Feature Channels: Sleep

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Poor nutrition and lack of exercise lead to the increasing prevalence of obesity which, in turn, is the major predictor of diabetes and future risk of cardiovascular disease in western societies. Excess weight is also closely associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the increasingly common and potentially serious sleep disorder that is often marked by loud snoring. OSA affects about 5 to 10 percent of children 8 to 11 years old. While evidence suggests that OSA appears to exacerbate obesity and its comorbidities such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, its effects on children have not yet been studied in detail.

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Getting more sleep may help wound healing, and a nutrition supplement may also help, according to a new study. The paper, published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology, was chosen as an APSselect article for November.

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Stony Brook University’s School of Health Technology and Management have developed StopDrowsyDriving.org to help raise awareness about the prevalence of drowsy driving and reduce crashes caused by it, an estimated 6,000 per year.

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Rural counties continue to rank lowest among counties across the U.S., in terms of health outcomes. A group of national organizations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National 4-H Council are leading the way to close the rural health gap.

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People who worry about poor sleep have more emotional and physical problems during the day than those who do not worry, regardless of how well either sleep, according to research conducted at The University of Alabama.

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A UCLA study is the first to reveal how sleep deprivation disrupts brain cells’ ability to communicate with each other, leading to temporary mental lapses that affect memory and visual perception.

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• Insomnia was linked with increased risks of early death, rapid kidney function decline, and kidney failure in a group of US veterans. • Results from the study will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2017 October 31–November 5 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA.

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A common and potentially serious sleep disorder, obstructive sleep apnea affects at least one quarter of U.S. adults and is linked to increased risk of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. In a paper published today in the journal Neuron, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) identified specific neural circuitry responsible for rousing the brain of mice in simulated apnea conditions. The findings could lead to potential new drug therapies to help patients with obstructive sleep apnea get more rest.

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New research finds a link between frequent nightmares and self-injurious behavior, such as cutting and burning oneself.

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A new paper in the November issue of Pediatrics spells out why children and teens are particularly sensitive to the sleep-disrupting impact of electronics

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In a new study published today in Menopause, researchers have found that the hot flashes and night sweats faced by upward of 80 percent of middle-aged women may be linked to an increased risk of obstructive sleep apnea.

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If you think only infants suffer from eczema, think again. The uncomfortable, itchy rash that most people relate to babies and young children occurs frequently in adults. Although many adults with atopic dermatitis (commonly known as eczema)develop the disease in childhood and carry it through life, a large number are first diagnosed in adulthood – atrend being discussed at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting.

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Disrupting sleep-wake cycles from a predominantly daytime to a delayed eating lifestyle, -- i.e., skipping breakfast and making lunch the first meal of the day, plus eating late dinner, disrupts the body’s natural circadian (24-hour) rhythm, the cycle that tells us when to sleep, wake up, eat, and influences hormones and other functions.

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International research involving the University of Adelaide has uncovered a developmental abnormality in babies – especially in premature babies and in boys – that for the first time has been directly linked to cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

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The temptation to respond to social media notifications and text messages is keeping more and more teens awake at night. Teens who spend more than two hours a day on their smartphones get fewer than seven hours of sleep each night, according to a new study.

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New research at the University of Adelaide has found that a specific combination of techniques will increase people's chances of having lucid dreams, in which the dreamer is aware they're dreaming while it's still happening and can control the experience.

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A new study has found that lack of sleep among pregnant women may be a contributing factor to the development of gestational diabetes.

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A new study from scientists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) offers important insights into possible links between sleep and hunger.

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Keck Medicine of USC experts discuss the types of injuries professional baseball players are at risk for and how they are treated, along with ways to optimize athletic performance.

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The American Thoracic Society applauds the efforts of New York Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and New Jersey Senators Booker and Menendez for their legislation to improve transportation safety by addressing sleep apnea. We believe screening for sleep disorders like sleep apnea and ensuring appropriate treatment for sleep related illness will improve the health of transportation workers and improve the safety of the U.S. transportation system for all travelers.

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A long-term study of nearly 3,000 older adults found that those who could not identify at least 4 out of 5 common odors were more than twice as likely as those with a normal sense of smell to develop dementia within five years. About 14% could name just 3, 5% percent could identify only 2, and 2% could name just 1. One percent of the study subjects were not able to identify a single scent.

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Many people with schizophrenia have trouble with learning and memory. A new study has found intriguing links between sleep, cognition and a compound called kynurenine. These links could illuminate the mechanism that causes cognitive problems among those with the disease, and could point the way to new treatments to reduce some of the disease’s symptoms.

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Sleep doesn’t come easily for nearly half of older Americans, and more than a third have resorted to some sort of medication to help them doze off at night, a new national poll finds. But most said they hadn’t talked to their doctor about their sleep, even though more than a third said their sleep posed a problem. Half believe -- incorrectly — that sleep problems just come naturally with age.

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The upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea demonstrates the three hallmarks of sleep and represents the first example of sleep in animals without a brain, HHMI researchers report.

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People with both high and low levels of magnesium in their blood may have a greater risk of developing dementia, according to a study published in the September 20, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Participating in twice-weekly practice of Tibetan yoga may reduce sleep disturbances and improve sleep quality in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, according to a study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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Sleep deprivation – typically administered in controlled, inpatient settings – rapidly reduces symptoms of depression in roughly half of depression patients, according the first meta-analysis on the subject in nearly 30 years, from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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People with chronic kidney disease may be especially vulnerable to the deleterious effects of poor sleep, according to a new paper published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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University of Adelaide researchers have confirmed that abnormalities in a common brain chemical are linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

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• In individuals with chronic kidney disease, high sleep fragmentation was associated with an elevated risk of developing kidney failure. • Higher sleep fragmentation and shorter sleep duration were each linked with steeper declines in kidney function over time. • Subjectively measured daytime sleepiness was associated with an increased risk of early death from any cause.

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Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are more likely to use CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, when their use is telemonitored and they receive individualized, automated messages that reinforce therapy adherence, according to a randomized, controlled trial published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Let sleeping dogs lie … in the bedroom. That’s according to a new Mayo Clinic study that’s sure to set many tails wagging.

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Two new studies led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggest that the bevy of tools available to assess and address childhood adversity and trauma, as well as the interconnected webs of relationships among families and the providers who care for children, are key to healing the effects of these potentially life-altering circumstances.

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Balancing school and sleep; Researchers report link between cells associated with aging and bone loss; Discovery of new prostate cancer biomarkers could improve precision therapy...

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Sleep apnea, left untreated for even a few days, can increase blood sugar and fat levels, stress hormones and blood pressure, according to a new study of sleeping subjects. A report of the study’s findings, published in the August issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, adds further support for the consistent use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a machine that increases air pressure in the throat to keep the airway open during sleep.

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Johns Hopkins researchers report the unexpected presence of a type of neuron in the brains of mice that appears to play a central role in promoting sleep by turning 'off' wake-promoting neurons. The newly identified brain cells, located in a part of the hypothalamus called the zona incerta, they say, could offer novel drug targets to treat sleep disorders, such as insomnia and narcolepsy, caused by the dysfunction of sleep-regulating neurons.

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Children sleep more poorly if their mothers suffer from insomnia symptoms – potentially affecting their mental wellbeing and development - according to new research by the University of Warwick and the University of Basel.

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Study finds no one does well with less than seven hours of sleep; more than 11 hours suboptimal, too

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A new study published in Menopause: The Journal of The North American Menopause Society has found that low-dose hormone therapy may be effective in easing sleep issues in this population.

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People who get less rapid eye movement (REM) sleep may have a greater risk of developing dementia, according to a new study published in the August 23, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. REM sleep is the sleep stage when dreaming occurs.

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People with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), a disorder characterized by repetitive episodes of paused and shallow breathing during sleep, are approximately ten times more likely to develop glaucoma.

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The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) is disappointed that DOT has withdrawn its proposed rulemaking for the Evaluation of Safety Sensitive Personnel for Moderate-to-Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

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A new joint study by the University of Haifa and Assuta Sleep Clinic has found that exposure of two hours prior to sleep to the blue light emitted by screens damages the quality of sleep. Exposure to screens that emitted "ordinary" red light, yielded similar results to sleep without exposure to light at all. “Fortunately there are various applications that filter the problematic blue spectrum and apply a weak red filter, reducing the damage to the darkness hormone melatonin,” explains Prof. Abraham Haim, one of the authors of the study

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A new preclinical study found that a brief period of extended wakefulness before surgery enhances pain and prolongs recovery time after surgery. Caffeine administration helped to reduce the harmful effects of sleep loss on subsequent surgical pain.

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Leading pediatrics and sleep associations agree: Teens shouldn’t start school so early. Yet University of Michigan research finds parents are split almost down the middle on whether they support delays in school start times that might permit their 13- to 17-year-olds to sleep later on school days.

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Binge-watching is a great way for young adults to catch up on multiple episodes of their favorite television series like "The Walking Dead" or "Game of Thrones," but it comes at a price.

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The American Thoracic Society is extremely disappointed with the Department of Transportation’s decision to withdraw an advance notice of a proposed rule regarding screening commercial truck drivers and train engineers for sleep apnea. Abundant evidence indicates that undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea is the root cause of many preventable fatal and non-fatal driving-related accidents.