Researchers Find The Effects of Racism Cause Black People to Get A Half Hour Less Sleep

[KamaAina]

than white people.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/02/researchers-find-effects-racism-cause-black-people-get-half-hour-less-sleep-white-people/

The effects of racism may seep into our brains and harm us even when we are trying to sleep, according to alarming new research that shows racial stress and discrimination cause Black adolescents and adults to get an average of a half hour less sleep per night than white people, which has an enormous impact on Black health and performance.

Social media users have frequently joked that they wished to get some of that “good white woman’s sleep”—who knew that all along it was actually true?

Researcher Emma Adam from Northwestern University has discovered that young adults from racial/ethnic minority groups who experience more discrimination have higher levels of cortisol in the evening, and less decline in cortisol levels throughout the day, than those with lower discrimination. Flatter cortisol rhythms across the day have been linked to a long list of problems, such as higher fatigue, poor mental health, cardiovascular disease and failing memory....

Because of the importance of sleep to the human body and its optimal level of importance, this significant difference in sleep quality means that over time Black people are much more susceptible to greater fatigue, lower self-esteem, increased depression, disruptions in immune functioning, increased inflammation, increased obesity, diabetes and heart problems, increased risk of unsafe driving and accidents, slowed reaction times, and impaired attention and memory.