Australasian conference Sleep DownUnder will take place in Sydney, Australia from October 17-19. There will be discussions on a variety of new sleep aids to help New Zealanders sleep better. Like the new study that wants to determine just how useful kiwifruit is to get people to sleep more soundly.
Sleep specialist Angela Campbell said a large portion of the population had trouble with insomnia and another portion struggled with disorders like sleep apnea. Kiwifruit has been found to potentially have a beneficial role in sleep because it contains serotonin.
Massey University researcher Alex Kanon plans to spend the next three years investigating exactly what it is about kiwifruit that helps with sleep.
Despite research already having been done of the benefits of kiwifruit as a sleep aid, Kanon said this would be a more detailed study and the first time polysomnography (PSG) would be used. PSG monitors the participants heart rate, eye movement, muscle movement and brain activity as they sleep. Kanon said the participants digestion and metabolism will also be studied.
"We hope our study will confirm the link (if it exists) between sleep and kiwifruit consumption and assist us to identify the underlying mechanism, which has not been identified at all as yet."
