Troubled Sleepers at Risk for Soft Arterial Plaque

Frequency of plaques was much higher in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea has been linked with cardiovascular disease, but it also may be linked with the deadliest type of coronary artery plaque, a small study suggests.

Of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), 63 percent had noncalcified or mixed plaques compared with 16 percent of those without OSA, according to Sunil Sharma, MD, of East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., and colleagues.

“The broad confidence interval was most likely due ...

Continue Reading →
0

Treating Insomnia Could Prevent Suicide

Targeting the feeling of hopelessness about sleep, caused by insomnia, can be an effective method of suicide prevention, according to a study published in the ‘Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine’.

Scientists have long noticed that sleeplessness and suicide are linked. Now, a new Georgia Regents University study suggests why that might be — and how treating the former can potentially prevent the latter.

Insomnia affects about 15 percent of adults, but up to 80 percent of those with depression. Depression, in turn, ...

Continue Reading →
0

Traffic May Keep City Dwellers Awake, Harming Health

Sleep disturbance could lead to greater risk for heart attack and high blood pressure, researchers say.

Nighttime noise pollution — in particular the din of traffic — in urban areas puts city residents at risk for disrupted sleep and annoyance, researchers report.

Such chronic sleep disturbance could lead to serious health consequences, including increased risk for heart attack and high blood pressure, according to the new study. In addition, nighttime noise can also lead to poor sleep quality, which can cause morning ...

Continue Reading →
0

Treating Apnea May Help Blood Pressure

Connection discovered between poor sleep habits and increased risk of hypertension.

Treating obstructive sleep apnea in patients who have daytime sleepiness as a symptom may have an additional benefit—a reduction in the risk of high blood pressure.

A pair of studies published in the May 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association point to a possible link between a reduction in hypertension and the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), but only one of the studies—an observational one—found ...

Continue Reading →
0

Too Much Light: Ruining Not Just Your Sleep But Your Health Too

Falling asleep with the TV on or a dim night-light in your room may seem soothing. But these seemingly innocent light sources could also form barriers between you and healthy sleep.

Falling asleep with the TV on may ward off the bogeyman, but research suggests that, over time, too much light at night could interfere with healthy sleep, possibly increasing your risk of sleep disorders and other health problems. According to emerging research, sleep disorders and nighttime lighting may be making ...

Continue Reading →
0

Tips to Manage This Weekend’s Time Change

A few minor adjustments can help ‘morning people’ and children.

When the clocks go back an hour this weekend, some people may have trouble adjusting to the time change.

Many welcome the switch from daylight savings time to standard time because it means an extra hour of sleep on Sunday, but some will find it difficult to adapt, according to Girardin Jean-Louis, a sleep specialist and professor of medicine at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.

Exposure to ...

Continue Reading →
0

Tips on Coping With Daylight Saving Time

Tweaking sleeping, eating, drinking and online habits all can help, experts advise.

The loss of an hour of sleep that comes with overnight Saturday’s switch to daylight saving time can be uncomfortable if you don’t take some simple steps to prepare, experts say.

To help you adapt, Dr. Praveen Rudraraju, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y., offers the following tips:

The bedroom should be used for sleep and sex only, Rudraraju advised in a ...

Continue Reading →
0

The Allure of Lucid Dreaming

Sounds like the stuff of movies, but some people can realize they’re in a dream while they’re still having it. Find out about this unusual phenomenon called lucid dreaming.

You’re standing somewhere that you only vaguely recognize. Maybe it’s your second grade classroom or a temple from ancient Greece. All the sudden, five tigers descend directly on you. Fear starts to make your breathing stop and your hand flail. But wait — you try to jump and suddenly you can fly ...

Continue Reading →
0

Snacking While Asleep? The Truth About Nocturnal Eating Disorders

Do you wake in the night and eat? Sleep eating is more common than you think.

Sure, everyone likes a good bedtime snack, but for some people, nighttime eating stretches beyond that final bowl of ice cream before turning in. These people find themselves inadvertently snacking the night away, either knowing or unknowingly, in the form of nocturnal eating disorders, or NEDs.

There are two types of these eating disorders, nocturnal eating syndrome (NES) and sleep-related eating disorder (SRED). The main difference ...

Continue Reading →
0

Smartphone Alarm Clock Offers Better Mornings

Want to wake up feeling well-rested more often? Smartphone apps can monitor your sleeping phases and wake you up when you’re the most likely to feel well-rested.

Waking up every morning without an alarm would be nice, but that usually happens only on the weekends. The problem with alarm clocks is that they wake you regardless of where you are in your sleep cycle, which often means sleep interruption.

A bio-alarm, however, offers a nearly painless way to wake up all week ...

Continue Reading →
0
Page 5 of 32 «...34567...»