Sleepless Dangers

Researchers at UC Berkeley found deep ‘slow wave’ sleep could restore memory as we age.

Improving sleep quality could provide a memory boost in older people who may have difficulty remembering things like people’s names, according to neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley.

For their study, the researchers tested memory in 18 healthy adults mostly in their twenties, and 15 healthy adults in their seventies after a full night’s sleep. Before going to sleep, participants learned and were tested on 120 ...

Study looked at couples in which one member had knee osteoarthritis.

If your partner suffers chronic pain from knee osteoarthritis, your sleep and mood may suffer as well, according to a new study.

The study included 145 couples in which one partner had knee osteoarthritis that caused moderate to intense pain. The participants recorded their levels of pain, sleep quality and levels of feeling rested or refreshed in the morning over 22 consecutive nights.

When patients reported higher levels of knee pain at ...

1 in 25 reports falling asleep at the wheel, CDC says.

Driving drowsy is a major factor in traffic accidents and deaths in the United States, federal health officials reported Thursday.

Federal statistics state that 2.5 percent of fatal motor vehicle crashes and 2 percent of crashes with non-fatal injuries involve drowsy driving.

But, data gathering methods make it difficult to estimate the actual number of accidents that involve drowsy drivers. In fact, some studies have estimated that between 15 percent and ...

Young men in small study ate more when sleep-deprived.

Lack of sleep can lead you to eat larger portions of high-calorie foods and increase your long-term risk of weight gain, according to a small new study.

Swedish researchers asked 16 normal-weight males to choose their ideal portions of high-calorie meals and snacks. They did this when they had a normal night of about eight hours sleep and again when they went a night without sleep.

The participants chose larger portion sizes after the ...

Two separate studies have found that sleep loss may put you at risk for weight gain and Alzheimer’s disease.

MONDAY, March 11, 2013 — Trouble sleeping might be a sign of early Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

The study, published in JAMA Neurology, is a follow-up to a 2012 animal study also conducted at Washington University, in which researchers concluded that mice lost approximately 25 percent of their ...

Lost sleep causes more than just bags under your eyes.

Getting enough sleep is a basic human need that all too often gets overlooked in the rush to squeeze more hours into the day. Ignoring that need, however, can lead to serious health consequences: Sleep deprivation jeopardizes your safety, ability to concentrate, mental stability, and long-term well-being.

“The more people look into it, the more they find significant health problems associated with a lack of sleep,” said William Kohler, MD, medical director ...

Adverse reactions to popular sleep meds rose almost 220 percent between 2005 and 2010, study finds.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of emergency-room visits related to sleep medications such as Ambien, according to a new U.S. study.

Adverse reactions to zolpidem — the active ingredient in the sleep aids Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar and Zolpimist — rose almost 220 percent between 2005 and 2010, researchers from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found.

The study ...

A study of Australian truck drivers has found that caffeine greatly reduced the number of car accidents caused by fatigue.

Some people skip caffeine because it causes them to “crash.” But for truck drivers, a new study suggests caffeine may be the secret to steering clear of a crash.

Truck drivers who typically consumed caffeine were far less likely than other drivers to be involved in traffic accidents, according to an Australian study in the British Medical Journal that controlled for ...

Those with disorder risk injury, fatigue and other health problems, researchers report.

Adults don’t always outgrow sleepwalking, and among those who don’t, 58 percent may become violent and sometimes injure either themselves or their sleeping partner, a new study shows.

Not only that, these sleepwalkers suffer a host of health problems during their waking hours, the researchers noted.

“Daytime sleepiness is a frequent problem in adults affected with sleepwalking,” said study author Dr. Yves Dauvilliers, director of the sleep lab at Gui-de-Chauliac Hospital ...

News reports say that William Rockefeller, the driver of the train wreck, may have experienced “highway hypnosis,” but experts say that’s really just a way to say he was sleep-deprived, likely due to his odd work hours

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 4, 2013 — On Sunday, a Metro-North train took a turn at 82 miles per hour — nearly three times the 30 MPH speed limit — and derailed, killing four passengers and injuring more than 60 others. As the victims’ families ...