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Wish you were able to sleep in more often? Not so fast. New research shows that getting more than the recommended eight-a-night could be just as harmful as getting too little. While scientists at the University College London Medical School found that getting fewer than six hours of sleep a night increased the risk of dying from heart-related diseases by 110 percent, snagging nine or more hours of shut-eye increases a person's risk of dying by the same amount--in this case from noncardiovascular causes. Not enough subjects fell into this latter category for researchers to offer explanations, so until more research rolls in, aim for that golden number of six to eight hours of sleep a night. By Meghan Rabbitt, Courtesy of Natural Solutions.

This is still a mystery tinged with irony, as to why we tend to sleep or take a nap when faced with a problem and feel all pepped up after the sleep to tackle the problem? The answer to this lies in the numerous things that go on in our brain while we are sleeping.
In the different stages of sleep our brain compiles all the bits and pieces of information in a formatted way to enable us to get a clear picture of all the data fed in the brain and finally to make a better judgment. An experiment shows that among all the stages of sleep the final stage REM is most crucial for cross referencing our memories and improving the learning process.
Study shows that sleep tends to nail down the information and recognize the way it is stored in the brain. Brain imaging depicts that the functioning of the brain depends a lot on the amount of sleep we have, as one third of our life we are asleep while the rest is spent working.
Scientists are sure that sleep is most crucial for restoring information and efficient functioning.

Pic courtesy Annie Mole on www.flickr.com

 

 

Women are strong emotionally and mentally but their work involves more of physical efforts than mental, though the scene is gradually changing. It is proven that women need more sleep than men to keep their mental do and physical clock ticking. Lack of sleep puts women at a greater risk of heart diseases, depression, and psychological disorders.
Deprivation of sleep results in the emission of a substance in the blood, which is responsible for Type 2 diabetes. Women with sleeping problems exhibit higher levels of different markers tied to inflammation that lead to the thickening of arteries and increase in heart problems.
Instead, it transforms a woman into an angry young woman strengthening the symptoms of hostility. Lack of sleep and disturbed sleep leads to mood swings, frustration, clotting of blood and arteries, and other cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, women and all their members in the family should try to make the environment conducive to a better sleep.
 Hence all women can explain this to their husband so that they stop snoring and disturbing their sleep.

Pic courtesy Asturtom on www.flickr.com

Dopamine is a chemical in the brain, which keeps your brain going even when you are physically tired. The levels of dopamine changes with the sleeping pattern, enabling you to stay up and alert even when you are tired.
Science shows that lack of sleep affects the ability to think and learn. But research suggests that dopamine plays an important role in peoples ability to function without sleep.
Dopamine is a complex brain chemical and sleeplessness or lack of sleep is a complex state of mind, so it is necessary to try and strike a good balance between work and rest. After all only work and no play and rest makes Tom a dull boy.

It is not,  that only high calorie intake or alcohol will result you to put on a few pounds. A research shows, that lack of sleep causes certain hormonal changes which, inturn increases appetite and weight gain.

It is really surprising that even two nights of poor sleep can trigger the hormone levels such as to increase the appetite, so those who are considering to lose weight should think of incorporating healthy sleeping habits along with some exrcise.

Here’s a good article about the correct and safe use of sleeping pills – Rachel Grumman writes for CNN Health website, and addresses a number of FAQs about sleeping pills.

Questions such as ‘how do I know if I need a sleeping pill’ or about the use of pills after taking alcohol are answered here. Read the full article here.

A new research report based on a study of mice has found that sleep apnea may cause erectile dysfunction in men. The obstructed breathing during apnea episodes causes oxygen deprivation and leads to ED.

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University of Louisville researchers found that, in a study of mice, one week of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), the lack of oxygen suffered during apnea, resulted in a 55 percent decline in their daily spontaneous erections. After five weeks, the length of time between mice attempts at mating increased on average by 60-fold.

When the mice went back on standard oxygen levels for six weeks, they recovered 74 percent of their original erectile function. The condition can also be treated with tadalafil, which is generic Cialis and increases the availability of nitric oxide, improved erectile and sexual functioning.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have identified a genetic variant linked to a much higher risk of narcolepsy, which may explain the cause of the condition.

Narcolepsy is a rare condition which causes extreme daytime sleepiness, impaired vision and sudden muscle weakness. Sufferers suddenly fall asleep without any warning during a normal activity, and some of them also suffer from "cataplexy", where strong emotions such as anger, surprise, or laughter can trigger loss of muscle strength or lead to collapse.

Scientists believe the cause of narcolepsy may be related to a shortage of a chemical called hypocretin which sends signals to the brain about sleeping and waking up. The condition occurs in 1 in every 2,500 people in the United States and Europe, but is at least four times more common in Japan.

The Japanese researchers analyzed the genomes, or DNA, of 222 narcoleptic Japanese and 389 others who did not have that condition, as well as 424 Koreans, 785 people of European descent and 184 African Americans.

The research found one gene variant occurred with significant frequency among those with narcolepsy and it was linked to an 79% higher chance of narcolepsy in Japanese people, and a 40% increased chance in other ethnic groups - it occurred with significant frequency among narcoleptic Koreans, but the association was not evident in the Europeans and African Americans.

The culprit gene is found close to two genes, CPT1B, and CHKB, which have already been identified as candidates for involvement in the disorder as they both have a role in regulating sleep.

This research could be vital because treatments usually focus on dealing with the symptoms of narcolepsy, but knowing the genetic cause may help to understand underlying cause - in particular what was causing the shortage of hypocretin.

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.

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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Dr. Sean Drummond, a Department of Defense-funded researcher, has studied the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain, namely in decision making, as well as how long it takes to recover from periods of no sleep. These studies have been on for nearly four years, in an effort to understand the effect of sleep deprivation on the military as well as civilians.

"We can't keep as many things online at any one time when we're sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation significantly impairs attention, working memory performance, our ability to drive. It has the same effect as alcohol does," said Drummond, who works with the University of California San Diego and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.

Sleep deprivation can affect military personnel, as reported by a pilot on mission in Iraq, who says he made potentially accident-causing mistakes because of too many missions with too little sleep.

The researcher and his team recruited 40 volunteers with good sleep habits who agreed to live in a lab for six days. For their stay, volunteers lived two normal days and nights, stayed awake for 64 hours and then were allowed again to sleep so the team could observe the recovery process.

During the volunteers' awake hours, they underwent half-hour long learning, memory and decision-making tests every two hours to see how well they fared at different stages of sleep deprivation. One test, for example, had the volunteers memorize lists of nouns. Drummond and his team also used functional magnetic resonance imaging in the morning and evening to map the brain's reaction. The imaging technique looks at oxygen use in the brain, so whatever part of the brain is being used, it needs more oxygen.

"The brain is a system, a network of areas, all of which work together to get a task done," he said.

The researcher found that volunteers' working memory wasn't affected after 36 hours without sleep, not because they were all healthy and had an average age of 24 years, but because other regions of the brain jumped in to help.

"The brain can actually compensate for this level of sleep deprivation. Areas that don't normally turn on when a person is well rested came online when the person was sleep deprived," Drummond said. "The better they're able to engage them, the better they're able to do after sleep deprivation."

After 60 hours, though, most volunteers didn't fare as well on their tests as they had at the 36-hour mark. After two and a half days without sleep, their brains could not recruit help.

"I think it will be important to use these data to try to better predict and understand who is going to be resilient to sleep loss and who is going to be vulnerable," Drummond said. "The benefits will come in better understanding the consequences of sleep deprivation for more complex types of cognitive functions - as opposed to simple attention, for example - as well as better understanding how long the recovery process takes."

Drummond's team also found that recovering from 64 hours of sleep loss wasn't as simple as getting a few good nights' rest.

"We found on some tasks that people aren't back at the baseline level even after two full nights of sleep, given that they only lost two nights of sleep," he said. "Given the pervasiveness of inadequate sleep in the military and civilian worlds alike, there is clearly a need to understand what this is doing and can it be counteracted."

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At several points during the night, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep occurs. Most people experience three to five intervals of REM sleep per night, and brainwaves during this period speed up to awake levels. If you ever watch a person experiencing REM sleep, you will see their eyes flickering back and forth rapidly.

In many dogs and some people, arms, legs and facial muscles will twitch during REM sleep. Periods of sleep other than REM sleep are know as NREM (non-REM) sleep.
REM sleep is when you dream. If you wake up a person during REM sleep, the person can vividly recall dreams. If you wake up a person during NREM sleep, generally the person will not be dreaming.

You must have both REM and NREM sleep to get a good night's sleep. A normal person will spend about 25 percent of the night in REM sleep, and the rest in NREM. A REM session - a dream - lasts five to 30 minutes.

Medicine can hamper your ability to get a good night's sleep. Many medicines, including most sleeping medicines, change the quality of sleep and the REM component of it.

From the HowStuffWorks section on sleep.

The www.emedicinehealth.com site has a section devoted to sleep disorders among women.

Women are twice as likely as men to have difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep. Although younger women usually have sounder sleep with fewer disturbances, some women are prone to sleep problems throughout their reproductive years. Only recently has the medical community begun to focus on women's sleep disorders.   

A number of factors may affect women’s sleep. Changes in hormonal levels, stress, illness, lifestyle, and sleep environment may impact sleep. Pregnancy- and menstrual-related hormonal fluctuations may affect sleep patterns, mood, and reaction to stress. Many women have premenstrual sleep disturbances like difficulty falling asleep, nighttime waking, difficulty waking up, and daytime sleepiness.

Psychosocial stress may threaten sleep more than hormonal changes. Many young women reduce sleep to cope with work and their roles as mothers and wives. They ignore fatigue and other effects of inadequate sleep. About 30% of employed women report sleep problems. Sleep problems are more common in women older than 40 years. Pregnancy may also disturb sleep.

Getting enough sleep improves job performance, concentration, social interaction, and general sense of well-being.    
   
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A new Austrian research study has found that men who sleep with a partner are at risk of damaging their brains - at least in the short term. The studies lead researcher, Gehard Kloesch says that even without sex, sharing a bed can disturb sleep quality and cause a decline in cognitive ability the next day.

The team monitored eight unmarried, childless couples for 10 nights together and 10 nights apart.

They found that men and women reacted differently. While men who thought they would sleep better with a partner, didn’t. Women thought they would sleep better without someone else, actually did sleep better.

The study found that the lack of sleep for men increased their stress hormone levels, which reduced their ability to perform cognitive tests the following day.

Women apparently slept more deeply and did not react the same when sleep was disturbed.

Kloesch presented his work at a meeting of the Forum of European Neurosciences in Vienna last week.

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Although jet lag afflicts all travelers who are traversing different time zones, it was not considered a medical condition until recently. Now, it is recognized as one of the 84 known sleep disorders.

A person suffering from jet lag has a biological clock which is out of sync with local time. When traveling to a new time zone, our bodies are slow to adjust and remain on their original biological schedule for several days. The result is that we feel excessively sleepy during the day or wide awake at night.

The severity of the jet lag symptoms is usually directly related to the number of time zones crossed by a flight. Jet lag symptoms typically last longer following eastward flights. Flying east usually results in difficulty initiating sleep, where as flying west results in early morning awakenings. All age groups are susceptible, but individuals over the age of 50 are more likely to develop jet lag.

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While some people suffering from sleep deprivation can benefit from just a few lifestyle changes, in others it may be necessary to diagnose the problem through medical sleep studies.

At centers that are designed to do this, such as the Baylor Grapevine Sleep Lab, patients stay overnight in a suite with all the comforts of home, including hardwood floors, private restrooms, a full-size bed, and a TV with a DVD player and VCR. During a seven-to eight-hour period, their brain activity, sleep states, heart rate, breathing and oxygen levels, and leg and eye movements are electronically recorded, monitored and studied by a specially trained sleep technician. Then qualified sleep specialists interpret the results. If a problem is diagnosed, one of several treatment options is recommended.

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A new research study conducted at the Harvard Medical School has found new evidence that sleep improves the brain's ability to remember information.

Memory is possibly a person's most distinctive characteristic and defines who we are, and acts as a guide to our present and future. Memories endure and the loss of memory, because of diseases such as Alzheimer's or as a result of accidental brain damage, is particularly devastating and distressing.

Psychologists have defined normal human memory into procedural and declarative memory. Procedural memory is used for skills such as how to do something such as riding a bike; while declarative memory is more concerned with knowing that a bicycle is called a bicycle.

Lead researcher Jeffrey Ellenbogen says sleep appears to strengthen memories and makes them resistant to interfering information. Ellenbogen and colleagues studied the influence of sleep on declarative memory in 60 healthy, college-aged adults who did not use prescription drugs and did not have known sleep disorders or abnormal sleep patterns.

The researchers say the finding may be particularly important for people with mentally demanding lifestyles, such as doctors, medical residents and college students, who often do not get enough sleep.

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Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) is a disorder of sleep timing. People with DSPS tend to fall asleep at very late times, and will subsequently sleep later in the day having difficulty waking up in time for normal work, school, or social needs.

What causes DSPS?

The exact cause of DSPS is not known, but the disorder is related to circadian rhythms, which regulate the internal biological clock and influence functions such as sleep-wake patterns. DSPS can occur in people who have experienced head trauma or serious illnesses. In these cases, the body's natural healing process might disrupt normal circadian rhythm and leave the biological clock unable to reset itself. Many teenagers tend to have delayed sleep phase but often grow out of it.

What are the symptoms of DSPS?

DSPS is characterized by the inability to fall asleep before early morning (for example, midnight to 3 a.m.) and difficulty waking in the morning. Usually, people who have DSPS can fall asleep when the body signals that it is time. Sleepiness does not usually occur before this delayed period. If a person tries to force the body into a particular phase, symptoms such as excessive daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and altered eating habits might develop.

How is DSPS treated?

DSPS treatments are meant to adjust a person’s circadian rhythm and sleep pattern. The goal of treatment is to fit a person’s sleep pattern into a schedule that can allow the person to meet the demands of a desired lifestyle. Treatment is meant to allow the person with DSPS to wake up at a given time feeling refreshed and functional. People receiving treatment gradually adjust to an earlier bedtime with sleep therapy. This therapy usually combines proper sleep hygiene practice and external stimulus therapy such as bright light therapy and chronotherapy. Chronotherapy is a behavioral technique in which bedtime is systematically adjusted. Bright-light therapy is designed to reset a person’s circadian rhythm to the desired pattern. When combined, these therapies might produce significant results in people with DSPS. Patients can also be treated with one medicine that puts them to sleep earlier in the evening and another medicine that helps wake them up in the morning, but this form of treatment is usually used only in extreme cases.

Exposure to excessively loud noise that is common to homes near airports can cause changes in blood pressure and sleep and digestive patterns — all signs of stress on the human body.

On a 1997 questionnaire distributed to two groups — one living near a major airport, and the other in a quiet neighborhood — two-thirds of those living near the airport indicated they were bothered by aircraft noise, and most said that it interfered with their daily activities. The same two-thirds complained more than the other group of sleep difficulties, and also perceived themselves as being in poorer health.

The European Commission, which governs the European Union, considers living near an airport to be a risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke, as increased blood pressure from noise pollution can trigger these more serious maladies. Airport noise can also have negative effects on children's health and development.

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A research report published in the International Journal of Obesity says that a number of aspects of modern living – such as lack of sleep, exposure to environmental chemicals and living with air conditioning -- may be contributing to obesity in America.

Among the other factors, lack of sleep is one. Research in animals and humans suggests that chronic sleep deprivation boosts appetite and eating. In recent decades, adults have gone from sleeping for an average of 9 hours to about 7 hours, the researchers point out.

There is also evidence that industrial chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors may increase body fat. 

Another factor contributing to obesity among Americans  is air conditioning. The body burns calories when forced to regulate its own temperature and people tend to eat less in hot, humid weather. 

The report argues that obesity research needs to look beyond the obvious culprits to more insidiuous reasons and cites 10 potential obesity risk factors in all, including: increased rates of older mothers, whose children may be more prone to excess weight gain; a range of medications, such as antidepressants, which can promote weight gain; and a decrease in smoking rates, because people often gain weight when they quit and the absence of nicotine, an appetite suppressant.

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In a study of the sleep characteristics of 669 adults in Chicago, Dr. Diane S. Lauderdale of the University of Chicago and her colleagues have found that sleep seems to be related to social differences, race and sex.

The study shows that blacks get less sleep than whites, and men less than women. The wealthier you are, the more sleep you’re likely to get.

People with very demanding jobs in terms of high status, high income may be expected to be getting less sleep, but that was not found. The findings could help explain why blacks suffer from more health problems than whites, she added.

The study  monitored sleep in a group of men and women, most in their 40s, who were participating in a large study of heart disease risk. Fifty-eight percent were female and 44 percent were black.

Participants told the researchers how much sleep they thought they were getting, and then kept track of the time spent in bed and asleep using sleep logs. Researchers also fitted them with wristwatch-like devices known as actigraphs that recorded their activity for three days, including two weeknights and one weekend night.

While people thought they were getting about seven hours of sleep nightly, they were really getting only about six hours.. On average, white women slept 6.7 hours a night, white men slept 6.1 hours, black women slept 5.9 hours, and black men slept 5.1 hours nightly. The racial and sex differences remained even after the researchers factored in the effects of socioeconomic factors such as employment and lifestyle. 

The amount of sleep people got increased with their income, and this effect was stronger for the black participants than the whites.

There are a number of potential explanations for the findings, Lauderdale noted. People who make less money may have more worries that prevent them from sleeping well. They could be living in noisier, less comfortable environments, and they may have more health problems.

The racial and economic sleep differences detected in this study could help explain the well-known disparities in health that exist between blacks and whites, she added.

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A newly discovered clue to the workings of a protein, PER, that helps regulate sleep and sets the body’s biological clock may aid the treatment of sleep disorders.

The discovery relates to the way in which a mutation in the CK1 gene, called the tau mutation, affects the gene’s activity. This change triggers changes in the body clock in ways that are different from what had been formerly believed, which were found when researchers studied how fast PER degraded in cells.

“The key to developing treatments for problems like depression and insomnia — disorders influenced by circadian rhythm — is being able to predict how the body’s internal clock can be controlled,” Dr. David Virshup of the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute said in a statement.

Virshup and Daniel Forger of the University of Michigan were co-lead authors of the report.  The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Sloan Foundation.

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Sleepwalking, formally known as somnambulism, is a behavior disorder that results in walking or performing other complex behaviors while in deep sleep. It is much more common in children than adults and is more likely to occur if a person is sleep deprived. A sleepwalker is often difficult to awaken and will probably not remember the sleepwalking incident.

Sleepwalking usually involves a series of complex behaviors, the most obvious of which is walking. These may include simply sitting up in bed and looking around, walking around the room or house, leaving the house and even driving long distances. It is a common misconception that a sleepwalker should not be awakened. In fact, it can be quite dangerous not to wake a sleepwalker.

The prevalence of sleepwalking in the general population is estimated to be between 1% and 15%. The onset or persistence of sleepwalking in adulthood is common, and is usually not associated with any significant underlying psychiatric or psychological problems. Triggers for sleepwalking may include sleep deprivation, sedative agents (including alcohol), febrile illnesses, and certain medications.

Sleepwalking is more common among children, especially those between the ages of three and seven, and occurs more often in children with obstructive sleep apnea. There is also a higher instance of sleepwalking among children who wet the bed. Sleep terrors are a related disorder and both tend to run in families.

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Axon Sleep Research Laboratories is beginning the testing phase of a new type of alarm clock called Sleep Smart. The idea is based on minimizing morning grogginess by waking sleep-deprived people during the optimal time in their sleep cycle. The "clock" is designed to monitor brainwaves to pinpoint the best time for that individual to wake up. Clinical trials at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence are scheduled for later this summer.

'Sleep inertia' is defined as a decline in motor dexterity and a feeling of grogginess, immediately following an abrupt awakening from deep sleep.

A University of Colorado study is the first to assess this state and how we perform tasks while in it. The study revealed that people exhibited the most severe impairments from sleep inertia during the groggy period upon awakening. Test subjects had diminished short-term memory, counting skills and cognitive abilities. The most severe effects of sleep inertia generally dissipated within the first 10 minutes, although researchers say its effects are often detectable for up to two hours.

Anyone who performs critical tasks immediately after waking may be vulnerable, since researchers found the cognitive deficiencies that occur when people first wake up are comparable to the effects of alcohol intoxication.

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Cypress Bioscience Inc. (CYPB.O) on Tuesday announced that it was discontinuing development for a treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. This decision followed  results of a mid-stage trial that found the results of the drug unsatisfactory.

Cypress and Organon, a unit of Akzo Nobel (AKZO.AS), had each independently conducted Phase IIa trials evaluating combinations of mirtazapine with another approved drug.

The companies are exploring other opportunities for collaboration, Cypress added.

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Kleine-Levin syndrome is a rare disorder that causes recurring periods of excessive drowsiness and sleep (up to 20 hours per day). The symptoms may last for days to weeks and include excessive food intake, irritability, disorientation, lack of energy, and hypersensitivity to noise.

Some patients may also experience hallucinations and an abnormally uninhibited sex drive. Affected persons are normal between episodes, although depression and amnesia may be noted temporarily after an attack. It may be weeks or more before symptoms reappear.

The onset of Kleine-Levin syndrome is typically around adolescence to the late teens. The disorder is 4 times more common in males than in females. Symptoms may be related to malfunction of the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that governs appetite and sleep.

Is there any treatment?
There is no definitive treatment for Kleine-Levin syndrome. Stimulants, including amphetamines, methylphenidate and modafinil, administered orally, are used to treat sleepiness. Because of similarities between Kleine-Levin syndrome and certain mood disorders, lithium and carbamazepine may be prescribed. Responses to treatment have often been limited.

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A recent study has found that antidepressant drugs may be linked to REM-sleep behavior disorder, also called RBD, that causes people to act out violent dreams. Experts say more tests are needed before the drugs should be stopped.

In a study led by Dr. R. Robert Auger from the Mayo Clinic, it was found that 80% of young people who have RBD took antidepressants, a higher percentage than people over 50, the typical age when RBD sets in.

Antidepressants have been found to affect the dream stage of sleep. Auger said it was possible that RBD is caused by the drugs or by the illness causing a person to take antidepressants. He said that he would not recommend ending antidepressants but possibly switching to a different kind. He also recommends that anyone with RBD symptoms see a sleep specialist and take safety precautions to make sure they don`t get hurt in bed.

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Scientists have succeeded in pinpointing how the sugar in food turns off the brain cells that keep us awake and makes us crave a siesta after a big meal. Although it has been known for a while that people and animals become less active and sleepy after a meal, the brain signals that are responsible for this were not understood.

Dennis Burdakov, a researcher at the University of Manchester in England who led the study, and his team, worked with specially engineered mice to demonstrate exactly how glucose blocks or “inhibits” the brain cells that make orexins. Orexins are tiny proteins that regulate our state of consciousness and respond to the ever-changing body energy state with changes in arousal, food seeking, hormone release and metabolic rate to ensure that the brain always has adequate glucose.

By genetically manipulating the mice to produce a florescent protein that lights up only in the orexin cells, the researchers could study how glucose reacts in those neurons.

Specifically, they “identified the pore in the membrane of orexin-producing cells that is responsible for the inhibiting effect of glucose,” Burdakov said.

“This previously unknown mechanism is so sensitive, it can detect minute changes in glucose levels, the type that occurs between meals, for example. This may well provide an explanation for after-meal tiredness and why it is difficult to sleep when hungry.”

Malfunction of the orexin brain cells can cause narcolepsy, when a person can’t stay awake, and is tied to obesity. A knowledge of how glucose stops orexin neurons' 'firing' can help to understand what happens in people with sleep disorders or obesity.

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The Japanese work long hours but a new study estimates that sleep deprivation costs their economy 3.5 trillion yen (30.7 billion dollars) a year, mainly in lost productivity.

The study covered 3,075 employees of a company in Osaka, noting their sleeping habits and alertness during work hours or while driving, while taking into account salary levels.  It concluded that spending more time on the job did not lead to increased productivity while a lack of sleep can cause more traffic accidents.

"Many people think that if you sleep less you will have more time to work (and be more productive) but that is a total misconception," said report author Makoto Uchiyama, professor of Psychology and Mental Health at Nihon University.

"This study is intended to raise awareness about the importance of sleep," he said, while adding: "It is up to each individual's moral and mental discipline to be able to sleep more or better."

A record number of Japanese became seriously ill or even died due to overwork last year. Japan's annual working hours per person are among the highest in the developed world.

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In a long-term study of middle-aged women, those who slept 5 hours or less each night were more likely to gain a significant amount of weight or become obese during 16 years of follow-up than women who slept 7 hours each night.

This level of weight gain -- 15 kg, or 33 pounds -- is "very clinically significant in terms of risk of diabetes and heart disease," said Dr. Sanjay Patel of Case Western Reserve University.

Women who slept 6 hours nightly were also more likely to experience major weight gain or to become obese compared with those who slept 7 hours each night.

The 68,183 women in the study provided information in 1986 on their typical night's sleep and reported their weight every 2 years for 16 years. The findings were presented at the American Thoracic Society's International Conference in San Diego on May 23 2006.

After accounting for the influence of age and weight at the beginning of the study, women who slept less than 7 hours gained more weight during the follow-up than those who slept 7 hours regularly. The researchers analyzed the diets and physical activity levels of the women, but failed to find any differences that could explain why women who slept less weighed more.

Read my post on "The Stress and Sleep Connection"

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A paper published by the American Medical Association examines the connection between stress and sleep disorders. The lack of sleep causes the release of stress hormones that cause potentially serious health problems.

A chronic lack of sleep increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Prolonged sleeplessness causes the body to release cortisol, a stress hormone that regulates the blood sugar glucose, into the bloodstream. This leads to an increase in blood glucose, prompting more insulin release and leading to insulin resistance that can lead to type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Stress hormones released due to sleep deprivation also affect your immune system, making you more susceptible to infections, and to developing cancer.

Chronic lack of sleep also accelerates the aging process. The article goes on to list some habits to aid getting a good night’s sleep.

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From the Cleveland Clinic Health Information Center website:
Circadian rhythm disorders are disruptions in a person’s circadian rhythm, the "internal body clock" that regulates the 24-hour cycle of biological processes. The term circadian comes from Latin words that literally mean "around the day." There are patterns of brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration, and other biological activities linked to this 24-hour cycle. Circadian rhythms determine a person’s sleeping patterns.

What causes circadian rhythm disorders?
Circadian rhythm disorders can be caused by many factors, including:

• Shift work
• Pregnancy
• Time zone changes
• Medicines
• Changes in routine

Common circadian rhythm disorders:

• Jet lag or rapid time zone change syndrome: Sleep disruptions of people who travel across time zones.
• Shift work sleep disorder: Affects people who frequently rotate shifts or work at night
• Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS): People with DSPS tend to fall asleep at very late times and have difficulty waking up in time for normal work, school, or social engagements.
• Advanced sleep phase syndrome: This syndrome results in symptoms of evening sleepiness, an early sleep onset, and waking up earlier than desired.
• Non 24-hour sleep wake disorder: A condition in which an individual has a normal sleep pattern but lives in a 25-hour day. Throughout time the person’s sleep cycle will drift in and out of normal societal norms, sometimes falling asleep at a later time and waking up later, and sometimes falling asleep at an earlier time and waking up earlier.

How are circadian rhythm disorders treated?
Therapy usually combines proper sleep hygiene techniques and external stimulus therapy such as bright light therapy or chronotherapy. Chronotherapy is a behavioral technique in which the bedtime is systematically adjusted. Bright-light therapy is designed to reset a person’s circadian rhythm to a desired pattern. When combined, these therapies might produce significant results in people with circadian rhythm disorders.

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The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has published a ‘Hypersomnia Information Page’. Persons with hypersomnia experience recurrent episodes of excessive daytime sleepiness or prolonged nighttime sleep, and are compelled to nap repeatedly during the day.
Patients often have difficulty waking from a long sleep, and may feel disoriented. Other symptoms may include anxiety, increased irritation, decreased energy, restlessness, slow thinking, slow speech, loss of appetite, hallucinations, and memory difficulty. Hypersomnia typically affects adolescents and young adults.

Possible causes:

• Another sleep disorder (such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea).
• Dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, or drug or alcohol abuse.
• From a physical problem, such as a tumor, head trauma, or injury to the central nervous system.
• Certain medications, or medicine withdrawal, may also cause hypersomnia.
• Medical conditions including multiple sclerosis, depression, encephalitis, epilepsy, or obesity may contribute to the disorder.
• Some people appear to have a genetic predisposition to hypersomnia; in others, there is no known cause.

Is there any treatment?

Treatment is symptomatic in nature. Stimulants or other drugs may be prescribed. Changes in behavior (for example avoiding night work and social activities that delay bed time) and diet may offer some relief. Patients should avoid alcohol and caffeine.

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