olivemagazine
type: channel
link: https://www.olivemagazine.com
date: 2025-10-17T11:11:22.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Is sleep overrated? Meet the people getting by on four hours per night
items: Neurotransmitters and soda? The latest functional ingredients in your drink
items: Conquer your jet lag with simple, expert-approved diet tweaks
items: Why spending time in nature is good for you

Is sleep overrated? Meet the people getting by on four hours per night
type: item
date: 2025-10-17T11:11:22.000Z
creator: Pete Wise
subject: Wellbeing
subject: Premium wellbeing
description: Whether it’s due to work pressure, parenthood or preference, a significant minority of people sleep far less than the norm. We interviewed three short sleepers to learn how they get by while the rest of the world slumbers
encoded: Imagine sleeping for just four hours per night. It was enough for Margaret Thatcher, but humans usually require around seven to nine hours for optimal health and cognitive function. This isn’t a blanket rule – some groups are better served by different sleep durations, such as those who are recovering from illness (who need to sleep more than they normally would) and younger children (toddlers should be having 11-14 hours). Most people in the UK say they sleep for seven hours per night, and the equivalent figure rises to eight hours in the US. While this means that most of us are getting at least the minimum amount of sleep we need, it also highlights that millions must be sleeping less. In fact, around 4% of people in the UK and 8% in the US claim to sleep for fewer than five hours per night. What leads to people sleeping so little, and how does this lifestyle affect their health and happiness? We spoke to three people – with very different reasons for only sleeping around four hours a night – and asked sleep expert Dave Gibson, a registered osteopath, hypnotherapist, stress management coach and founder of The Sleep Site for his advice. Short-sleeping by choice: “Four hours per night is the rhythm that works for my life and work.” Hailey Rodaer, a marketing director in Reno, Nevada, US, thinks that four hours is just right: "It may be strange for someone to say they choose to sleep only four hours a night, as this is generally seen as unhealthy. But in my experience, it has become the rhythm that works for life and work. "I naturally wake up at around 3.30am, and these early and silent periods are the most productive times. I am at my sharpest and complete my strategic work before the world comes to life. It started with a difficult product release where I reduced sleep so that I could meet my deadlines, but I found that my body adjusted. "However, I still pay close attention to my health and visit the doctor regularly while also engaging in a daily workout. My ene…

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Neurotransmitters and soda? The latest functional ingredients in your drink
type: item
date: 2025-08-29T11:19:01.000Z
creator: Pete Wise
subject: Wellbeing
subject: Premium wellbeing
description: From prebiotic sodas to mushroom extracts for tea and coffee, functional drinks are everywhere. I found out how some leading brands taste – and what they do.
encoded: For more wellbeing guides, check out our 10 ways to boost energy and our health expert guide to serotonin – what it is and how to boost it for your health. Why drink water when you could choose a beverage that boosts your gut health with prebiotics, calms you with cannabinoids or even enhances your cognitive function? That’s the sort of proposition being put to us by a new generation of functional drinks brands, whose fast-growing niche encompasses nutrient-enriched sodas, mushroom supplements, hydrating electrolyte powders, CBD drinks, GABA spirits and more. It seems that there’s now a brightly branded drink for every ailment or aspiration – but how do they taste, and do they function as claimed? I sampled a cornucopia of functional drinks to find out. What is a functional drink? You might wonder what distinguishes a functional drink from other drinks which have always been prized for their specific effects, such as coffee or alcohol. Food scientists call products of this type ‘nutraceuticals’, which the Cambridge Dictionary defines as “a food to which vitamins, minerals, or drugs have been added to make it healthier”. Researchers have long recognised the potential for beverages to act as a “nutraceutical delivery system”, and the current functional drinks boom sees that idea reaching commercial fruition. “Driven largely by younger consumers, the market is due to grow in sales approximately 34% YoY, and firms are investing heavily in the space, specifically in new science-led innovations,” says Amanda Hardwick, a headhunter at Hartmann Young, which recruits for functional drinks brands. “Rather than the standard caffeine boost and crash, these products provide broader benefits such as better gut health, relaxation, and mental clarity,” she adds. “It started out as a trend that has now transitioned into a way of life for health-conscious people.” CBD drinks Just a decade ago, few among us would have expected that CBD drinks would soon be stocked at supermarkets like…

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Conquer your jet lag with simple, expert-approved diet tweaks
type: item
date: 2025-08-01T10:06:07.000Z
creator: Pete Wise
subject: Wellbeing
subject: Premium wellbeing
description: You’re not shelling out for long-haul just to feel tired – so we asked a nutritionist, a sleep specialist and a long-haul pilot how to manage your jet lag
encoded: For more on improving your sleep, find out about 'sleep tourism', how much sleep you really need and our review of the best sleep supplements. Our bodies are used to a daily routine. We eat at certain times, we’re more active during predictable periods and we have a good idea of when the sun will rise and set. The brain signals us to wake, sleep, get things done and digest food at just the right moments. This is our circadian rhythm – and long haul flights break it at intercontinental speed. “The disruption essentially throws off the release timing of hormones like melatonin and cortisol, which regulate sleep-wake cycles and other bodily functions including digestion,” says sleep specialist and founder of The Sleep Site, Dave Gibson. “The body clock naturally aligns with the environment but when you travel across multiple time zones it remains set to the original time zone, leading to more severe symptoms the further you travel.” We call this phenomenon ‘jet lag’ and while those words may carry a sprinkling of glamour, the realities are grounding. “Common symptoms include insomnia or excessive sleepiness, headaches, daytime fatigue, digestive issues like bloating, constipation or diarrhoea, difficulty concentrating and mood changes such as irritability,” says Dave. Even the most flight-hardened travellers can experience these effects. “I’ve certainly felt the cognitive fog myself – I once tried to pour orange juice on my cereal after a trip,” says Captain Zoe Cameron-Casey, a long-haul pilot and human factors instructor at Virgin Atlantic. “Even as a teenager I remember seeing this in action. My dad was a pilot too and after one trip he took me and my siblings to the supermarket. We managed to convince him to buy all sorts of snacks and things he’d usually say no to.” 5 jet lag facts The term ‘jet lag’ originated in the 1960s when long-haul travel was taking off – travel writer Horace Sutton, who may have coined the term, described jet lag as “a debility not unakin …

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Why spending time in nature is good for you
type: item
date: 2025-07-22T13:27:31.000Z
creator: Pete Wise
subject: Wellbeing
subject: Premium wellbeing
description: Probably one of the easiest and cheapest wellness treatments you can get, here’s how stepping outside will benefit your health
encoded: Find out other ways to stay healthy, how working from home affects your wellbeing and how what you eat can help protect your skin from the sun. Perhaps you have a tale of how nature helped you feel better? Mine started by walking a daily loop around the main road, suburban cut-throughs and rural trails near our home. We were in a Covid lockdown, and isolation from friends and families was unravelling my mental state. My wife, Alice, persuaded me that daily short walks would make a difference, as she’d point out to me the plants that were newly blooming, the butterflies and dragonflies now flitting among them. It turned out we weren’t alone in a frozen world. We were still part of something, in nature. I’ve had a deeper relationship with nature since then, and this has kept me grounded. I run, hike, camp and, above all, I notice and better appreciate the world around me. Plants that I once saw as mere scenery have names, meanings and a valued place in the year. The benefits of being outdoors 2020 was a recent high point in our relationship with the natural world. Four years later, over a million fewer people in the UK were gaining health benefits from time spent outdoors. We would do well to reverse that trend, as it’s increasingly clear that nature provides us with a many-flowered meadow of benefits to body and mind. The growth in popularity of forest schools is one testament to the benefits children gain from spending time outside. “I believe in the concept, because we see clear differences in children who have not had regular outdoor exposure prior to joining us,” says Hayley Ramsden of Greenglade Day Nursery and Forest School, Hipperholme, West Yorkshire. “Children who attend forest school are more able to regulate their emotions, and they can engage in imaginative play for longer periods. “The children are able to expand on their physical skills such as balance, coordination and strength by climbing, running on uneven ground and lifting natural objects. They als…

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