Latest news with #Hadza
New York Post
20-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Having trouble sleeping? 4 ways sleeping like a caveman can cure insomnia
Yabba dabba snooze! Sleep is essential for physical and mental health — it's crucial for brain function, memory consolidation, tissue repair, immune system maintenance, concentration, hormone regulation and stress management. Unfortunately, more than a third of American adults don't get enough rest. Inadequate sleep has been linked to cognitive troubles, a weakened immune system, weight gain, depression and a higher risk of chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Advertisement Dutch sleep scientist and recovering insomniac Merijn van de Laar suggests that our ancestors may hold the key to sleeping like a rock. 4 Dutch sleep scientist Merijn van de Laar wrote the new book, 'How to Sleep Like a Caveman.' Courtesy of Merijn van de Laar 'Sleep has hardly changed since Paleolithic humans snoozed soundly in their caves,' van de Laar notes in his new book, 'How to Sleep Like a Caveman.' Advertisement 'While saber-toothed tigers were their biggest night-time worry, today it's stress and social media that keep us awake, but the solutions are the same,' he added. Van de Laar shares four suggestions for getting a better night's sleep in three weeks — cave not required. Let go of the eight-hour rule Experts generally recommend adults snooze between seven and nine hours a night. Van de Laar said it's OK to get six. Advertisement 'The average length of subjective sleep is between just under six hours and almost 7.5 hours,' he told The Post. 'Sleeping six hours is generally not more associated with health problems when compared to sleeping eight hours.' 4 Experts generally recommend adults snooze between seven and nine hours a night. Van de Laar said it's OK to get six. Jelena – Beware the potential risks of catching fewer winks. A 2019 Penn State study found that middle-aged adults with high blood pressure or diabetes who averaged less than six hours a night had twice the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke than those who dozed longer. People with a history of heart disease or stroke had three times the increased risk of dying from cancer if they clocked less than six hours a night. Examine your attitude towards lying awake at night Advertisement If you lie awake at night, don't fret. Van de Laar said awake time is normal — it's only a problem if you're restless or anxious. 4 Van de Laar said awake time is normal — it's only a problem if you're restless or anxious. Syda Productions – 'We have forgotten to lie awake because, in industrialized countries, we are faced with higher sleep pressure due to shorter bed time,' he said. 'In a more natural situation, where even the best sleeper lies awake a lot (such as the Hadza tribe in Tanzania), lying awake takes on a different and less problematic form.' Discover your personal sleep needs Van de Laar suggests experimenting with how much time you spend in bed to figure out what feels most restorative. 'If you find yourself regularly awake and restless in the night, institute a shorter bed time to increase sleep pressure,' he said. 'The goal at first is not to sleep better, but to have shorter periods of restless wake. This is how you break the negative circle of insomnia.' 4 The amount of time spent in bed can influence sleep quality. amenic181 – Advertisement To do this, estimate how long you slept on an average night last week and add half an hour. That's how much time you should spend in bed this week. Don't go under five hours. On the flip side, you should consider extending the amount of time you spend in bed if you sleep fairly continuously but feel like you are getting too little sleep. 'If you continue to have restful nights and function better during the day or even feel less sleepy, you know you are on the right track,' he explained. Respect your circadian rhythm Advertisement Circadian rhythm is your body's 24-hour clock — it regulates sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, appetite, digestion and body temperature. These natural processes are heavily influenced by light and darkness. 'Skip the 6 a.m. exercise class if it does not fit with your natural circadian rhythm,' van de Laar advised. 'Try to find out what your biologically determined day-night rhythm is, and try to follow it as much as possible.'
Euronews
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Defending tradition and language at Geneva'sHuman Rights Film Festival
Geneva's International Film Festival and Forum for Human Rights (FIFDH) has just wrapped up but the 'impact' of what was screened over the past ten days will resonate way beyond the Swiss city. Around 100 film projects were submitted for the "Impact Days" programme, organised as part of the event for directors and producers to present their work to potential backers. Only a dozen documentary films made the shortlist and one of them was Children of Honey, about Tanzania's Hadzabe people fighting to preserve their language. The Hadzabe are one of the oldest hunter-gatherer tribes in the world. Caught in a battle between the preservation of the old ways and the lure of modern conveniences, the community is engaged in an existential war of survival. 'When I first met the Hadza, I immediately realized that they have something which all of us have lost, which is a true connection to the natural world and also to each other. They have a very egalitarian social fabric," said Jigar Ganatra, the film's co-director. "When the idea of the film came out, the Hadza said that: 'This needs to be big, we want the world to know about our story because for far too long, we have been portrayed in a way that we don't like and also our story hasn't been heard.' "It's a great opportunity for us to be in front of people that can really support us, not just on the film side but on the real change maker side,' added Ganatra. Directors and producers also met with committed international players concerned by the struggles addressed in the films they watched. Simona Nickmanova, an impact producer on Children of Honey explained more about the filmmakers' work to understand the Hadza: 'We are working to understand where are their most urgent needs right now and how we can support already existing grass roots initiatives. They are very keen on preserving their language, as well as preserving their habitat and making sure that they are telling their own story.' Sentiments shared by the film's producer Natalie Humphreys: "This is really participatory, filmmaking co-creation, done in the right way. Not just in the new way, but the only way we should do going forward, which is participatory, where the community invite us in, which is what happened here, so that they have an international team to help get the story out." The talents all share one thing in common; they use film to foster change in communities. For more details watch the video in the player above. Growing up in Mumbai's Ambedkar Nagar district, Ashok experienced firsthand the challenges many children face. Through his educational initiative, OSCAR Foundation. Ashok uses football to motivate and instil academic focus.
