Sleep: bliss or bane?
On Wednesday June 1, the U3A Helderberg presentation at the Strand Town Hall at 10AM will focus on sleep – bliss for some; a bane for others.
We know we must sleep, but bedtime can be a magical escape from weariness or a murderous time of tossing and turning to pass countless vacant hours.
Sleep health is a hot topic at present - and for good reason. Healthy sleep is critical for life: it reduces our risk for illness and injury, and improves our physical and mental well-being.
It enables our bodies to restore their various systems (immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular), which are vital for maintaining our mood, memory and cognitive function and the functioning of our endocrine and immune systems.
Sleep affects how much we eat or drink, our hormone levels and our ability to function and perform our daily tasks.
While our sleep patterns change throughout our lifespan, sleep is no less important for older people than it is for younger ones.
Dr Dale Rae, a senior lecturer from the University of Cape Town and Director of Sleep Science, is particularly interested in how sleep is associated with health, disease and obesity and the relationship between sleep, the body clock and athletic and work-place performance.
Her talk will bring you up to speed on sleep and provide insight into how sleep could become your new superpower.
For more information,