Taking medications to treat insomnia and anxiety increases mortality risk by 36 percent, according to a recently published study.
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alertness
Dec
3
2010
Insomnia, anxiety medications found to increase mortality risk by 36 percent, study shows
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Exposure to extraordinarily brief, millisecond flashes of bright light improves alertness at night.
Results indicate that subjective sleepiness decreased and objective nighttime alertness improved after participants received a two-millisecond pulse of bright light once per minute for 60 minutes.
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One-third of Americans are losing sleep over the the U.S. economy and other personal financial concerns, according to a poll released by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). The poll suggests that inadequate sleep leads to unhealthy lifestyles and negatively impacts health and safety.
NSF’s Sleep in America poll reveals striking disparities in the sleep patterns, health habits and quality of life between healthy and unhealthy Americans. Those in good health are two-times more likely than those in poor health to work efficiently, exercise, or eat healthy because they are getting enough sleep.
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Dec
1
2008
Shift workers can improve job performance and implement a realistic sleep schedule: study
A study published in the December 1, 2008 issue of the journal Sleep shows the use of light exposure therapy, dark sunglasses, and a strict sleep schedule can help night-shift workers create a “compromise circadian phase position” which may result in increased performance and alertness during night shifts, yet still allow for adequate nighttime sleep on days off.
Results from the study show the performance was better for the experimental subjects than the control subjects. When the phase delays of the experimental group had likely reached the compromise circadian position, performance for this group was close to the level during day shifts, demonstrating fast reaction times with low variability and few or no lapses.
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Just one night without sleep can increase the amount of the chemical dopamine in the human brain, according to new imaging research in the August 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Because drugs that increase dopamine, like amphetamines, promote wakefulness, the findings offer a potential mechanism explaining how the brain helps people stay awake despite the urge to sleep.
However, the study also shows that the increase in dopamine cannot compensate for the cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation.
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Epidemiologic surveys suggest that mean sleep duration among U.S. adults has decreased during the past two decades (CDC, unpublished data, 2007). An estimated 50–70 million persons in the United States have chronic sleep and wakefulness disorder.
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The majority of patients with narcolepsy/cataplexy experience a number of symptoms of eating disorders, with an irresistible craving for food and binge eating as the most prominent features, according to a study published in the March 1 issue of the journal Sleep.
Study authors Hal Droogleever Fortuyn, M.D., and Sebastiaan Overeem, M.D., of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in The Netherlands, focused on 60 patients who had been diagnosed with narcolepsy with cataplexy (N/C) who were recruited from specialized sleep centers and 120 healthy controls.
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Mar
3
2008
7 Days of Sleep and Alertness
Learn about sleep’s connection with mood, health, alertness, and performance in the workplace as well as sleep problems such as insomnia, snoring, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, and excessive daytime sleepiness.
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“Although steering deviation was not significantly affected by sleep restriction alone, alcohol at a BAC as low as 0.025 g/dL in combination with sleep restriction was sufficient to significantly impair steering ability,” said Vakulin. “This combination may considerably reduce the threshold for safe driving, as suggested by the steering deviation data and an increase in off-road collisions following sleep restriction and alcohol ingestion in this study.”
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