New Mothers Sleep Plenty, Wake Often

No one ever says they expect to catch up on their sleep after having a kid. Somehow, mothers actually get plenty of rest – a full seven hours, according to new findings. Only those hours are sabotaged by waking to care for a sleepless infant for a total of two hours per night.New mothers’ total sleep time surprised researchers at the University of West Virginia. The results of the study were

Study: Medical Pot Helps Chronic Pain Patients Sleep

Managing sleep can be difficult when you’re in constant pain. A small amount of medical marijuana appears to help patients with chronic neurological pain sleep through the night.Patients with damaged nerves may experience seemingly unexplainable pain caused by a faulty signal in the body’s central nervous system. The initial pain may begin with a painful accident or medical condition. Untreated

CPAP Can Reverse Sleep Apnea-Related Male Infertility

A clinical sleep specialist may have the answer for would-be fathers with fertility woes. Infertility is one of the many health problems associated with obstructive sleep apnea. A new study shows it is reversible with the right treatment.Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the front-line treatment for obstructive sleep apnea, can solve the symptoms of sleep apnea, including

Consumer Alert: Unauthorized Sleep Aid Contains Dangerous, Addictive Sedative

The Canadian government has issued a warning against the sleep aid Fulda Unitang Herbs Sleep Plus. The unauthorized supplement contains high levels of the prescription sedative estazolam.Health Canada reports the drug poses a serious health risk. Estazolam is a member of the benzodiazepine drug class, which includes Valium and Ativan.The label-directed dose of Fulda Unitang Herbs Sleep Plus

Trapped Chilean Miners Struggle to Sleep

A half mile under the Chilean desert, 33 men are in the early stages of an ordeal no human should ever experience. They’re trapped together in a pitch-black 600-sq-ft mining chamber for at least the next several months.Weeks ago, the men were presumed dead in a mining accident. Everything changed this week with the bombshell announcement by the President of Chile. Rescuers discovered a note tied

Emotionally Available Parents Produce Sound Sleepers

Warm caring parents wake less to the sound of a baby blaring. Disposition and parental style appears to influence how infants and toddlers sleep, research shows.Parental instincts come into play. Basic emotional communication such as talking quietly and gently and responding to a child’s cues helps ease them to sleep. Investigators at Penn State University believe this behavioral lets the

Severe Alcoholism Destroys Sleep-Regulating Rhythms

A body clock broken by alcoholism may never tick again. New research shows chronic drinking can permanently damage the genes that regulate our sleep cycle. It takes hard work and dedication to make a full recovery from alcoholism. It’s unclear if a full sleep recovery may ever follow. The study was published on the website for Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. A print version will be

Circadian Signs Found in Hair Samples

You can find out a lot about a person’s health just by taking a hair sample. Employers and police use hair tests to detect traces of alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, meth and many more oft-abused substances. Your doctor can tell you if you have any vitamin, mineral or nutritional deficiencies from a few dozen strands. And now researchers are learning hair tests can show when we are supposed to sleep

Thunderstorms and Obstructive Sleep Apnea

When the sky opens up and thunder and lightning come crashing down your first priority should be seeking shelter in a safe place. Worry about your CPAP machine or oral appliance later. There’s little evidence strong storms will have a noticeable effect on sleep-related breathing.The latest newsletter from the Harvard Medical School warned readers about sleep apnea during thunderstorms. The

CPAP Helps Vets with Gulf War Syndrome, Breathing Problems

A machine and a mask go a long way towards improving the lives of the men and women who fought for their country during the first Gulf War. A small pilot study suggests CPAP can reduce the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome and sleep-disordered breathing for veterans.The study, published Friday in Sleep and Breathing, involved a small sample of Gulf War veterans with sleep disordered breathing and

“Paralyzing Love” Shuts Off Neuroscientist’s Waking Functions

Oregon neuroscientist Matt Frerking is an extraordinary case of a person suffering from a rare sleep disorder. His narcolepsy with cataplexy prevents him from experiencing intensely positive feelings like joy or love without literally becoming paralyzed. Yet he continues to go about his daily life as a successful researcher and family man. He even drives to work.Frerking was profiled on ABC’s

Infant Comfort Helps Adults Sleep Slightly Sooner

An infant comfort may lull adults to dreamland. The sensation of being rocked to sleep may help people of any age fall asleep sooner. By manipulating the sense of balance we can replicate the same feeling without ever moving.The findings were published in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. A sample of 198 healthy normal sleepers laid with their eyes closed, with

REM Sleep Boosts Creative Problem Solving

The sleep stage sometimes characterized by vivid dreams is when your mind goes to work for you. A study presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association demonstrated how REM sleep can boost memory and creative problem solving.Sleep researchers at the University of California, San Diego, used a word association test to show the difference REM sleep makes on memory.

CPAP for Sleep Apnea Obstructed by Insomnia

A double dose of sleep disorders can disrupt the first option of treatment. Patients who complain of insomnia more often give up on Continuous Positive Airway Treatment (CPAP), researchers at Johns Hopkins University report.CPAP involves wearing a sealed mask while you sleep. A tube connected to the mask gently blows air into the back of your throat. The sensation may feel unnatural at first.

Sleep Drug during Depression Treatment can Solve Insomnia Symptoms

Insomnia and depression are often closely related. The relationship can go both ways: depression can cause insomnia, and insomnia can lead to depression.Depression drugs are the front-line treatment for most patients, but as the bleakness of depression goes away the sleeplessness often stays.A team of researchers say the insomnia can be easily solved by altering patients’ prescriptions. They

Did Jet Lag Contribute to Famed Flight Attendant Outburst?

You’ve heard the story a million times now. Flight attendant gets fed up with passengers, curses them out on the planes PA system, quits job, grabs beers, opens hatch and slides down the emergency chute.The theatric outburst elevated Steven Slater from anonymous flight attendant to working class hero overnight. He did exactly what everyone dreams of doing but would never dare to carry out: an

Parents Irate Over School Start Time Trade-off

A large urban school district’s move to accommodate children’s sleep needs seems to have backfired. Many parents are outraged that the Kansas City public schools decided to flip-flop elementary school and high school start times. Young children will be waiting at the bus stop before sunrise while teens get an extra hour of sleep. District leaders had the students’ best interests in mind when they

Back to School Sleep Tips for Parents

It’s that time of year again when parents have to break the bad habits that keep kids up late during the summer months. The switch to an early morning wake-up call that comes with the start of school is the source frustration for parents. Getting kids to put down the Playstation controller and get to bed at a decent hour can be met with fits of refusal.This bedtime battle is in the children’s

Sleep Apnea in Europe

The cosmopolitan youth of Western Europe share the same sleep-related breathing risks as their Yankee counterparts, medical data suggests. Whether they live in Europe or North America, overweight male smokers who have a large neck sizes most frequently experience breathing pauses caused by obstructive sleep apnea. People of African descent appeared to have a heightened risk, report the authors of

High Frequency of “Sleep Spindles” in Brain Make Sound Sleepers