THIS IS A KEEPER TO REFER TO NOW THAT THE H1N1 FLU is about to be upon us. We need to be on top of it, with regards to information and preparedness.
Here is a comparison of H1N1 virus symptoms to those of normal cold symptoms.
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tiredness
Oct
29
2009
Knowing the difference between cold symptoms and H1N1 flu symptoms may help you stay safe
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Results of a study published in the June 15, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine show that complaints of fatigue and tiredness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) improved significantly with good adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, suggesting that — like the symptom of excessive daytime sleepiness — these complaints are important symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea.
The results demonstrate good adherence to CPAP therapy for an average of five or more hours per night resolved baseline complaints of fatigue in 45 of 80 participants (56 percent), tiredness in 56 of 96 participants (58 percent) and sleepiness in 48 of 72 participants (67 percent); improvement of each symptom was significantly better among CPAP-adherent participants than among inadequately treated subjects. A baseline complaint of lack of energy also was resolved in 47 of 100 participants with good CPAP adherence, but this improvement failed to reach statistical significance when compared with inadequately treated participants.
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A research abstract presented at Sleep 2009 demonstrates that sleep selectively preserves memories that are emotionally salient and relevant to future goals when sleep follows soon after learning. Effects persist for as long as four months after the memory is created.
Results show the sleeping brain seems to calculate what’s most important about an experience and then selects only what is adaptive for consolidation and long-term storage. Across delays of 24 hours, or even three-to-four months, sleeping soon after learning preserved the trade-off as compared to waiting an entire day before going to sleep.
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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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Jun
16
2008
Sleep apnea affects children’s blood pressure
In the first study to use continuous measurements of blood pressure during overnight sleep, a research abstract presented at Sleep 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) finds that all severities of sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) in children are associated with elevated blood pressure during sleep compared with non-snoring control children.
The study, authored by Rosemary Horne, PhD, of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, focused on 88 children between seven and 13 years of age, including 68 referred for the assessment of SRBD and 20 non-snoring controls.
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In the study, patients reported a loss of strength or energy that included feelings of tiredness or weakness, which may progress to exhaustion, and lack of energy and stamina.
Because of the qualitative technique that Williams and her team used, their dialogues with patients revealed comments such as, “I don’t have a body part that is tired. My whole body is tired”, “I just have a weak feeling … pretty well all over”, and “Fatigue to me is just a feeling of no energy.”
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Nasal surgery to remove obstructions from the airway is associated with improvements in quality of life for patients with obstructive sleep apnea and symptoms of nasal blockages.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by episodes of partial or complete blockage of the airway during sleep, leading to snoring and daytime sleepiness. Blockage of the nasal passages also is common in OSA patients, causing fragmented sleep and leading to daytime tiredness and poor quality of life.
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