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(1) Sleep, considered a luxury by many, is essential for a person's wellbeing. Researchers have found that insufficient sleep increases the risk of developing severe medical conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Now, a new study by Boston's Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found that getting sufficient sleep is also the key to improve academic performance.
(2) They were not trying to find the correlation between sleep and grades when Fitbits to the 100 students were handed out. Instead, the professor hoped the popular wrist-worn device which, tracks a person's activity 24/7, would show a connection between physical exercise and academic achievement. As part of the research, a quarter of the participants were enrolled in an intense fitness class specially created for the study. After the semester ended, the researchers carefully analyzed the data. Much to their surprise, they found no measurable difference in test performance between the group that had been physically active and the group that had been sedentary.
(3) However, the study yielded a surprising insight. As the researchers were parsing through the large amount of data, they noticed an interesting trend emerging from the participants' sleep patterns. There was a straight-line relationship between the average amount of sleep a student got and his or her grades on the 11 quizzes, three midterms, and the final exam administered during the semester. Even more interesting, it was also not sufficient for students to just head to bed early the night before a test. We've heard the phrase Get a good night's sleep, you've got a big day tomorrow.' However, it turns out this does not correlate at all with test performance. Instead, it's the sleep you get during the days when learning is happening that matter most.
(4) The time students went to bed each night was similarly important. Those who went to bed in the early hours of the morning performed poorly, even if the total sleep time was the same as a higher-performing student. So, when you go to bed matters. If you get a certain amount of sleep — let's say 9 hours — no matter when you get that sleep, as long as it's before certain times. Say you go to bed between 10pm and 1am, your performance is the same but if you go to bed after two in the morning, your performance starts to go down even if you get the same nine hours so you should probably be asleep before then. So, quantity isn't everything. The research does not prove that sleep is the only factor that helps improve academic performance. However, the lead researcher says the results are a strong indication that sleep really matters. So, with teens estimated to need around 9 to 10 hours sleep a day and the average school goer getting up at 7 am, the results may suggest a bedtime of 9 or 10 at night. This can be shifted somewhat at the weekend if the student still gets their correct number of hours and can sleep in long enough to ensure the suggested amount of time and it also doesn't factor in having an afternoon sleep.

According to experts, depression is on the list of most common mental health disorders. According to statistics, more than 7% of US residents suffer from a major depressive disorder on an annual basis. Although there are many complex causes of this disorder, researchers are still trying to know more about this aspect. So far, we know that there is a relationship between air pollution and depression. A new study has found that this disorder may be linked with pollution. Let’s find out more about it.

Researchers conducted a study with the help of a group of healthy volunteers in Beijing. According to experts, depression is on the list of most common mental health disorders. If you look at statistics, the most polluted cities are in China. Since these cities have a high level of pollution, researchers have chosen their residents to conduct this experiment.

Experts used air quality monitors in order to get a better idea of the volunteers’ exposure to fine particulate matter. Afterwards, all of the participants were evaluated for different signs of depression. Besides, they were also tested for their cognitive performance. The purpose was to find out if their cognitive performance declined due to breathing poor quality air.

They found that poor air quality has a negative impact on the mood and cognitive performance of people. Besides, researchers also came to know about a mechanism that may cause people to suffer from depression when exposed to pollution. They wanted to know as much as possible by conducting this experiment.

Apart from this, researchers also came to know that individuals that have genetic predisposition were more likely to develop a disorder when they are exposed to polluted air for the long term. The thing is that air pollution may also have a negative impact on the neural network in the human brain. Once this neural network is compromised, the individual may start having problems. So, we can say that air pollution can be very bad for your mental health. Once your mental health is compromised, you will have problems with other parts of your body as well.

So, we can say that air pollution is one of the primary factors that causes depression. This is the reason people are more likely to suffer from depression when they live in highly polluted areas. Therefore, those who live in the countryside have better mental health.

Although more research is required to completely understand the relationship between air pollution and depression, we suggest that you try your level best to breathe fresh air. For this purpose, we suggest that you consider purchasing a good air purifier for your home or office. These simple but powerful devices can purify your indoor air in an efficient manner. After all, you don’t want to suffer from depression in your life.