September 2006 Archives

Allergic rhinitis affects all aspects of sleep, according to a new study.

"Allergic rhinitis is common and has been shown to impair social life and sleep," Dr. Damien Leger, of Center du Sommeil et de la Vigilance, Paris, France, and colleagues write in the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Patients with severe symptoms may have more sleep disturbances than those with a mild form of the disease, but this has never been assessed using a validated tool."

In a nationwide study, the researchers studied 591 patients who had allergic rhinitis for at least a year and a comparison group of 502 unaffected "control" subjects.

Overall, 85 percent of allergic rhinitis patients were being treated for their disease. Also, the team notes, 24 percent of allergic rhinitis patients had asthma, compared to less than 2 percent of controls.

Compared to people with mild allergic rhinitis, those with severe allergic rhinitis had significantly impaired sleep. The subjects with allergic rhinitis used significantly more sleeping pills and alcohol than controls.

"A total of 43.7 percent of patients with allergic rhinitis reported a feeling of fatigue on awakening despite a normal night's sleep," Leger's team writes.

"Headache at awakening, anxiety, and depression as contributing factors of sleep problems and daytime somnolence were significantly more frequently reported by patients with allergic rhinitis than by the controls," the investigators add.

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Some scientists now believe that dreaming is a way of sorting through our emotions and integrating the events of our lives into our memories -- something we sometimes can't do when we're awake.

"It's like in waking, we're stuck in a rut. We think in straight lines. It's white or black," says Dr. Ernest Hartmann, a psychiatrist at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and author of nine books on sleeping and dreaming. "A dream is another form of mental functioning, mental processing -- it's our subconscious presenting things differently and more broadly."

Gillian Holloway, who has a doctorate in psychology and is author of "The Complete Dream Book" (Sourcebooks, $14.95) also believes in the common saying, "Sleep on it." From a simple decision such as adopting a new pet to complicated ones such as making a career decision or moving across the country, dreams can help you make the right choice, she says.

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The quadrennial Congress of the World Federation of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Societies (WFSRSMS) will be hosted by the Australasian Sleep Association (ASA) at the Cairns Convention Centre.
   
Representatives of the Australasian Sleep Association were in Salt Lake City, USA recently promoting the destination of Cairns, Australia to attract North American sleep scientists to attend ‘worldsleep07’ being held at Cairns in September 2007.

A number of new studies are discovering more benefits of exercise, including an improved sex life and quality of sleep.

The National Sleep Foundation reports that exercise in the afternoon can help you to fall asleep faster, and also lead to deeper sleep. But, they caution, vigorous exercise leading up to bedtime can actually have the reverse effects.

A 2003 study, however, found that a morning fitness regime was key to a better sleep. Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center concluded that postmenopausal women who exercised 30 minutes every morning had less trouble falling asleep than those who were less active. The women who worked out in the evening hours saw little or no improvement in their sleep patterns.

Although the ideal time for exercising may not have been established, but its benefits are universally agreed on, and these include weight loss, reduction in cholesterol, blood pressure and the risk of osteoporosis and diabetes. Now, however, there is increasing evidence that exercise can improve sleep, sex and help those trying to quit smoking.

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A recent experiment on fruit flies has proved that a hectic social life makes them take longer naps. This seemingly simple finding could prove important in helping to understand why we sleep, and what effect socializing has on our brain circuitry.

The impact of sleep on our memories is an area of great interest for neuroscientists. It has been shown previously that sleeping on a newly learned task can improve performance, and that disrupting sleep can affect learning. So sleep is thought to be important in the process by which the brain organizes and consolidates memories.

To investigate how increased social experiences might affect sleep and memory, a research team of Indrani Ganguly-Fitzgerald of the Neurosciences Institute in San Deigo, California and colleagues turned to fruitflies (Drosophila melanogaster).

The researchers took flies immediately after birth and put them into groups: some went into a social environment with at least 30 other flies, others went into isolation. They stayed there for 3 to 4 days before being tested.

Socialized flies slept four times as long during their daytime naps, kipping for about an hour as compared with a loner fly's 15-minute power naps. They had the same sleep behaviours as each other at night, they report in Science.

All this suggests that afternoon naps may be important for consolidation of memories, whereas night-time sleep may have a different function for flies.

Paul Rosenblatt, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, has written a book called "Two in a Bed: The Social System of Couple Bed Sharing", published by State University of New York Press.

The book is an examination of the common and often humorous issues couples face when sharing a bed, including sheet-stealing and snoring.

The National Sleep Foundation, estimates that 61 percent of Americans share their bed with a significant other. And while the very presence of another person in bed increases the chance of sleep disruption, 62 percent of those polled in the foundation's annual sleep study said they preferred to bed with a partner.

Prof Rosenblatt interviewed a number of couples and examined issues related to communication, intimacy and the adjustments they have made to share their beds.

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A new study shows that the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra may worsen sleep apnea, making it more difficult for men to get the oxygen their bodies need during sleep and increasing the risk of complications.

Sleep apnea is more common in men than in women and occurs when breathing regularly stops during sleep for 10 seconds or more due to an obstruction or narrowing of the airway in the nose, mouth, or throat causing symptoms that include snoring and loss of sleep.

In the study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers examined the effects of a single 50-milligram dose of Viagra vs. placebo on 14 middle-aged men with severe obstructive sleep apnea. After taking Viagra or the placebo, the men were monitored all night with sleep tests that measured blood oxygen levels among other things.

The results showed that a single dose of Viagra significantly increased the amount of sleep time with a lower blood oxygen saturation level. The average blood oxygen saturation level was also lower after taking Viagra vs. placebo.

Researchers also found that breathing was more disordered — with more stops per hour among the men who took Viagra before sleeping.

Researcher Suely Roizenblatt, M.D., Ph.D., of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and colleagues say these results are only preliminary and based on a small number of men. Further studies will be necessary to determine if Viagra use is risky for men with severe sleep apnea.

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Just before the biggest test of the year for Indiana school pupils, the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress, or ISTEP Plus, experts say kids should put their books away now and get some rest.

About 700,000 pupils in grades three through ten begin taking the exams today.

Educators recommend students don't stress out over the tests and instead get plenty of rest. The National Sleep Foundation recommends children ages five through 12 get ten to eleven hours of sleep a night, and teens should get nine hours.

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The American Sleep Association is an organization linking people interested in sleep health and sleep disorders, with a goal to be a complete source of information on sleep.

Their website lets you download a number of lecture videos on subjects like apnea, jetlag and others. It also has a list of sleep centers all across the country and lots of other useful information on support groups, clinical trials and specific disorders.

Lisa Roberts writes in the Orlando Sentinel about the different types of mattresses on offer.  Really, I wasn't aware that there are so many variations in mattresses, "more than Baskin-Robbins has ice cream flavors" according to Roberts.

There are memory foam mattresses, ultra-plush mattresses, Select Comfort Sleep Number mattresses, pillowtops, Euro-tops, no-flips, luxury firm and plush models.  Yet a number of experts whom Roberts quotes say the choice is really upto you, whatever mattress feels good is right for you.

The article goes on to give some good hints on when to replace your old mattress, as well as some pretty technical information on what goes into the mattress.

I would recommend this informative article to all those considering buying a mattress; it can become a pretty major decision, one you have to live with more many years to come.

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In a UK based survey of 5000 people conducted by Legal and General,lack of sleep emerged as one of the top 5 health concerns that worry people.

People were asked what they had worried about in the last three months in the poll. The public cited lack of exercise, lack of sleep, fatigue and stress in their top five concerns with passive smoking and drinking much lower down the chart.

Public health experts said the results reflected the pressures of the 24/7 society that now existed.

Lack of exercise came top as the number one health concern cited by 48% of respondents.

Lack of sleep followed at 42%, then fatigue, 34%, availability of NHS dentists, 29% and stress, 27%.

Passive smoking was mentioned by 15% of people and drinking by just 12%.

Food additives such as salt, colouring and preservatives, were cited by a fifth.

Chris Rolland, director of healthcare at Legal and General, said: "It's becoming clear that people are far more worried about the way we live our lives rather than smoking and drinking."

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A new study conducted by a team of researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine has found that menopause-linked hot flashes may also cause insomnia.

"Severe hot flashes are associated with chronic insomnia in women aged 35 to 65 years. The dramatic increase in insomnia in women with severe hot flashes indicates that severity of hot flashes should be routinely assessed in all studies of menopause," researchers wrote in a prepared statement.

The study found that of the women who reported having severe hot flashes, 81 percent also reported symptoms of insomnia, including problems falling asleep or staying asleep, or poor quality of sleep. The symptoms of insomnia increased with the severity of hot flashes.

The Great British Snoring Survey has found that snoring is ruining the sex lives of one in four couples.

Twenty-five per cent sleep separately to avoid the racket, while half admit it affects their relationship. Seven in ten men confess to snoring, while four out of ten women admit they have a problem.

Relationship expert Denise Knowles, from Relate, said: “People deprived of sleep suffer physically and emotionally. Sex is the last thing you want when you’re shattered.”

Marianne Davey of the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association said: “Snoring can put a big strain on relationships. We get calls from women who are absolutely in despair.”

Snoring can be a sign of ill health, with snorers more likely to have high blood pressure. Sleep apnoea, an extreme form of snoring, is associated with higher heart disease risk.

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The Family Doctor site provides information about nightmares and night terrors among kids.  Nightmares are scary dreams that most children have from time to time. One in every four kids has nightmares more than once a week. Most nightmares happen late in the sleep period, between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. Your child may come to you for comfort and may be able to tell you what has frightened her.

A child who suffers from a night terror will probably wake up screaming, and may be sweating and breathing fast. Night terrors usually happen during deep sleep, between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. Your child may scream out while still asleep, and maybe confused when awoken. She may not be able to tell you what has frightened her.

Nightmares and night terrors could be triggered by stressful emotional or physical events. If these persist for over six months, you should discuss them with your child's doctor.

Make sure that your home is safe for a child who has nightmares or night terrors. Use toddler gates on staircases and don't use bunk beds for children who suffer from nightmares.