People sleep significantly better and feel more alert during the day  if they get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week, a new study  concludes.

A nationally representative sample of more than 2,600 men and women,  ages 18-85, found that 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a  week, which is the national guideline, provided a 65% improvement in  sleep quality. People also said they felt less sleepy during the day,  compared to those with less physical activity.

The study, out in the December issue of the journal Mental  Health and Physical Activity, lends more evidence to mounting  research showing the importance of exercise to a number of health  factors. Read the rest of this entry

A new study presented in November at the American College of Allergy, Asthma  and Immunology Annual Meeting found that obese adolescents have an increased risk of sleep apnea or abnormal breathing during sleep.

Previous research has shown that obese children and teenagers are at higher  risk of health-related problems, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood  pressure and asthma. Children who are overweight are nearly 2-1/2 times more  likely to have asthma than those who are not overweight. Now, this new study  highlights how obesity may interfere with a child’s ability to have restful  sleep.

“Quality nighttime sleep is a key component for advanced executive function  in children and teenagers,” says Sushmita Mikkilineni, M.D., Director Pediatric  Pulmonology for Children’s Hospital of New Jersey (CHoNJ) at Newark Beth Israel  Medical Center. “Untreated pediatric sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, can  exact a heavy toll on young people. Children suffering from sleep disorders may  be hyperactive, inattentive, and chronically tired.” Read the rest of this entry

The Center at Norwalk Hospital will be hosting its first Sleep Apnea Support Group for Children on Saturday, Nov. 12.  Parents and children are invited to attend the educational event.

Kass will address the group with a talk, “The Significance of Snoring at Any Age.”. In general, symptoms of sleep apnea in toddlers may include tantrums and irritability. As children get older, the lack of sleep may manifest itself as hyperactivity, acting out, poor grades in school, mood swings, and even a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

“In addition to the potential health issues associated with sleep apnea, we see children who suffer from fatigue and attention issues due to interruption in sleep,” said Kass.

The program is being offered as a public service and as part of A.W.A.K.E (Alert, Well, and Keeping Energetic) of the American Sleep Apnea Association.  A.W.A.K.E. is a health awareness program offered to those who suffer from sleep apnea, as well as their family, friends and anyone who is interested in learning more.

The Nov. 12 support group will include face painting and drawing activities for children.  Children are encouraged to bring their CPAP masks for a fitting by experienced sleep technicians.  CPAP users and family are being encouraged to share their tips for successful sleeping with CPAP.

Sleep Apnea Support Group for Children: 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 12, in the fifth floor Patio Room at Norwalk Hospital.  The event is free and seating is limited.  Register by calling (203) 852-2821 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (203) 852-2821     end_of_the_skype_highlighting or (203) 852-2833 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (203) 852-2833     end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Sleep apnea screening is rare among psychiatric patients at present, but it’s important to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) because it can make mental illness worse, contributing to depression and possibly to the risk of manic episodes.

The symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea can mimic mental illness as well, making patients irritable and tired. If a patient is diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea it will further complicate the use of benzodiazepines and other respiratory depressants in such patients.

The lead investigator Dr. Vanita Jain, a psychiatry department resident at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City says,” “Sleep problems are so integral to psychiatric problems, [and] we wanted to make sure that along with psychiatric disorders, we were treating obstructive sleep apnea, too”. Read the rest of this entry

(Reuters Health) – New research shows high rates of sleep disorders among veterans of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or head injuries.

The study conducted at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, found that among some 300 soldiers with PTSD, head injuries or both, more than half had sleep apnea — a serious interruption of breathing during sleep — and nearly half had insomnia.

“Sleep complaints were universal,” wrote Dr. Jacob Collen and his colleagues in their research summary. Collen’s team presented their findings this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Honolulu.

The researchers studied 135 soldiers with PTSD, 116 with traumatic brain injury and 66 with both conditions.

Sleep testing performed on most of the patients found obstructive sleep apnea in 56 percent of them and insomnia in 49 percent. Read the rest of this entry

Losing weight reduces the risk factors for many diseases, especially cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. Shedding just 10 pounds, for example, can lower blood pressure. Weight loss also lowers blood sugar and improves cholesterol levels.

Now, it looks like a new benefit can be added to the list. Losing weight can reduce urinary incontinence in women who are overweight or obese. In a randomized trial funded by the National Institutes of Health, moderate weight loss in a group of heavy women who undertook a six-month diet and exercise program cut the frequency of urinary incontinence episodes by nearly a half.

Urinary incontinence affects more than 13 million women in the United States. It not only causes inconvenience and emotional stress, it also raises the risk of falls, fractures, and nursing home admissions. Obesity has long been associated with urinary leakage in women, but until now, there’s been little research to confirm that losing weight would help reverse the problem — or to suggest how much weight loss would be needed. Read the rest of this entry

Are you unable to fall asleep? Do you wake up often throughout the night? Do you feel well-rested when you awake in the morning? Do you want to improve your quality and quantity of your sleep? Symptoms of forgetfulness, headaches, lack of focus, itching, moodiness, cravings, headaches, and neck and backaches often disappear with a good night’s sleep.

Restful sleep is a must for health, vitality, longevity and fat loss. Researchers found that sleeping four hours a night interferes with your ability to secrete and regulate hormones, which in turn promote aging, increase appetite, add inches to your waistline and increases your risk of developing diabetes. Lack of sleep promotes an environment prime for inflammation and catabolism (muscle loss).

One loses ”one IQ point” for every hour of lost sleep one didn’t get the night before. Cognitive and mood problems develop, along with an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease are just a few consequences of too little sleep. Read the rest of this entry

Are you sleeping too much or too less during nights? Research concluded in recent past has revealed that inflammation could play a key role in your health condition in such a situation.

Long and short duration sleep has been reported to have an increased risk for several disorders and health problems including coronary heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, and death in many of the previously concluded researches and studies. Inflammation regulating cytokines elevations have been found to have direct linkage with enhanced risk of health problems like heart disease and diabetes.

In this study where 614 participants reported their sleep habits after spending a night in sleep lab the mean self-reported sleep duration was calculated to be only 7.6 hours. The sleep lab reported sleep duration was only 6.2 hours on the contrary. Read the rest of this entry

Sleep disorders, like sleep apnea and insomnia, affect 40 per cent of Canadians, according  to new figures from a Laval University study published in this month’s issue of  the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

Through a survey of 2,000 people across Canada, researchers found 40 per cent  of respondents experienced symptoms of insomnia at least three times a week.  Symptoms include taking longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep, being awake  during the night for more than 30 minutes, or waking up at least 30 minutes  earlier than planned.

Although 20 per cent of respondents said they were unsatisfied with the  quality of their sleep, only 13 per cent of survey respondents say they visited  a doctor or health-care professional about the problem. Read the rest of this entry

The researchers investigated whether sleep quantity and quality were related to 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure and cardiovascular reactivity  in children.

Researchers studied term-born, healthy 8.0-year olds (SD: 1.4 years) without sleep-disordered breathing (231 and 265 children provided valid data for analyses of ambulatory blood pressure and cardiovascular reactivity, respectively). Sleep was registered with an actigraph for 6 nights on average (SD: 1.2; range: 3 to 13 nights). Ambulatory blood pressure was measured for 24-hours (41% nonschool days) with an oscillometric device.

The children underwent the Trier Social Stress Test for Children, during which blood pressure, electrocardiography, and thoracic impedance were recorded and processed offline to give measures of cardiovascular and autonomic function.

Neither quantity nor quality of sleep was related to 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure or cardiovascular reactivity after accounting for major covariates (sex, age, height, body mass index, and parental education). Although lower sympathetic nervous system activation and higher cardiac activation under stress were found in the group of  children who slept for short duration when they were compared with the average sleep duration group, these associations were not significant after correction for multiple testing and were not seen in linear regression models of the effects of sleep duration.

These findings do not support the mainstream of epidemiological findings, derived from samples more heterogeneous in age, sociodemographic characteristics, and health, suggesting that poor sleep is associated with an unhealthy cardiovascular phenotype.

Insomnia, one of the most dreaded – yet highly common – is affecting more than 30% of the world’s population. Not surprisingly, people today have been found to experience 20% less of the good night’s sleep that people from 100 years ago tremendously enjoyed. Often caused by stress and anxiety or involving genetics, insomnia is prompting roughly 10 million Americans to pop prescription medicine to help them fall into a deep slumber.

As the number of “insomniacs” around the world soars, so does the need for trusted, relevant data on how alleviate the condition.

Established in 2005, Help-Me-To-Sleep.com aims to provide a wealth of facts and advice on a range of sleep disorders including insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome and shift work sleep disorder. The website contains insomnia definition to help visitors understand the condition, while tackling in detail what causes insomnia and how to treat it. Read the rest of this entry

Men with erectile dysfunction (ED) should be tested for the presence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to researchers here at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2011 Annual Scientific Meeting.

The findings are from a study that examined the link between ED and OSA in 870 middle-aged men who were consecutively enrolled in the ongoing Law Enforcement Cardiac Screening Program, which is part of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program.

“The study is the largest to date to demonstrate an independent association between ED and OSA after controlling for known cardiovascular risk factors,” principal investigator Boback Berookhim, MD, MBA, urology resident at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City, said. Read the rest of this entry

By Jobee Knight
Stress can come from a variety of sources such as a troubled relationship, a bad job condition, illness, financial pressures, the hormonal changes that accompany aging, or just plain old not getting enough good food and rest.  Sometimes the pressures of life can interfere with our sleep.  Stress manifests on the physical level by an outpouring of the adrenal hormone cortisol.  The adrenal glands are small triangular-shaped glands that sit on top of each kidney.

Cortisol has a stimulating effect and can promote wakefulness at the very time when one is trying to fall asleep. Scientists have recently discovered that increased blood levels of cortisol exist in people with chronic insomnia.  Research has also uncovered that in the presence of elevated cortisol levels, the amount of calcium is rapidly reduced in the body – a mineral that’s widely known to assist with relaxation and sleep. Read the rest of this entry

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 45 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea, a disorder that causes a person to briefly and repeatedly stop breathing during sleep. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a debilitating, often life-threatening sleep disorder an estimated 800 thousand patients are being diagnosed with OSA per year in the USA and approximately 10% being treated.According to Jim Boyle a Registered Respiratory Therapist and Sleep Disorder Specialist with 20 years clinical experience has treated hundreds of OSA suffers and is the genesis behind NuLungs.com. People with untreated sleep apnea are more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and Type II diabetes. Boyle founded the Company to offer a convenient and cost effective alternative to diagnosing and treating sleep apnea patients. Read the rest of this entry