Sleep Apnea Disorder

Erin Evans, a sleep researcher at the Brigham, is testing an experimental light for the International Space Station.

In the quest to understand the mystery of sleep, researcher Erin Evans has studied the effects of sleep deprivation in high-stress work situations, from astronauts to police and doctors.

Evans, a sleep medicine fellow at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, also helps hundreds of families improve the sleeping habits of their children. Even though she’s a sleep expert, Evans admits she’s constantly challenged by her 2-year-old son.

“I thought I knew everything about sleep,” she said, “but he’s putting me through the wringer.”

“Sleep in a young infant is a moving target, and while one 4-month-old might sleep through the night, another may need to nurse a few times. I believe there is no “one-size-fits-all” strategy. The most important thing is to develop a plan that is realistic and the family can implement with consistency”. Read the rest of this entry

SleepApneaDisorder/[Press Release]/COLUMBUS, Ohio/ As more and more data indicate that sleep apnea is linked with cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and even an increase in deaths related to car accidents, an international consortium spanning five continents is working together to unravel the genetic basis for the condition.

From a scientific discovery standpoint, researchers in the Sleep Apnea Genetics International Consortium (SAGIC) are embarking on a massive undertaking. Considering those researchers are working in seven different time zones, the amount of biomedical information the group is intending to gather, combine and analyze, becomes even more remarkable. Read the rest of this entry

One recent theory suggests that forgetting, too, is an essential function of sleep. Researchers now suspect that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may emerge from flaws in sleep’s forgetting process. Two studies presented at the 2012 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans indicate that sleep might offer a window of opportunity for weakening memories and providing relief from lingering reminders of trauma.

Current treatments for PTSD—and other persistent negative memories—often rely on exposure therapy, which inoculates patients against their fear trigger by creating a new, safe memory that springs to mind more often than the old, frightening memory. But the old memory remains. To truly diminish its power, this research suggests, we must target the unconscious mind and help the brain forget. [Read Complete Post ... ]

Findings of a recent survey revealed that physical exercise before sleep may be helpful. Almost 1000 adults representing ages 23 to 60, participated in this survey and it was observed that those who were the “vigorous exercisers” had double the probability of having good night’s sleep every night compared to those who were the “non-exercisers”.

“There seemed to be a dose-response effect,” said Dr Christopher Kline, a sleep researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “The more you exercise, the better you’ll sleep.”

But “the biggest bang for your buck was from no-exercisers to light-exercisers”, Dr Kline said. “You get the most benefit from exercise when you move from no exercise to just a little exercise.” Read the rest of this entry

SleepApneaDisorder/[Press Release]/MINNEAPOLIS/New Transcend® CPAP offers peace of mind for travelers with sleep apnea and fits in the palm of your hand

An innovative new product called Transcend® is providing peace of mind for travelers with sleep apnea. Transcend is the world’s smallest, lightest, and most portable continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and battery system and is made by Somnetics International Inc., the Minneapolis-based innovator of sleep apnea products.

Transcend offers reliable sleep apnea therapy for campers, over-the-road drivers, business travelers, and people who vacation on cruise ships, boats, motorcycles or are frequently in an airplane. And because it is the most portable and compact CPAP system in world, Transcend is easy to transport and use with or without a direct power source. Weighing about one pound, Transcend can fit in the palm of your hand and is about the size of a soda can. Read the rest of this entry

Sleep Apnea has long been thought to be a condition only experienced by middle-aged overweight men. The stereotypical snoring man who gasps for breath while sleeping and sometimes stops breathing altogether should no longer be the norm. Women make up a third of the total diagnosed population with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and manufacturers, sleep clinics, and retailers are starting to notice. New products have come to market in the last few months aimed solely at women patients.

Thirty-three percent of new patients who underwent a sleep study that resulted in OSA were women. It’s not surprising, of course, that women should suffer the same pains as men when it comes to sleep. However, diagnosis in women is usually harder to come by and sometimes overlooked. Why? There are a few reasons. First is the stereotype. Doctors too are often mislead by the stereotype and will not consider OSA as a possible reason for a woman’s tiredness or reduction in quality of life. Second, women tend to snore less often than men. Read the rest of this entry

Parents must know the connection between fitness, sleep and food in true sense. A recent youth health study by the University of Alberta confirms this relationship.

Raising healthy Eating and Active Living Kids Alberta (REAL Kids Alberta), a joint project between the School of Public Health, the University and Alberta Health, found students with access to electronic devices in their bedrooms were 1.47 times more likely to be overweight. That number increased to 2.57 times for children with three devices in the bedroom.

The study postulates that the less sleep you get, the higher the chances that you fit into that obese category. The more sleep you get, the easier it is for your body to reach a base level of performance and to buffer all those waste products. Read the rest of this entry

Mothers of newborns face a common dilemma with crying babies waking up at night. Waking up in the middle of the night is the most common concern that parents of infants report to pediatricians.

According to the findings of a study published in Developmental Psychology, a majority of infants are best left to self-soothe and fall back to sleep on their own.

By six months of age, most babies sleep through the night, awakening their mothers only about once per week. However, not all children follow this pattern of development.

Researchers measured patterns of nighttime sleep awakenings in infants ages six to 36 months. It revealed two groups: sleepers and transitional sleepers. If you measure them while they are sleeping, all babies—like all adults—move through a sleep cycle every 1 1/2 to 2 hours where they wake up and then return to sleep.Some of them do cry and call out when they awaken, and that is called ‘not sleeping through the night. Read the rest of this entry

Sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, is actually a potentially fatal parasitic infection that has ravaged populations in sub-Saharan Africa for decades, and it continues to infect thousands of people every year.

Since 1940 some of the drugs have been developed to treat sleeping sickness but these are highly toxic and sometimes cause painful side effects and even death.

Researchers at the University of Georgia have made a discovery that may soon lead to new therapies for this critically neglected disease that cause neither the risks nor the pain associated with traditional treatments.

The scientists at UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases discovered a specific receptor tucked away in an organelle inside the disease-causing trypanosome parasite that regulates the release of calcium, which is responsible for numerous critical cell functions required for parasite growth and replication. Read the rest of this entry

A recently concluded research study has revealed that obstructive sleep apnea, a common form of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), is associated with increased rates of ADHD-like behavioral problems in children as well as other adaptive and learning problems.

“This study provides some helpful information for medical professionals consulting with parents about treatment options for children with SDB that, although it may remit, there are considerable behavioral risks associated with continued SDB,” said Michelle Perfect, PhD, the study’s lead author and assistant professor in the school psychology program in the department of disability and psychoeducational studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson.  Read the rest of this entry