http://sleep.health.am/ http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/sleep-breathing-machine-shows-benefits/ Children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea had substantial improvements in attention, anxiety and quality of life after treatment with positive airway pressure (PAP)—a nighttime therapy in which a machine delivers a stream of air through a mask into the nose. “The benefits occurred even when children didn’t fully adhere to the treatment,” said study leader Carole L. Marcus, M.D., a sleep specialist and director of the Sleep Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The Sleep Center follows thousands of children and adolescents with sleep problems. The study appears online ahead of print in the American Journal of Respiratory and Clinical Care Medicine.  2012-02-12T19:47:01-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/sleep-problems-increase-risk-for-cardiovascular-disease/ People who suffer from sleep disturbances are at major risk for obesity, diabetes, and coronary artery disease, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  For the first time in such a large and diverse sample, analyzing the data of over 130,000 people, the new research also indicates that general sleep disturbance (difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and/or sleeping too much) may play a role in the development of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. The study is published online ahead of print in the Journal of Sleep Research. “Previous studies have demonstrated that those who get less sleep are more likely to also be obese, have diabetes or cardiovascular disease, and are more likely to die sooner, but this new analysis has revealed that other sleep problems, such as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or even too much sleep, are also associated with cardiovascular and metabolic health issues,” said Michael A. Grandner, PhD, research associate at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at Penn and lead author of the study. The researchers examined associations between sleep disturbances and other health conditions, focusing on perceived sleep quality, rather than just sleep duration. After adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic and health risk factors, patients with sleep disturbances at least three nights per week on average were 35 percent more likely to be obese, 54 percent more likely to have diabetes, 98 percent more likely to have coronary artery disease, 80 percent more likely to have had a heart attack, and 102 percent more likely to have had a stroke. 2012-01-20T21:07:01-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/lack-of-sleep-makes-your-brain-hungry/ New research from Uppsala University, Sweden, shows that a specific brain region that contributes to a person’s appetite sensation is more activated in response to food images after one night of sleep loss than after one night of normal sleep. Poor sleep habits can therefore affect people’s risk of becoming overweight in the long run. The findings are published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Researchers Christian Benedict and Helgi Schiöth, of the Department of Neuroscience at Uppsala University, showed in an earlier article, published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that a single night of total sleep loss in young normal weight men curbed the energy expenditure the next morning. This research also showed that subjects had increased levels of hunger, which indicates that an acute lack of sleep may affect human’s food perception. In a new study, Christian Benedict, together with Samantha Brooks, Helgi Schiöth and Elna-Marie Larsson from Uppsala University and researchers from other European universities, have now systematically examined which regions in the brain, involved in appetite sensation, are influenced by acute sleep loss. By means of magnetic imaging (fMRI) the researchers studied the brains of 12 normal-weight males while they viewed images of foods. The researchers compared the results after a night with normal sleep with those obtained after one night without sleep. 2012-01-18T22:24:00-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/loud-hospital-rooms-linked-to-poor-patient-sleep/ Hospitals are too loud, and patients’ sleep could be suffering because of it, suggests a new study. According to World Health Organization recommendations, noise in hospital rooms generally shouldn’t get above 30 to 40 decibels. But researchers at one hospital reported that the average noise level in patients’ rooms was close to 50 decibels, and sometimes spiked as high as 80 decibels - almost as loud as a chainsaw, they said. “The hospital environment is certainly not a restful environment,” said Dr. Vineet Arora, from the University of Chicago. 2012-01-11T11:15:01-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/babies-sleep-problems-persist-into-toddler-years/ Don’t just assume a baby’s sleep problems are normal and will soon pass, suggests a new study that finds babies with sleep issues are several times more likely to still have difficulties when they are toddlers compared to babies who sleep well. Sleep problems “definitely start early, and (the researchers) showed that sleep problems persist over the early years,” said Lisa Meltzer, a pediatric sleep specialist at National Jewish Health in Colorado, who was not involved in the study. A team from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio surveyed more than 250 mothers about their children’s sleep behaviors when the kids were six, 12, 24 and 36 months old. 2012-01-05T22:18:00-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/young-diabetics-struggle-to-get-good-nights-sleep/ New research finds that many young people with type 1 diabetes struggle to get a good night’s sleep and this leads to increased health and behavior problems, such as poorer control of blood sugar and worsening of academic performance. You can read a scientific paper on the findings by lead investigator Dr Michelle Perfect from the University of Arizona at Tucson, and colleagues, in the January’s issue of the journal Sleep. Perfect told the press in a statement that: “Despite adhering to recommendations for good diabetic health, many youth with Type 1 diabetes have difficulty maintaining control of their blood sugars.” “We found that it could be due to abnormalities in sleep, such as daytime sleepiness, lighter sleep and sleep apnea. All of these make it more difficult to have good blood sugar control,” she explained. 2012-01-03T19:52:01-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/sleep-disorders-common-in-cops/ A survey from the United States and Canada found 40 percent of police officers had symptoms of a sleep disorder, including sleep apnea and insomnia. Officers who screened positive for those disorders were also more likely to be burnt out, depressed or have an anxiety disorder. And over the next two years, they committed more administrative errors and safety violations and were more prone to falling asleep at the wheel than sound sleepers. “In general we have this cultural attitude of, sleep is for the weak,” said Dr. Michael Grandner, from the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 2011-12-21T07:24:00-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/tart-cherry-juice-drinkers-gain-sleep-advantage/ Americans seeking a better night’s sleep may need to look no further than tart cherry juice, according to a new study in the European Journal of Nutrition. 1 An international team of researchers found that when adults had two daily glasses of tart cherry juice, they slept 39 minutes longer, on average, and had up to 6 percent increase in overall sleep efficiency (significantly less non-sleep time in bed), compared to when they drank a non-cherry, fruit cocktail. In a study conducted at Northumbria University, twenty healthy adults drank two servings of tart cherry juice concentrate (30mL of 100% pure Montmorency juice concentrate per serving, diluted in a half pint of water; provided by CherryActive, Sunbury, UK) or a non-cherry fruit drink for seven consecutive days at a time – one serving when they woke up, and another before bed. The researchers tracked participant’s sleep habits, and after drinking the cherry juice, they found significant improvements in sleep behaviors, most notably longer sleep time, less daytime napping and increased overall sleep efficiency (the ratio of time spent in bed to time spent sleeping) compared to when they drank the non-cherry juice drink. The researchers attribute the sleep benefits to the melatonin content of the red Super Fruit – a powerful antioxidant critical for sleep-wake cycle regulation. Each serving of the tart cherry juice concentrate was estimated to contain the equivalent of 90 – 100 tart cherries, providing a significant level of melatonin in the juice and ultimately in the bodies of the participants.  2011-12-08T18:11:04-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/babies-sleep-better/ Two-month-old babies who receive immunizations in the afternoon sleep better afterward than children who have their shots in the morning, according to a new study. The results suggest a potential method for helping babies sleep through the occasional discomfort that accompanies vaccination, rather than taking a fever reducer as has often been recommended. Sleep is important after getting shots, said lead author Linda Franck, because sleep “is a sign of a vaccine response, and it’s important to maximizing that response.” 2011-11-29T20:11:00-08:00 http://sleep.health.am/sleep/more/airflow-during-sleep-in-obstructive-sleep-apnea/ Hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HGNS) produced marked dose-related increases in airflow in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients without arousing them from sleep, according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center. The study suggests the potential therapeutic efficacy of HGNS across a broad range of sleep apnea severity and offers an alternative to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the current mainstay of treatment for moderate to severe OSA. The effectiveness of CPAP is often limited by poor patient adherence. “With HGNS, airflow increased in all of our patients, and increased progressively with stimulus amplitude,” according to Alan R. Schwartz, MD, medical director of the Sleep Center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. “The increases in airflow we observed were of sufficient magnitude to eliminate inspiratory airflow limitation (IFL) in the majority of patients.” The findings were published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The study, which was supported by device manufacturer Apnex Medical, Inc., enrolled 30 middle-aged patients with moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnea who were implanted with a novel HGNS system. The pacemaker-like device monitors breathing patterns and is activated during sleep to stimulate the hypoglossal nerve, which controls muscles in the upper airway. 2011-11-25T18:02:04-08:00