Oxford News
Oxford-backed research examines sleep and depression
Researchers at the University of Birmingham, supported by Oxford Health and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, analysed data from more than 15,000 children taking part in the long-running Children of the 90s project, based around Bristol.
They tracked night-time sleep from six months to seven years of age, collecting information at several points in early childhood, and then followed participants’ self-reported depression symptoms from age 12.5 through to 22.
Only a relatively small group of children experienced ‘persistently shorter’ sleep throughout childhood, but within that group the risk of long-lasting depression was noticeably higher.
Those children were found to be almost twice as likely to report consistently high levels of depressive symptoms during adolescence and early adulthood compared with peers who slept for longer.
Lead author Dr Isabel Morales-Muñoz said it was persistent poor sleep across childhood, rather than the odd bad night, that appeared to be linked to the increased risk.
She stressed that poor sleep is common in childhood and that most children in the study did not go on to develop enduring depression, even if they sometimes slept badly.
The team also emphasised that the overall proportion of children who experienced persistent depressive symptoms remained relatively small, even among those with long-term sleep issues.
In a paper published in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the researchers said theirs is the first study to demonstrate a detrimental effect of shorter night-time sleep from infancy through childhood on more severe and long-lasting depression in later years.
They also examined whether inflammation in the body might help explain the connection between sleep and mental health, but found only mixed evidence for this possible biological pathway, suggesting other factors are also likely to be involved.
The authors said the findings underline how important it is to support good sleep habits early on, describing sleep as a ‘modifiable’ part of children’s lives that can often be improved without medical treatment.
Suggested steps include keeping to regular, earlier bedtimes, cutting back screen time before bed, encouraging plenty of physical activity during the day and creating a calm, consistent sleep environment.
They added that while such changes are not always easy for families, improving children’s sleep can bring immediate benefits for daily life and may also help reduce the risk of mental health problems as they grow older.
Seven emergency service vehicles are currently at the scene of a police incident in Oxford.
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Shane Sterling, who studied at Oxford University, is currently a judo athlete, practising magician and is the owner of Oxford Magic Walking Tours.
He was hospitalised with heatstroke after conducting three back-to-back walking tours through Oxford on Monday (August 3).
Shane led tours at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, spending most of the day outdoors and walking between Oxford’s historic landmarks in hot weather.
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His tours are highly interactive and can occasionally run slightly beyond their scheduled finish time.
This can leave Shane with only around 20 minutes to return to the meeting point, check in the next group and begin the following tour.
Around an hour into his final tour at 3pm, he began to feel increasingly unwell, but determined not to disappoint his guests, he continued and completed the tour.
However, shortly after the tour ended, his condition quickly became worse.
“I suddenly felt extremely sick and dizzy,” Shane said.
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“I had a severe headache, I was incredibly thirsty, and I knew something was not right.
“Luckily, my wife was meeting me after the final tour. She immediately realised how unwell I was and made sure I received medical help.”
Shane was taken to hospital that evening, where he was treated for heatstroke.
Medical staff warned him that the situation could have become extremely serious if help had been delayed.
The tour guide is sharing his experience as a warning to others, particularly with further periods of hot weather expected.
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“I spend a great deal of time outdoors, and I consider myself to be extremely fit,” said Shane.
“I represent Team GB in judo and have trained at a high level for many years. I never expected something like this to happen to me, but it shows that heatstroke can affect anyone.”
He is now urging residents, visitors, tour guides and outdoor workers to take extra precautions during periods of extreme heat.
“Drinking water is essential, but it is not the only thing people need to think about,” Shane said.
“Try to spend time in the shade, take proper breaks and avoid pushing through if you begin to feel unwell.
READ MORE: ‘Devoted’ husband and father, 74, killed in Cotswolds fire
“Move to a cool or air-conditioned place as quickly as possible and seek urgent medical help if your symptoms are serious.”
Common warning signs of heat-related illness can include dizziness, nausea, severe headache, intense thirst, confusion, weakness and feeling unusually unwell.
Shane, who has now recovered, added: “I pushed through because I wanted to finish the tour for my guests, but looking back, I should have stopped as soon as I felt ill.
“No tour, job or appointment is worth putting your health at risk. The hospital staff told me that this could have ended very badly for me.”
According to The Sun, the hosts will join YouTubers Thomas Holland and James Engelsman as well as social media star Francis Bourgeois in series seven.
Having presented Top Gear together for over a decade, the famed trio departed the BBC show back in 2015, moving on to Prime Video’s The Grand Tour.
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The petrol enthusiasts are expected to help ensure the show’s reboot gets off to a smooth and welcoming start, according to co-creator and TV producer Andy Wilman.
Mr Wilman, who is also executive producer of Clarkson’s Farm, told The Sun that the guys will do cameos as they “pass that baton on” in the series which debuts on Friday, September 4.
The TV producer told 3Bs radio at the Buckingham Literary Festival: “We’ve got three guys coming soon with a new Grand Tour and we’ve got behind them.
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“We’re really supporting them. Our guys are in the shows doing cameos, so we’re wishing them well because we do want to pass that baton on.”
This will be the first time in almost two years the Top Gear originals, who went their own ways professionally, will be seen together since September 2024.
That was when The Grand Tour: One For The Road was released on Prime Video, marking an end to over two decades of Mr Clarkson, Mr May and Mr Hammond working together.
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