks they performed the night before.
"The group that stayed overnight and took short naps still suffered from the effects of sleep deprivation and made significantly more errors on the tasks than their counterparts who went home and obtained a full night of sleep," said study author and director of MSU's sleep lab Kimberly Fenn in a press release.
While the naps showed no "measurable effects" in mitigating the cognitive effects of sleep deprivation, researchers reported that the amount of slow-wave sleep (SWS) -- the deepest and most restorative stage of sleep -- obtained during the nap was linked to a reduction of impairments associated with sleep deprivation.
According to the study, SWS is the stage of sleep when one's body is most relaxed and when heart rate and respiration are at their slowest. Researchers say SWS is marked by high amplitude, low frequency brain waves.
"When someone goes without sleep for a period of time, even just during the day, they build up a need for sleep; in particular, they build up a need for SWS. When individuals go to sleep each night, they will soon enter into SWS and spend a substantial amount of time in this stage," Fenn explained.
The study found that every 10-minute increase in SWS reduced errors in the tasks that involved completing a series of steps in a specific order after interruptions "by about 4 per cent."
"Individuals who obtained more SWS tended to show reduced errors on both tasks. However, they still showed worse performance than the participants who slept," Fenn said in the release.
However, researchers noted that the amount of SWS obtained – if any – during a nap varies from person-to-person.
While these numbers may seem small, Fenn said they are significant.
Given the types of workplace errors that can occur in sleep-deprived operators, such as those of surgeons, police officers or truck drivers, "a 4 per cent decrease in errors could potentially save lives," Fenn said.
Researchers hope the findings highlight the importance of prioritizing a restful sleep and that naps, even if they include SWS, don't replace the benefits from a full night’s sleep.
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
A Minnesota state senator and former broadcast meteorologist told police that she broke into her stepmother's home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to burglary charges filed Tuesday.
Australian police arrested seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology in raids across Sydney on Wednesday, as a judge extended a ban on social media platform X sharing video of a knife attack on a bishop that started the criminal investigation.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.