In January, Ariana Huffington, who for years has described herself as a “sleep evangelist,” turned her evangelism on the soon-to-be-inaugurated President Donald Trump. Speaking in Davos, Switzerland, Huffington called Trump “the poster child of sleep deprivation” and argued that he “should be separated from his phone at night, get a full night’s sleep and stop tweeting in the middle of the night.”
Trump sleeps about two to four hours nightly, The Post reported in November. In that regard, the president has something in common with many Americans. We are so delinquent about getting consistent sleep, according to a 2016 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that a third of the population snoozes for fewer than seven recommended hours of sleep.
Perhaps Huffington should become a camping advocate, too. As the weekend warrior knows, falling asleep may come a little easier when it happens beneath the stars. A new report from the University of Colorado, Boulder, backs up that woodsy wisdom with evidence taken from a small group of campers. A weekend trip was enough to make a difference in the rise and fall of the hormone melatonin, which regulates our biological clock. And a week spent outside in winter — thanks to the exposure to 9 hours of sunlight daily, rather than the artificial stuff — shifted sleep times earlier and reset the body’s circadian clock.
“Living in our modern environments can significantly delay our circadian timing and late circadian timing is associated with many health consequences,” said Kenneth P. Wright, a sleep researcher and author of the new study. “But as little as a weekend camping trip can reset it.”
