Exercise and sleep

Regular exercise has been shown to improve sleep quality. This article discusses that research in the past decade has confirmed that. However, I'm unsure of some of the statements in this article. Specifically, how taking sleeping pills is as dangerous as smoking a pack of cigarettes per day. No studies are cited, which makes it difficult to assess the accuracy of such statements.

Sleep deprivation overview

This link about sleep deprivation is informative and worth a look. It won't tell you how much sleep you need. Given that sleep deprivation is a common problem, getting more sleep may help.

Sleep apnea and pregnancy complications

Pregnancy is a time of rapid change in women's bodies. Sleep apnea can be more common due to weight gain and fluid retention (Restless legs syndrome is also more common - but that is for a separate post). This article discusses research presented at the American Thoracic Society's 2017 International conference. I did not attend this meeting. Researchers studied > 1.5 million pregnant women with a history of sleep apnea. The results showed that in women with obstructive sleep apnea there was a greater risk of serious pregnancy complications, longer hospital stays, and admission to the intensive care unit than mothers without the condition. However, treatment of sleep apnea was not determined, so it's not known if that would reduce the risk.