Researchers in Michigan have found that removing a kid’s tonsils and adenoids, he is less likely to wet the bed. 

According to US News & World Report, kids with enlarged tonsils and adenoids are more likely to have sleep apnea (interruptions in breathing while sleeping), and kids with sleep apnea are more likely to bed their beds.

Researchers opine that it is always better to take away the tonsils and adenoids, and voila! You take away the bedwetting. Read the rest of this entry

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) effectively decreases the risk of cardiovascular death in elderly patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a study conducted by researchers in Spain. The study is the first large-scale study to assess the impact of OSA and the effectiveness of CPAP treatment in cardiovascular mortality in the elderly.

The findings will be presented at the ATS 2011 International Conference in Denver. “Our study offers two key conclusions,” said Miguel Angel Martinez-Garcia, MD, study lead author pneumonologist at the Hospital General de Requena in Valencia, Spain. Read the rest of this entry

Scientists say sleep deprivation also slows your metabolism down as well. Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden found that insomnia could encourage you to pile on the pounds by slowing down the rate at which the body burns calories.

Study leader Christian Benedict, said: ‘Our findings show that one night of sleep deprivation acutely reduces energy expenditure in healthy men, which suggests sleep contributes to the acute regulation of daytime energy expenditure in huma

Older studies have linked sleep deprivation with weight gain and also shown how disrupted sleep also disrupts levels of stress – and hunger-related hormones during waking hours. Read the rest of this entry

Obese, asthmatic, anxious or depressed children are more likely to experience excessive daytime sleepiness, or EDS, according to Penn State College of Medicine sleep researchers.

“Although excessive daytime sleepiness in children is commonly assumed by physicians and the public to be the result of sleep-disordered breathing or inadequate sleep, our data suggest that EDS in young children is more strongly associated with obesity and mood issues as it is in adults,” said Edward Bixler, professor of psychiatry and vice chair of research at the Sleep Research and Treatment Center.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is the inability to stay awake during the day, while sleep-disordered breathing is a group of disorders that includes sleep apnea, characterized by pauses in breathing. Read the rest of this entry

Removing enlarged tonsils and adenoids may help prevent high blood pressure and heart damage in children who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a study conducted at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In some children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), adenotonsillectomy can result in significantly lower blood pressure within 24 months of the procedure.

The results will be presented at the ATS 2011 International Conference in Denver.

Children with enlarged tonsils and adenoids are particularly prone to developing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), said study lead author Lisa Burns, MD, (Pulmonary Fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center). And, in children and adults, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been linked with elevations in both daytime and nighttime blood pressure. obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can also interfere with the normal “dip” in blood pressure levels that occur during sleep. Persistent elevations in blood pressure can result in organ damage, including heart damage. Read the rest of this entry

A study presented today at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting suggests that sleep disturbances like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), excessive awakening and insomnia, may be a normal result of combat experience, rather than a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), major depression or other psychiatric conditions.

The retrospective study, which will be published this summer as “Sleep Disruption Among Returning Combat Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan” in the peer-reviewed journal Military Medicine, examined the electronic medical records of recently redeployed soldiers complaining of sleep disturbances. The purpose of the study was to uncover the relationship between common combat-related conditions among active duty military personnel and the frequency of a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA ) and other sleep problems. Read the rest of this entry

Childhood obesity in Ohio is at 33.3% according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Cincinnati weight loss problems mount as the state will pay $3.304 billion in annual medical costs of obesity.

One in three children are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has increased over 300% in the past 30 years according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008. Obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1% during the same time period. Read the rest of this entry

Sleeping the day away can lead to insomnia, and that can be costly to treat. “This can be fairly common when people don’t have a regular schedule, if they’re on vacation, or unemployed,” says Dr. Michael J. Breus, WebMD’s sleep expert and author of the Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan.

The insomnia borne of oversleep can lead to obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension; co-payments for related medications run $30 to $40 per month. Sleep aids like Tylenol PM run another $15 a month. And being up all night in the Internet age can lead to torching an extra few dollars on books at Amazon.com or downloads at Apple’s iTunes store. [ Read Complete Post at FORBES ... ]

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a major but not universally present feature of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). The latter has been associated with glucose dysmetabolism and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to examine the role of EDS by investigating potential differences between somnolent and non-somnolent OSAS patients in glucose metabolism, insulin resistance, and levels of cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods Included were 25 newly diagnosed otherwise healthy OSAS patients, reporting EDS and 25 age- and BMI-matched, non-somnolent OSAS patients, who served as controls. Fasting glucose and insulin levels, as well as homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMAIR) index, levels of hs-CRP, and lipidemic profile were measured. Read the rest of this entry

The Hospital of Central Connecticut’s Sleep Disorders Center is set to host an open house at its satellite location in Southington on Thursday. The sleep disorder center diagnoses, evaluates and treats a plethora of sleep disorders like sleep apnea and narcolepsy.

The new satellite center is a four-bed center with the capacity to expand to six beds.Each of the rooms includes a full-sized bed, TV, recliner and full bathroom. After opening, the sleep center will seek accreditation from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

At Western Psychiatric Institute, one of the top sleep research centers in the country, medical professionals are using sleep deprivation to help people with insomnia, a condition where the brain is hyper-aroused 24 hours a day.

“We shorten their time in bed and make the sleep more consolidated and deeper,” said the center’s Dr. Dan Buysse. “The obvious and deceptive answer is get more sleep, there is not a substitute for sleep.”

At Stat Medevac, where pilots work 12-hour shifts and paramedics and nurses can work up to 24 hours a day, getting enough Zs is part of the job. “It is very important that you sleep well at night. You don’t want to come into this job with three or four hours sleep,” said flight nurse Marion Jones. Read the rest of this entry

Dr. Jin Zhou, DC, is now accepting new patients with sleep apnea who is unable to tolerate CPAP or any device and/or failed to benefit from standard surgeries, with a possible conservative approach by ZHT (Zhou’s Hypoxicology Therapy), a natural therapy with seven year clinical observations. Sleep Apnea is a well-known deadly disease, if without proper clinical management, among increasing population.

CPAP is the Gold Therapy for sleep apnea, in addition to standard surgeries, but a significant number of sleep apnea patients failed to tolerate or benefit from standard CPAP or any device, and/or standard surgeries. ZHT therapy may provide an alternative natural approach for those sleep apnea patients without any available choices or clinical results from standard medical treatment. As an alternative chiropractic care, ZHT is not covered by most health plans. ZHT therapy costs may range from about $200-$350 for the initial visit and $57 – $150 for the subsequent visits. ZHT Appointments are available to patients nationwide without any need for referral. Read the rest of this entry

People are affected by all kinds of sleep disorders – some genetically based and some because of our jobs — and those disorders can affect not only your health, but also safety.

Several studies in recent years have linked a lack of sleep to depression, intestinal disorders and heart disease. While there is no proof that getting more sleep prevents these diseases, it is clear that a lack of sleep, and shift work, affect how some people do their jobs.

A recent string of high-profile stories involving air traffic controllers missing planes while asleep on the job highlighted the issue and served as a wake-up call for the airline industry.

In one case, an air ambulance trying to land in Nevada had to wait after getting no response from the dozing controller. The air ambulance eventually landed on its own.

One US Airways pilot who spoke to Wiggin — but asked not to be identified — said it happens more often than some people might realize. Read the rest of this entry

One of the most common health disorders among people around the world is “sleep apnea”. In its simplest sense ‘sleep apnea’ can be understood as one or more pauses in normal breathing. In many cases the shallow breathing during sleep is also termed as ‘sleep apnea’. 

A pause in normal breathing during sleep may have an undefined duration. Meaning thereby, the pause could be for a few seconds only or it can even stretch up to few minutes. Similarly, the rate of occurrence of such pauses during sleep may also vary up to great ranges. It could be five times per hour or even up to 30 times an hour. Normal breathing generally starts immediately after such a pause but this re-start could generate a snoring or choking sound as well. 

Once a person is a victim of ‘sleep apnea’ this disorder converts in to a chronic disorder slowly over the years. In majority of the cases people never realize that the ‘sleep apnea disorder’ has crept in their lives.  Read the rest of this entry