Topic: Sleep in the News

Some time back we told you about researchers touting cherry juice as an insomnia cure.  Another fruit is now getting attention as a cure for sleepless nights.  A new study from the Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota indicates that magnesium, which is plentiful in bananas, could be a natural supplement to boost sleep…
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We all know (or have been) teenagers who like to stay up late and sleep until noon.  New research indicates, however, the number of hours a teen sleeps, and at what times, could help parents and doctors determine if they are at risk of developing depression, bipolar disorder or psychosis. From today’s Sydney Morning Herald…
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Some startling new research is being presented this week at a conference in Australia. According to researchers at the Institute for Breathing and Sleep at Melbourne’s Austin Health, snorers who have obstructive sleep apnea have reduced grey matter — the cells that make up the important parts of your brain. From an article in today’s…
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A new study is pointing to serious issues that could be caused by sleep apnea in children.  The research, conducted at Hopkin’s Children’s Centre in Baltimore, looked at 31 children between the ages of 6 and 16 (19 of whom had severe sleep apnea) using a special form or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).  It was…
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Scientist looking at data about delinquency and sleep say that the severity of delinquency seems to be directly linked to the severity of the delinquent’s sleep deficit. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Nebraska, and is published in the October 10 issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.  It looked…
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We can learn a lot from a zebrafish.  A new study released this week from the Stanford School of Medicine got a little help from the small fish, to show how sleep and the body’s circadian clock affect the number of neuron-to-neuron connections in a particular region of the brain.  Pretty serious stuff for a…
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A new study out this week is providing more support to the idea that good sleep can mean a slimmer you. The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, said cutting your sleep time from 8.5 hours to 5.5 hours causes you to lose proportionally less fat.   The small study looked at 10 overweight…
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The FDA and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in the U.S. is issuing a warning about a device that was originally designed to help eliminate Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS.  The government says infant sleep positioners that have barriers on either side of the baby can actually cause suffocation and death. The advisory was…
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Are work worries keeping you up at night?  If so, you have plenty of company.  A new survey in the U.K. indicates that nearly 70% of the respondents are having trouble sleeping due to concerns about work. The online survey questioned 3,000 people.  The main reason indicated for the sleeplessness was high workload.  Half of…
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The sleep schedule of first year medical residents has historically been nearly nonexistent, as they work long and odd hours.  That’s all about to change, however, as the Council for Graduate Medical Education announced new rules for shift length. Maximum work shifts for first-year residents only are being cut from 24 hours to 16 hours….
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