Give gardai real help to end gangs
As research shows snoozing less than 7hrs is harmful to health
THE video and images of a warring gang in West Dublin is a wake-up call to the Government.
This is Ireland in 2019 where feral groups of thuggish youths have armed themselves to fight their disputes.
The days of fists are gone, these gangs are now hell bent on murder and they don’t care who gets in the way.
The community of Corduff deserve better – the decent people in that community must be living in constant fear.
Our exclusive video showed the moment two factions fired shots at each other across a street.
It is not hard to imagine what it must be like for unarmed gardai to police such an area and the danger they face daily.
The Irish Mirror has revealed previously that officers have launched a crackdown on the gang but their resources are limited.
It is incredibly difficult for gardai to be everywhere but the Government and the Department of Justice need to give them the support to at least have a fighting chance.
It has worked before in other cities gripped by gang wars – the Fitzgerald Report in Limerick recommended 100 extra gardai – and the results were obvious.
The Community in the Corduff area must also support gardai and provide the information to smash this gang before lives are lost.
Did you have problems dropping off last night? If so, you’re far from alone. One in three people in suffers from some form of insomnia, with thousands of working days a year lost to absenteeism caused by lack of sleep.
Now research has found regularly getting less than seven hours of sleep can damage our DNA beyond repair.
The study, by the University of Hong Kong, revealed sleep deprivation caused substantial damage to the genes of otherwise healthy young adults – and this damage has elsewhere been linked to a higher risk of cancer and other serious diseases.
A second study found getting enough shut-eye could boost the body’s production of infectionfighting white blood cells.
Researchers at the University of Tübingen in Germany believe this white blood cell boost helps explain why people who sleep eight hours or more per night have a stronger immune system and lower rates of many physical illnesses and depression.
WHY SLEEP IS A HEALER
It comes after a growing number of studies showed getting sufficient sleep provides a big boost for our health – warding o f f everything from heart disease to cancer. One key reason is that sleep is the time when all the cells in our body get to work repairing themselves.
Anyone who has been sick has experienced some form of this – when bed rest and sleeping has helped our body fight infection and accelerated our recovery.
Miss too much recovery time and problems occur. Professor Colin Smith, of the University of Surrey, says: “If lack of sleep means we can’t replenish and replace these new cells, it’s going to lead to disease in the long run.”
SLEEP CAN ALSO KEEP YOU SLIMMER...
Studies show people who sleep fewer hours tend to weigh significantly more than those who get eight hours plus.
Indeed, a shorter nightly sleep quota is one of the strongest risk factors for obesity.
One review of sleep studies by medical research charity Cochrane found that people who slept less than six hours per night had up to a 90% higher risk of obesity than those who slept eight hours per night.
The reason is linked to several factors including increased appetite and not having enough energy to exercise.
“Research has found sleepdeprived people feel hungrier and eat more calories over the course of the day,” agrees nutritionist Linda Foster. “And they also tend to pick less healthy, more sugary and high fat foods.”
This may be because lack of sleep increases the body’s levels of “hunger hormone” ghrelin. Establishing a great pre-bedtime routine – what’s known as good “sleep hygiene” – will help you drop off more easily and stay slumbering until morning. Try the following... Did you know even a post-lunch latte could affect your ability to sleep that night?
Studies have found the stimulant effect can last up to 10 hours in caffeinesensitive people. “Eating a heavy meal late in the evening can result in bloating and heartburn which can seriously disrupt sleep,” warns nutritionist Linda Foster. To avoid this, eat as early as possible, and opt for a meal high in vegetables, which sit lighter in the tummy, and with smaller portions of carbs and protein. Good choices include: grilled salmon with salad or a chicken and vegetable stir-fry with basmati rice. Smartphones and tablets emit a blue light that works to shut off your brain’s production of melatonin – the sleep hormone that makes you feel drowsy and tells your body that it’s time to drop off. Experts also recommend storing them outside your bedroom where they can’t disturb you or be a distracting temptation if you’re struggling to sleep.
A comfortable sleeping space is always going to be more conducive to better sleep. Just before you doze off your body’s core temperature drops, an action which helps trigger the sleep process. Because of this it’s better to have your bedroom cooler rather than hotter for sleep. Make sure your mattress and pillows are in good shape to ensure comfort.
Whether it’s reading a good book, listening to calming music or having a warm bath, repeating the same, relaxing routine every night will help signal to your body – and brain – that it’s time to settle down. If you have to get up around 7am, as many of us do, you want to ensure you’re in bed by 11pm to allow for the ideal eight hours of sleep. In addition, sleep studies have found that the optimal bedtime window is between 10pm and before 12am, as this allows your brain and body to get the ideal ratio of deep sleep to REM, or dream sleep, overnight.